I’ve played Irish flute (Glenn Watson & Terry McGee flutes) for 15 years, and love it. However, I have a hankering to try my hand at playing a metal Boehm flute, just for fun, playing some baroque and japenese pieces that I like just for diversion. There’s a Yamaha Yamaha 225S flute for sale in my town for $175, so I’m thinking of buying it and messing around.
Anyone have experience learing a Boehm flute after years of Irish flute (the opposite pattern I think is not uncommon). I’ll still be playing Irish flute every day, but sometimes trying out the metal flute. Obviously, the embouchere will be a big change, am wondering its effect in switching back and forth. I used to play Telemann, Bach, Handel, etc. on alto recorder back in the day, but want to play some of this stuff on a FLUTE, not a recorder. And also some other, less challenging material.
You might try renting a Boehm flute. I did that very cheaply for a month years ago and tried another one just yesterday. For me the Boehm is a travesty of the poetic lyricism of a good old fashioned simple flute. The Boehm has a robotic tone and playability by comparison. I doubt if Pan or Krishna would ever be heard playing one except perhaps in an experimental physics lab working on mechanical reproduction of sound for whatever reason. Just my thoughts.
Go for it. I find the two complement each other and I look for ways one can strengthen the other. I play in an occasional chamber group and it is very different from session playing. In the chamber group I have to listen closely and be very musical, in a session I tend to just blast and often forget about musicality. (More focus on musicality in session is a current goal.)
Optimum embouchure is all important on each type of flute. Finger movements and placement are very different for silver flute but similar in lightness of touch and need for speed and coordination. If you can, get a flute with open holes just because it sounds better. I find playing in tune easy on the metal flute. If you can make cuts and taps work on a flute with keys, your fingers are working very well indeed.
Just my 2 cents.
L
This is what I did! I started on Irish flute about 9 years ago and picked up the silver flute about 5 - 6 years ago (I currently play a Yamaha 684 and my Irish flute is a John Gallagher Pratten). I like the sound and the feel of the Irish flute better, but being able to hit Bb and F-nat easily on the silver flute is REALLY nice! I pretty much divide my time on each based on what the venue is - I use the silver flute at church (I’m in a Catholic choir group where I also sing and play trumpet) and use the wood flute for anything Irish. The embouchures are a little different, but not enough to throw you off and they do seem to complement each other. I do find the silver flute easier to play, however (maybe because it is a REAL nice flute). The Gallagher is more of a challenge, but the rewards are greater, imho. My only advice when buying used is to check for leaks - a re-pad will cost you as much as your purchase price, depending where you take it!
Go for it. You don’t have to change much in terms of embouchure, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. I use an old German-style wooden flute circa 1920 that plays great and has a more woody, mellow tone I can push to sound quite Irish.
Just make sure all the pads are sealing and well-adjusted. Any leaks, particularly at the top of the scale, will result in poor playing/performance/tone. That’s the toughest part about Boehm flutes: they are expensive to maintain (e.g. $900 overhauls).
Chas, I get your point. But I don’t have much interest in the traverso, with all its fingerings to get the accidentals. I want more volume, and I want the SOUND of the metal flute, which I love almost as much as the Irish wood sound. And I don’t want to get too heavy into the Baroque (though I did mention those composers), I just want to mess around and play some diverse stuff.
Sorry, it’s never a good idea to play percussion and flute on the same instrument at the same time. It’s not because a flute is made out of wood that it sounds like a wooden flute.
A complete aside, but I really don’t like this tendency, which I take to be a modern thing, to play Bach with huge pauses on some of the notes, for no good reason I can see except that the players can’t manage the breathing. I can’t see that being done in Bach’s day (unless someone has info I don’t have?).
His phrasing is exquisite. The tone colour of the wooden traverso and its delicate shadings are always going to be unique compared to the metal Boehm. However Wentz recorded much of his Bach Sonatas on the Pierre Naust Workshop 4-section traverso. This is a very powerful traverso with strong cross-fingerings. Nothing wrong with having a few Boehms for fun too. $175 for a Yamaha 211s is okay. They’re decent starter Boehms and its much easier to make some music sound listenable on a Boehm flute than a traverso. That’s why Boehms are so popular for beginners and children.
So the pluses that I see for modern flute with 20 odd years of experience in it:
Volume: From a whisper to a shout in any register. They can get louder and softer than an irish flute while staying in tune in any register.
variety of tone: It can be played so that it sounds breathy or clear and bell like or even edgy sounding a little like the pipes.
Fully chromatic from the b below middle c to two E’s above the staff.
Plays G# Eb and Bb with ease
Plays in flat and sharp keys easily.
Trill, cut and roll on c and c#!
Sound: nothing quite rings like pure silver.
Bigger embouchure hole makes for easier octave jumps, though the lower register becomes a challenge for new players
Pluses for Irish Flute:
Sound: nothing like a nice wooden flute, they sounds beautiful though less varied than modern.
faster response: I’m very very fast on modern flute but the keys still slow me down compared to just holes.
cleaner glissando
MUCH easier to bend notes.
The way wood doesn’t ring makes wood sound really precise, very little blending between notes which can be good and bad
Caveat:
I play an intermediate level flute which is much better than a student grade. your mileage will definitely vary.
Did a little research on the flutist in the video, Jed Wentz. In his CV, the only hobby he lists is “Irish Set Dancing”. Wouldn’t be surprised if he plays a jig or two (or reels which set dancers dearly love at breakneck speed).
