My Boehm flute has a B foot joint which is supremely more useful for me than a C foot joint (it had better be - it cost around US$600 more for an extra note!). Thing is - the embouchure shape and the pressure are very particular and it’s easy to mess it up.
In contrast, my Mollenhauer bass recorder has an incredibly rich and strong fundamental which makes me bellow in delight. I wouldn’t call it music - I’m just in the infatuation phase with it because of its anti-flute characteristics
My alto flute has none of these issues - but at the high end, beyond 3 1/2 octaves gets a bit challenging. When I was looking for a conical bore keyed flute, I asked a few flute makers who specialised in low D flutes, if a low B was possible.
It seems that the low B is either weak, or a compromise due to the volume (maybe conical bore related too). A Bb seems easier, but I’m already thinking that I might prefer a keyed Bb flute, than have to fudge around with pipers’ grip, which is fine most of the time, but I am more of a finger pad player.
Anyone any experience of a low B flute with a strong fundamental?
It’s not clear to me why a low B flute would have a weak bottom note whereas a low Bb would have a stronger one…there’s not THAT much difference between them?
I don’t think you’d need to do piper’s grip on a conical-bore Bb flute; all the ones I have tried were pretty comfortable to play; the stretch is not so much in the space between the fingers as the distance between the embouchure hole and the first tonehole. That’s longer than what you’re used to, but the finger spacing isn’t uncomfortable unless you have really small hands.
The Bb flutes I’ve played, including my own Wilkes Bb, have a very strong bottom note.
I’ve heard of a few makers who made flutes in B; I may be misremembering but I think Bryan Byrne might have made a prototype in B once and you could check with him to verify and see if he’d be interested in making one for sale.
James ~ It’s my understanding that the Fundamental of your Boehm flute is C and the flute plays in the Key of C, even if you have a B foot. It’s my feeling that is why it’s a little harder to hit that lower note. Your Alto if it’s a Boehm design, is in the Key of G and is design to play in that key and would have a strong low G. I’m by no means an expert, but it seems that if you add notes below the fundamental note they can be weaker, not as strong, and a little touchy to hit.
The conical flutes that we talk about and play ITM here are in the Key of D with the fundamental note of D. Now there are keyed flutes that have added notes lower than the fundamental note, all the way down to B.( see:http://www.oldflutes.com/german.htm) These notes generally are not as strong. And this is one reason you have the different size of flutes, also having the different size gives a different sound or timber to the notes.
The flutes that are mentioned here in F, Eb, C, B, Bb, and A, are all conical bore flutes designed so that the fundamental note is the stated note. and will play strong all the way down to that note. So if you buy a B flute (Hammy Makes them) the note will be strong. and should play the way you’d hope. You’ll also be playing in the fundamental K of B.
i have a flute makers guild metal covered hole B flat bass flute or as the forum users call them low b flat it is a covered hole model looks a bit likea concert flute which is really responsive, i alos have an ebonite boosey hawkes and wooden rudall carte both covered hole and all conical bore i will try and post pictures up.
Their was a b flat boosey hawkes sold on ebay the other week at an affordable price.
Many thanks - this is the clearest explanation I’ve ever had. It makes sense in a very elegant way.
Slightly related to this … one curious effect arises from using a B foot joint on a C concert Boehm flute, versus a C foot joint on the same flute …the sound signature becomes darker or somewhat richer. I’ve always attributed this (wrongly?) to the extra foot joint, making the first and lowest octave of the B footjoint flute, particularly attractive.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. It’s made me think that, if a flute maker does not offer a standard low B key flute, maybe it’s best to look elsewhere for a flutemaker who does offer these low flutes.
Yep, it’s to do with bore diameter/length ratios, and of course bore type (cylindrical or conoid) makes a difference too. FWIW, the standard Bohm concert flute is NOT acoustically “in C” - it is still, like its predecessors, a D tube (where is the register “break” in normal use?) which has a foot extension to C or B. Bohm found (cf his Treatise) that a slightly larger bore (20mm) improved the low and middle registers, but at the expense of facility of sound in the 3rd. There are (relatively rare) Bohm flutes which only have a D foot, and their behaviour/response is, by all accounts, different from those with a C or B foot, as one might expect. This is also why the standard Bohm piccolo does not have a C foot and ends at D, despite being nominally “in C”; the foot extension has effects on the tone colour and response which have generally been held to be detrimental. Bohm’s alto flute (acoustically in A, not G) of course has a larger bore to match its greater length/lower tessitura. As with everything else in woodwind design, the bore/length ratio for optimal performance across a 3 8ve tessitura involves compromise choices. If you want the strongest possible tone from your bottom end, you need a flute optimised for that - which will be at the cost of a loss of the best features of the highest register… and of course most current makers of low pitched (in key terms, not pitch standard) simple system flutes don’t have to worry about the 3rd 8ve as most users won’t go there - but then, even if they put a fully keyed ong foot on it, nor will most users bother with the foot notes below the 6-finger fundamental.
