Well everyone…it’s here! I have it in hand! And I can’t believe how beautiful its is!
Blackwood…silver keys…stunning to look at and heavenly to play! (ok…getting used to the keys is a bit frustrating, but in time…)
What is this work of art? It’s a Skip Healy keyed flute!
Now lets talk a little about some “behind the scenes” stuff…once the flute was ordered, I was able to take it home - sans keys - to try it out for a couple of weeks and make sure the fit was to my liking. (I’ll add here that I was able to watch as he drilled the finger holes to meet my needs -I like off-set). After filing down the holes a little more for me, it was off to be keyed! Turn around time was off set by the Holidays and travel, but by my calculations was about a month!
A month - imagine that.
Now comes the fun part! Learning to use the keys. For some reason, my mind and my fingers have “freaked out” and my playing has regressed. -so its off to practice.
Photos will be posted soon.
I have Webtv- which has a few limitations. As soon as I work around them, I’ll have photos to share.
In the meantime, for pics of some of Skip’s other works, go to www.skiphealy.com
and check out the flute and fife sections! And if you have a few minutes, go thru the site and read up on the production process - very fascinating!
Of course, if so inspired…you can order music or CDs before you leave!
Sue
ps
Eddie - I didn’t have to watch any re-runs of “My Mother the Car”. dunno why…
So glad to hear about your new flute!!! I can’t wait to hear about your adjustment process to the keys. Skip is so great to work with and it’s awesome to get the instrument custom set up to fit you. I had a blast last October when he drilled the holes in my 10 hole fife bodies to exactly fit my hands and grip. Not being a fifer by trade, it’s great to be able to pick up the little beasties and know the fingers are going to hit right away. I did a lot of work with the A fife around Christmas and it was like I’d been playing it for years
And of course, what he did with me on working together to design my keyed flute was amazing. Coming to trad music from the hardcore classical realm was daunting, especially having to learn a new fingering system as well as the style. The flute he made for me has turned into his "open C’ model and is a great way for us classical types to transfer all of those hours practicing Taffanel-Gaubert and Andersen etudes right onto the wooden flute. I know you told me you sold your Boehm, I’ve still gotta make a living playing it It’s nice to be able to go back and forth between the 2 flutes without missing anything an to get the sound I want out of the Healy with my chops.
It is amazing how the fingers feel stupid when something is just a little different. And all those tunes you had down now feel clumsy. Stick with it, it won’t take long without any distracting silver flutes around. I know you are taking lessons from Skip - have you worked on The Dark Haired Lass? Skip does a lot with contrasting half holes with keys on it and it is a simple tune.
I’m sure it was a real treat to watch Skip customize your flute to you and get exactly what you wanted. When I got my keyed Healy I just picked it up and took it home like Eddie did. I did have other makers to compare it to at the West Coast Symposium, and what I noticed was how responsive the flute was and how well the keys worked. I also heard Grey Larsen and John Skelton playing Healys and all of their individual style came through (which amazed me because Larsen’s Firth, Hall & Pond is way different from a Pratten Pattern).
Speaking of customizing flutes, after the first Wind on the Bay I watched Skip’s stringer (the guy that puts the keys on a flute) make three custom keys for one of the attendees. The fellow wanted a G# key more like a Boehm flute, a roller on the short F key, and a larger Eb key. He sat down with the stringer and they sketched out what he wanted. The stringer took a bar of silver, a file and a hacksaw and ended up with gorgeous keys that looked like they had always been on the flute. Amazing!
Andra! Alfy!
Great to hear from both of you! Each day my fingers get more comfortable on the flute. This week the focus is on gettting my right hand used to those keys; next week - the left hand! I haven’t played my silver flute in years, but within a day the right pinky was firmly in place! Second nature, I guess!
Alfy - you’re right. Its interesting and frustrating that the fingers mess up; even the tunes I felt confident on sounded awful and were full of mistakes, as my fingers all tripped over each other! I’m getting better, though. LOTS of wine at practice and about 2 hours a night practice since I brought it home!
Andra - I still have the silver flute. No buyers yet. But a lead from a music store nearby, may mean it will soon go. One music store actually offered me $150 in store credit. I laughed and left. Never did like that store much anyhow!
I’m not familiar with “Dark Haired Lass”, but I’ll mention it at my next lesson. thanks!
Right now, I’m having fun “Fig for a Kiss” and Andra, I told Skip last week that I didn’t like the way it was written out, so I was going to play it my way! I think I just made it over another hurdle!!!
I thought I would pitch in with some comments on the 10 hole system for fifes and, by extension, for flutes. The ten hole system, though at first a bit of a challenge to master, is indeed worth the effort. It is the same as a keyed instrument, just minus the keys. It is actually much easier for some people as all of your fingers are making the same movements to achieve the same effect. In other words, lift a finger up and you open a tone hole, put it down you close a tone hole. This is not the case with the simple-system flutes, fifes, and piccolos we play, as some fingers open tone holes by moving up, but others open tone holes by pushing down on a key creating an “opposing motion” effect.
Here is a brief description of the system:
The left pinkie is for G#, the left thumb can be either for Bb, or C*, the right thumb is for F (finger an E and lower the thumb) and the right pinkie is for D#. The tricky part is that the left pinkie and ring finger move in unison. Play an A both go up, play a G both go down, play a G# the ring finger goes down but the pinkie stays up.
I build a flute that I call my “Open C” model. This flute has the normal 6 open tone holes but adds a left thumb open hole for C. The reason is many people who have either some or a lot of experience playing modern flutes can pick up this style of flute and still play their C’s the way they have learned and practiced for years. Many of my clients are professional players of modern flutes either in the classical or jazz field and this just makes it easier for them to play a simple system flute.
There are exact rotations where I place the chromatic tone holes for the fifes since they are relatively small instruments that most people can cover with a bit of practice. For 10 hole flutes, I send the 6 hole flute with lines drawn ("north south, so to speak) where the tone holes will be. The client then “crosses the T” where it is most comfortable for them to have the hole cut in.
That’s about it, I hope this minor missive is helpful!
All the best,
Skip Healy
Healy Flute Company
1776 Revolution St.
East Greenwich, RI, 02818
401-885-2502 http://www.skiphealy.com/
Yes you are now on my MISSED list
and now I must remedy that!
Thanks very much for your missive which answers my question.
I’ve spent quite some time and money getting
an inventive Australian flute repairer
to make me some A key flutes for D Bhairav scale
from xxx 000 It has 2 thumbholes and I’ve got 5 of them
(result of experimentations).
D Bhairav = D Eb F# G A Bb C# D+
Skip,
I take it that on your keyless chromatic A Fife this D Bhairav scale
would not need any thumbs off. What would be the 8 finger tablature
for this (please use lower case for pinkies)?
NB This is not IDOL curiosity but
live devotion.
Looking at the scale you mention, there is no E note listed. Please write me off list (skip@skiphealy.com) and we’ll go over the scale you are looking for. I’d be happy to summarize everything for the list later if people would like that.
This ancient scale (probably has Babylonian roots)
precedes the advent of Western staff notation
so whether its expressed as
D Eb F# G A Bb C# D+
or
D D# F# G A Bb C# D+
it won’t have E.
surely this is possible on a keyless chromatic A key fife?
Thus my query about finger tablature for it.
There are others here interested in exotic scales
so a public answer would be productive.
Sorry for the short delay in getting back to you, but I’ve been quite busy at the moment. I intend to build a prototype of this instrument on the A fife body as you mention. It’s hard to know what the projected scale will sound like without actually building it.
This seems to be a popular thread, so I’ll be sure to keep everyone informed as things develop.
Feel free to email me off-list if you have any more specific questions (skip@skiphealy.com).
I already have D Bhairav custom made flute (PVC!!!).
I gave this as an example.
There are other remarkable scales I would want to do
on your chromatic keyless fives.
Why do you need to make a prototype?
Can’t you just play these notes on a 10 hole A key fife
D Eb F# G A Bb C# D+ ?
Its the finger tablature I’m after because I have no experience with pinkies on open hole flutes.
My customised D Bhairav flute/fife uses thumbholes.
