Newbie Key Question

Irish Flute
1

A couple of years into keyless flutes and I am exploring keys on my new 6 key. ITM as my main meal but I also am interested in using the flute for fiddle tunes to complement my mandolin adventures. My tinnutis disallows most treks into 3rd octave territory.

The question i have is on the short F key. With the additional long F, what is its use? For a newbie it is just easier to hit the long F (and the D F slur) but I can’t quite figure out why anyone would use the short F in place of the long F. The short F is harder (and slower) to press and seems to be a bit of a hinderance to the 5 and 6 holes.

I know that the F key started out as a short one. Hammy mentions in his book “In the majority of trad tunes it does not matter which key is used, but for some reason most players seem to use the short F.”

What would I be missing if I did not have a short F in addition to the long F?

2

I did the same as you about 3 years ago, RT. But, over time, I got to use the short F key more and more. Wouldn’t be without it now. I can’t really explain why it seems harder to use at first and easier after playing for a few years. But that’s the way it’s worked out for me, at any rate.

3

Because they haven’t got a spare finger for the long one?

4

I also find in most cases the short key easier but useful to have both options as in cross fingering C natural or using the C natural key.

Also depends where the tune is going

Fnat. to Gsharp - short key
Fnat to D - long key