Trying to decide which flute will be my next purchase. I own one of Doug Tipple’s low D flutes (my OAO: One And Only) and I am going to start saving up for a new flute. I would like to have keys , but I would very much not like to have to pay the cost for a wooden flute with keys. That leaves a Boehm system flute as my choice for keyed flute. I can pick up a rebuilt flute for about $450-650. How many of you play ITM on a Boehm system, and do you dare show up at a session with one???
an aside: a C natural thumb hole, for about 30 bucks, does very well what that key does.
The B-flat can be half holed pretty easily. G. sharp can be done too-- takes practice and patience but it can be done.
Same for F. natural. Lately I’m even able to do E flat.
Most ITM tunes don’t use these notes anyway, except for the C. natural and of course you can cross finger that.
Keys are nice but…
If I were in your position, I would go for a good keyless, for what it’s worth.
Like I said on another thread, I think it’s harder to play ITM on a Boehm unless perhaps you have a really good one. If you want an inexpensive Boehm, I love my Yamaha 200AD that was new for $500 (get the ones made in Indonesia, not the ones made in USA; sorry, the Indonesian ones play better).
If you’re just interested in ITM, go with a simple keyless. I play a keyless slideless Burns standard in blackwood, and though I’d like to have an F key (maybe a Bflat and G sharp as well), I have my hands full and play at many sessions and get gigs with a number of different groups just using the keyless. A keyless would serve you well 95% of the time.
I would recommend one of the delrin keyless flutes from the known makers (my fave is Copley). If you find you don’t like it, you can re-sell it for almost as much as you paid or save it for rugged environments. I play Boehm also (for church, etc) and ITM is definitely “doable”, but there is no way to get the same nuances you can get on a simple-system flute.
Simple system or Boehm…
very different items both named as “flute”
from my point of view you have to choose what kind of music you want to play.
boehm is recomandable for jazz, and late classical music too (from 1850 to nowdays).
if you want to play irish music well…you have already choose a conical flute.
now you can ask yourself “keyless or keyed”… and this is a very common question…
so consider the idea to save a bit more money and buy a worthy old flute (mmm, a late metzler&co?)
or a good keyless (olwell, hamilton, grinter, ecc ecc)…
or just buy a forbes one (quite cheap but solid derlin keyless) and keep on playing
until you can get a better one.
I bought a “like-new” Bundy ex-rental Boehm flute from a local music shop for $299.00. It looked like it had never been played. I tried an Artley, a Gemeinhardt, and several other student level flutes. Oddly, the Bundy (which was the cheapest) had the darkest, most wooden flute like tone. Maybe cheap is the way to go?
I usually stick to my keyless simple system flute for ITM, but when I play ITM on the Boehm I have a few cheats I use that actually work to the dark tone advantage. I play C5 (middle C) using all the keys instead of just L1. It seems to produce more harmonics and I tend to prefer the sound. I don’t vent Eb so if I need to put my R4 someplace for stability I rest it on top of the D key post (hoards of people will tell you that this is really bad and never to do it). The old F# fingering thing is a non-issue for me so that’s not a problem and I use both fingerings (R2 or R3) depending on the tune.
Oh, and don’t pay any attention to what I just wrote above because a plethora of folks are about to tell you it’s all wrong, wrong, wrong. But hey, if I’m playing ITM on the Boehm flute in the first place then I guess I’m already tempting fate.
Just to offer a mildly contrary view - one that is not unprecedented here on C&F but hasn’t seen much daylight recently… I advocate going for a fully keyed Simple System from the off if you are going to go SS at all. You can get perfectly decent ones for the £300/U$450-500 range you specify if you are content to start out with (a good example of) the German 8-keys that all the photos of the old guys show them playing, or I believe the M&E modern ones are not far out of that range??? (haven’t checked). Sure, you can get a modern maker keyless of possibly better quality for similar money, but not from one of the top makers and it won’t have keys. If you intend to go for keys, far more sensible to go for them from the start than to toss about adding them or converting to them later. You can always save up for that better quality antique or new-made and when you get it you’ll already know how to use it! Don’t bother with Bohm - for all that it can be made to do a serviceable job for ITM, it just isn’t the right gear - like trying to play baseball with a cricket bat or vice versa. (Or, for the benefit of our Canadian friends , Ice Hockey with an ordinary [real/field]hockey stick.)
I’m glad you piped up Jem because I was going to suggest something along the same lines: why not put in for a nice 6-key Patrick Olwell? Here’s why. You’ll be getting one of the best possible flutes (no one will argue this point). You’ll bypass the buy-and-try tailspin (Is it me or the flute? It must be the flute. Guilty as charged. ) You’ll be on a waiting list for a while but this has two benefits. It gives you time to $ave up and time to get good. Keys are not critical in ITM. If you change your mind along the way, no problem, I’m certain someone will buy your depo$it to jump the queue, though I would check with Patrick first.
Tongue-in-cheek as this may sound, consider for a moment how much this actually makes sense for the aspiring ITM player.
PS: Some German flutes can do nicely if they have been overhauled and play A440.
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/fs-8-key-d-flute-500/69344/1
IMO something like this is by far the best way to venture in to this filed - serviceable, won’t harm or hinder your playing development, lets you try out the whole concept at an affordable cost and will retain its value to pass on when you upgrade or decide the whole shebang just isn’t for you. It may not as easily give you a big Matt Molloy sound as a modern keyless for similar money, but learning to try to get it to do so will stand you in good stead and it has all the keys.
, Ice Hockey with an ordinary [real/field]hockey stick.)
) You’ll be on a waiting list for a while but this has two benefits. It gives you time to $ave up and time to get good. Keys are not critical in ITM. If you change your mind along the way, no problem, I’m certain someone will buy your depo$it to jump the queue, though I would check with Patrick first.