Now I met this pleasant young un at an Indian music concert and he plays Irish fiddle and invited me over for a jam. Now this is a very clever fella with his fiddles and things. He has one violin for Indian music and the other for Irish. And beautiful he was too on both of em.
Then he took out his “Baroque flute” as he called it - a dark wooden one with several keys, some sort of antique and he played it and I marvelled at his playing. He offered it to me and I played it also and we marveled at my playing. This is one incredible flute with no name but with a metal German cap at the top end of the tube.
Now we compared the finger hole spread on it with my non antique Irish flute and the antique was lesser spread. The antique was more responsive also. And more easily modulated. I mean by that one could play it soft very easily and loud just as easy.
Now I hate to do this to you all, but what do you reckon this flute is? Name?
And, is it just that I prefer Baroque - remembering now that I once told Peeplj that his Baroque flute was the one I liked most in one of his early flute comparison demos?
I have always laboured under the inability to distinguish between German caps and Dutch ones.
Do you remember the broadcast a good few years ago now of a royal wedding in which the commentator pronouced the immortal line " and here come all the bridesmaids wearing their little Dutch Caps " ?
PS ) There isn’t a hope in Hell of identifying most flutes without a photo.
What pitch does it play at ? Without that you can get nowhere.
Probably not a baroque flute, since it had several keys, and baroque flutes usually have just one, Eb, and have very small finger holes which allows cross-fingering for all the semitones. More likely a 19th century German flute. See here: http://www.oldflutes.com/german.htm
What kind of fool would liken the flute illustrated to any kind of baroque flute, which Glauber will confirm is by convention only used for pre- 1750 flutes ?
Fingers down ? - Pity the stories about thumbs down were a myth, or I’d be making the gesture now !
Probably one of those rotten old Meyer School things anyway ).
I don’t find I get a D when I put 6 fingers down on all my " " F " and " Eb" flutes Talasomethingorother !
What do you find with yours ?
Andrew, is this a blanket condemnation of all Meyer flutes? I read (never played one) that Meyer flutes were well respected and copied by others to be sold as “Nach Meyer” or straight fakes, and some of these copies are okay and others are not. What are your views on Meyer and Nach Meyer flutes, respectfully? Do you have any in your vast collection?
Well then you picked the wrong flute! Talasiga clearly said that he gets a D with six fingers down. Why do you ask him again? And he does not talk about his own flute, but an acquaintence’s flute. And he is called talasiga. He just said that his acquaintence’s flute is a keyed D flute (six finger’s down), and the photo shows extra foot keys, so the flute plays C#, C and B as well.
I am so happy that you understood my post, Hans.
Thank you for clarifying my meaning to others.
And Gary Kelly, thank you for the pictures. I did already know
what a Baroque flute is but when my friend described his as a
“Baroque flute” it got me a wondering and questioning my own
knowledge.
I really am now quite fascinated by this flute.
If anyone has one in his or her collection, please consider
feting it here.
I suppose there may be some topics in this forum that may have already
discussed it. The search function is not too helpful for me.
Any links to past discussions will be appreciated.
Talasiga, could you please tell me with what kind of non antique Irish flute you compared the German flute? And can you give please any info comparing finger hole sizes?
Probably a person who doesn’t know much of anything about flutes except how to play them. I’ve met several people just like that, and in a way I sort of admire them.
My flute is a Seery Blackwood which I bought in Dublin in 1993.
Friend played that also and commented it was difficult for him.
We tuned up and played the flutes together and it sounded good.
I cannot give finger hole sizes of his flute but they were smaller than on mine. If it is critical for you to know this let me know and when I next see him I will find out.
Talasiga - a lot of those old german flutes can be simply wonderful players…others not. Since many were truly mass produced, they’re more “hit or miss” on quality. I’ve played a couple that I thought were great flutes - good volume, easy players. You see a ton of them on eBay - often in unplayable condition. If you can find one without cracks, or are willing to get the cracks repaired and the flute repadded, good buys are lurking out there. Check out the sale page on Brad Hurley’s site - there is a $100 restored german flute there right now.
What is all this talk of 6 fingers down ?
Sounds like complete nonsense to me !
Is it because I questioned the pitch ? Do the two of you not know the difference between key and pitch ?
I bought a 19th C.stained fruitwood one key flute today. It was obvious in the auction room what the key was, but without a reference or perfect pitch it was not at all plain what the pitch was ( A = 440 as it happens. Shame, really.The 415 ones are so much nicer ! ).
I can’t say that I have much interest in German flutes. The odd Grenser or Boehm might be fun. Not, I think a Meyer.
I think those Meyer copy flutes infested the US from catalogue companies sending them out to lonely homesteaders along with the barbed wire.
We had fences and proper flutes here !
I think those Meyer copy flutes infested the US from catalogue companies sending them out to lonely homesteaders along with the barbed wire.
That’s a good one, Andrew! Maybe it came with the feed and sacks of flour. My great grandfather drove a wagon for a mail order catalog down in Julian California, back in 1890’s, he might have delivered some of them…
I wonder if Sears and Roebucks distrubuted most of them. The family was probably glad to get any flute, even an out of tune flute, out in the wilderness.
Jon
I should have said we have hedges. How much longer with the way they are being lost ?
Yes, Sears Robuck !
The question, JonC, is whether the Meyer copy flutes are best left in the wilderness.
There do seem to be a lot of them on eBay, but we shouldn’t expect life to be perfect.
Andrew - none of those anonymous german flutes would be worth a darn as an investment. But unless you’ve tried a few, you have no way of knowing that some of them are quite good players. It is quite a crapshoot to find a good one, but they’re out there…and a good way to get your feet wet in the keyed flute world.
Quite right, Jayhawk.
One should not get snooty about flutes for the masses.
For a nice cheap starter keyed flute I suspect the French Charanga style flute would give more satisfaction for the money.
Just think of all those poor would-be IT players around the world who need something to start in China, Mongolia, Australia, Montana or wherever.
There is enough to worry about here with Old English flutes, (and new English flutes ).
The question, JonC, is whether the Meyer copy flutes are best left in the wilderness.
It’s amazing they made it out of the wilderness, there must have been thousands lost to the wolves!
There do seem to be a lot of them on eBay, but we shouldn’t expect life to be perfect.
They are quite prolific. One problem with using it as a starter flute, the beginner might get discourged before they make a sound out of it. And when they do, it will likely be out of tune…
For a nice cheap starter keyed flute I suspect the French Charanga style flute would give more satisfaction for the money.
I got to play Eilam’s french keyed flute the other day. Very nice little flute. It has small holes, but a surprising big voice. I don’t think it would hold up in a big session, but great for a small group.
Jon
There seems to be a realisation in some quarters that some of the smaller holed flutes can have a pure carrying tone which is easy to produce, and which , though not loud under the ear may carry very well.
My last 5 key French flute ( which is due anytime ) cost me $80
I guess a number of forum members could run to that.
