I was wondering…what is the ultimate configuration from keyless to 15 keyed!
Michael.
Depends on the kind of music one plays, I suppose. I focus primarily on Irish trad and secondarily on liturgical music. It’s the church music that dictates a minimum of six keys for me; the ideal would be eight.
I’d say the one that better suites the music you play…
Some never uses keys, so a keyless would be sufficient.
Personally, i like tunes in odd keys or with accidentals, and would be fine with 7 keys (don’t need a high C nat key)(low C and C# keys mainly for ornamentations on those high notes)…
Didn’t Boehm pretty much answer this question?
i.e. just use a key for every note possible and trills (got to love that massive, rarely used C# trill key)–brilliant. 
I’m fine with the usual eight key arrangement. I use them all.
Agreed. I think the optimal configuration would be to leave 7-9 (of the 15) keys off.
Eight is great, and nine is fine.
What would Matt do?
What’s good enough for him is good enough for me.
Eight is Enough…
I was only joking about the fifteen keys…or was I??? 
Still though I was only asking because I want to order a keyed flute (or either hammy hamilton or pol jezequel..any advice would be good!) and probably can afford 6 keys at the moment but I am wondering if people think I should save up and get all eight or save some of my money and just get 3,4, or 5
Thanks for all the replies and hopefully they keep coming…
Michael.
If you can afford eight keys, get eight keys. My first keyed flute had eight of them and I never looked back.
Pol Jezquel and Hammy both make good flutes. A friend plays a rather new eight-keyed Poljez and it is awesome. I also know a few fluters who play Hammys and they’re great as well. I like them both.
Hi Michael,
How much experience do you have playing flute? If you have some time under your belt, you might also consider a refurbished antique. There are some folks on this list who give old flutes new life. Granted, the flutes may have some tuning “issues” but these are usually more or less sorted out as part of the refurbishing process (and looking at some period fingering charts). You can get into a 6 or 8 keyed flute for under $1k if you are interested…
Clinton
Terry McGee has a nice summery.
i am another satisfied referbished flute customer
I have being playing for 8-9 years so I’m fairly sure I’m ready (no offence Clinton!). I want a new flute instead of a refurb because of tuning and care reasons. So keep the answers coming people!!!
Thanks,
Michael.
I have to say that I really love the elegant simplicity of the keyless flute. I also cleverly happened to notice that whistlers, wanting to play along with the occasional tunes in C or G minor, simply bring along a C whistle. So far my ultimate key configuration has been to bring a keyless D and a keyless C flute to sessions. This way, when someone starts up Julia Delaney I just pick up the C flute rather than agonize over whether to use the short or long F key. I can also use a scale pattern that I’ve already learned on the D flute.
Terry McGee, just to use as an example, will sell you a keyless D with a tuning slide plus a keyless C with a tuning slide for a total of $2635. A McGee six-key with a slide will set you back $3345. You can use the leftover $700 to buy a pretty darn nice used Boehm flute if you really have to play church gigs. Alternatively, you can increase the craic by buying the rest of the folk at the session a goodly number of rounds with it over the next year or so.
I have all the respect in the world for anyone who can play a really fast, say, F minor scale on an eight-key simple system flute. As long as I’m playing ITM though I can’t imagine every having to do it myself. Heck, I might even buy a keyed some day. I’m just offering this as an alternative that’s worked pretty well for me so far, admitting that I still have a lot to learn and discover.
I went from keyless to keyed about a year and a half ago. I have eight keys and find that the ones I use most (I play mostly Irish traditional music) are the short and long F, the G#, the D#, and the low C#. The Bb doesn’t get much play because of the keys I play in, the C nat gets cross fingered so much I forget I have it, and the low C doesn’t sound unless I’m exactly in its sweet spot. I imagine that a new flute would be easier to play for the low C/C#. I like to add those in when I’m playing in D or D mix. But if you can swing it, go for all eight!
Jennie
I do sometimes wonder why flutes bothered with the C# and C keys while the piccolo almost never seems to have this feature.
If I was to want to try the things I would probably look for an old 6 key band flute (high Bb) and play with that to test the waters. To bad Miller Browne only makes HP and not A440.