I’ve been playing my new flute by Terry McGee for a few weeks now and I’d thought I’d offer my thoughts, for what they’re worth.
Recently Terry had several flutes for immediate sale, mainly because folks had ordered them and then couldn’t pay or because
they were returned for one reason or other. The one I decided to buy was a keyless Rudall 5088 model in cooktown ironwood,
with his eccentric bore head and a rounded rectangle embouchure.
The first thing I noticed is that the wood was a wonderful reddish color with very prominent grain. It’s just nice to look at.
It also a somewhat lighter than my Copley blackwood keyless flute. Cooktown Ironwood is slightly denser than blackwood,
1220 kg/m3 vs 1200 kg/m3 for blackwood, however the slightly thinner body and partially lined head must make up the
difference.
It’s very easly to play, the first time I tried it I was struck by how easy it was to get a nice strong tone. The round rectangle
embouchure makes a huge difference. The flute is very comfortable to play and has a nice, strong, even tone over both octaves.
I had a bit of trouble at first getting a stable B and A in the second octave, but this I think was due to my being use to another flute.
A few minutes practice took care of that.
This flute is just plain fun to play and I think it’s going to be my primary flute for a while.
This is not a personal attack.
But it would be helpful if a reviewer let us know how long he or she has been playing the flute – and how many different flutes have been played – when offering a review. I would tend to mistrust a 17 year old’s review of a car, and likewise tend to be sceptical of somebody who hasn’t played very many flutes, or has played for only a year or two and who makes a public comment, positive or negative, on a maker’s work.
That’s a good point, I wouldn’t anyone to take my opinion beyond, “I like this flute”. I’ve only been playing about 3 years or so.
However I will say that a fine player with more than fifteen years experience played it last night and said he liked it, so I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to call it a ‘good’ flute.
I have been playing whistle very solidly for two years, which I suppose places me in the advanced beginner group. I have been playing flute for a few months less. I started with 6 months of lessons on a Boehm flute to ground me in some of the basics. (I’ve played piano and trumpet for quite a few years before).
I have been mostly playing on a delrin M&E. I like the sound of it, but the fingering is a bit awkward since I have smaller hands, and it is a larger holed, heavier flute. I get a decent tone out of it, but speed in a lot of tunes is out of the question.
I recently obtained a used McGee Grey Larsen model, and I absolutely love it. It doesn’t produce as deep or resonant tone as the M&E, but it has a lot of texture in the tone that the delrin doesn’t. I find it much easier to finger and hold, but oddly enough, I can’t play it as much on a single breath. I suppose that will come as I adjust my embouchure (It’s been a little over a week.)
So, a McGee GLP from a relative newbies perspective.
You may find the bottem end of the Larsen improves as your embouchre gets accustomed too it. I had a flute which I thought had a weak low D for about the first year and a half I played (I’ve been playing about 2.5 years). In the past 6 months or so i have found the same flute to have an extraordinary bottem end…it just wanted a better player.
The most important lesson I’ve learned in the past few years is that all players are working on it, some have just been working on it for longer than others.
I was talking to Frank Claudy during the first workshop I ever attended, and the first real lesson I ever took, and I was struck by his comment on how how he would practice by reviewing old tunes and work through a tune that was giving him trouble or trying out a new technique on an old tune. It was the same thing I was doing after having a few flute only for a few months, he was just had thirty years or so on me.
It’s the journey that matters, you never reach a destination. They’ll be plateau’s, but there’s always another one higher up.
… the point being that there really isn’t any end. You must love the journey itself. Just learn to love to play. If you don’t love to play then there isn’t much point to it is there? And if you do love to play then isn’t that nearly all of it?
I am struck by how many players early on think more about ornamentation than about tone. Playing well is much more about embouchure control than about finger control. The better the tone the more you will enjoy your flute.
Chris Wilkes taught me that you don’t have to blow hard to be loud or to get a good tone. Catherine McEvoy taught me to love to play.
