The flute I want: conical, wooden, simple-system (I don’t like Boehm flutes). Keyed, able to play chromatically over 2 1/2 to 3 octaves. Suitable for traditional music as well as klezmer, jazz or whatever I’ll come across later in my musical life. Able to play clean, sweet, loud, dark, soft, spot-on in tune or dirty, sliding and bending the notes, rough and masculin and clear and seducing. The question boils down to: which flutes are best suited to chromatical playing that goes beyond the odd strange sharp in a tune, and which are most expressive?
Is there one single flute that can do it, and the rest is up to the player? Which maker builds such Jacks-of-all-trades? I wouldn’t be able to play such a beast now, but I like pondering what flute I might play one day. And given the current length of waiting lists, I might want to order my future instrument as soon as I know that I’ll continue learning the flute.
I’m sure hoping that a Grinter will fit the bill. Michael tells me that he sells most of his keyed flutes to classical/early music players, and they sound pretty good playing Irish music. (My wife plays classical and I play folk, which is why we ordered the Grinter.)
Any well-made quality keyed flute will fit this bill, and, yes, the rest is up to the player.
What will change, as you develop your musical skills, is what you want out of a flute. And you won’t know the answer to this until you develop your musical skills and try differing styles as these skills come in.
In other words, as your skills and goals develop, there are certain tones and colors you will want to gain or lose, depending. There are also flutes that will be/are more comfortable or less depending on your developing style, hand size, grip. And then there’s changes in what you want from an embouchure (smaller, tighter, or big and open, squared off and modern or more traditional, or even earlier).
You get the idea. Things will change as your experience does.
What I’d suggest is finding a good quality keyed conical, the best you can afford, since you seem pretty ambitious and sure about your future, and then just practice and play a lot.
I sincerely doubt you will end up, throughout your entire fluting career, with the same flute, although many players have (which is why I’m suggesting you get the absolute best you can afford now; it won’t lose value, if you sell it, and it’ll stay with you if you don’t).
But if you don’t (end up with the same flute), it’s not that big a deal. That’s life, and change can be a good thing.
Gordon
Playing chromatically on a recorder is more akin to the baroque flute, and actually has no practical similarity to playing, say, a 6 or 8 keyed conical in a chromatic fashion. The keyed “simple” system is an oxymoron, really, because, while its relatively simple fingerings were well thought-out as a cross-fingered instrument, the keys later added augment the simple system, making it far from simple. They surely strengthen weak notes found on cross-fingered one-keys, but simple or practical they’re not.
So, in my answer to your question, playing chromatically on a keyed conical is far harder (fingering-wise) than a recorder, a one-key baroque, or a Boehm-system modern flute. Boehm reconfigured the key system for a number of reasons, but chromatic practicality was one advancement that, IMO, clinched the race against the keyed conicals.
That said, it is not impossible by any means to play a keyed conical well, just that it is occasionally cumbersome, particularly in certain complex passages or fingering. Whether or not you feel the payoff in sound is worth the cumbersome fingerings, or whether you might prefer either an earlier century (baroque) or later (Boehm) in order to play chromatically is your call.
If you are talking about chromatic playing on a keyless conical, you will do fine for occasional incidentals, but certain notes, Eb, for example, is virtually impossible, other notes weak, particularly if lingered on.
Also depends what kind of music you play, and how particular you are about dead-on tuning. All in all, it’s doable, 'slong as you stay in the stronger key signatures and don’t need too many chromatic changes. For music in less common keys, you’re back to keys or flutes made for chromatic play.
Gordon
I think this depends on your point of view of simple. In this case, I don’t think the “simple system” refers to the fingering as much as it refers to the key system. From this, mechanical, point of view, the simple system is indeed far simpler than a Boehm system. A properly made simple-system keyed flute will need little major maintenance to the keys other than occasional new pads. Boehm-system flutes OTOH are an amazing example of something that is wondrous that it works at all. The keywork needs occasional tuning and adjustment, and can cause real problems if it is off even slightly.
From what I’ve seen, keys became necessary as people wanted the flutes to be louder, thus necessitating larger holes, which made cross-fingering more difficult if not impossible on some notes, and made the ones that could be cross-fingered weaker.
I’m playing blues and all sorts of other
musci on a keyless blackwood simple system flute,
lots of half holing, some cross fingering, I can do
the Eb, etc. What the flute gives me is a great deal
of expressiveness in tone, timber, etc.
I’ve ordered a 6 keyed flute from Dave Copley,
liking his keyless flute–these have a lot of flexibility
and can be used for different sorts of music.
The waiting list is four months, which is
very good for an instrument of that
quality. I think this is a ‘jack of all trades’ flute.
Others can make other recommendations.
I don’t think the keys will give me what
a Boehm flute can do–never be the
equal in chormatic facility. But it’s bound
to extend my range considerably.
It will be expressive.
AS I don’t want to play a Boehm flute,
a keyed Irish flute is the best remaining
option flutewise. Best
