Eb flat on boehm flute use

[AuLoS303]

So having fixed that key myself I began playing from a book I was given (Trevor Wye)
The first exercise is to play a B which is thumb and first hole (T,1) and the pinky on the Eb. But playing with my tuner running I see no difference between using and not using the Eb key. Is it just used for balance, as I can't see how such a distant note can influence a high note anyway.

[kkrell]

It's held down on most notes for proper venting, but may not be essential for all fingerings. Best to be in the habit for where it is absolutely needed, and only remove it for those few instances where you *must* lift the finger off the key for the note to sound with the correct pitch & timbre.

[ChrisCracknell]

The Eflat hole will have very little acoustic effect on a B natural (the note you are describing). The effect will become much more noticeable as you get closer to the Eflat hole. i.e. E without venting the EFlat is very audibly different on a Boehm flute.

With the upper notes in the octave (e.g. the B) the Eflat key is more important for balance, since there aren't many fingers on the flute at all. Here, any difference you hear will be because you have changed the position of the flute by adding or removing the EFlat finger.

And, yes the accepted way is to leave the EFlat finger down on all notes except those where it MUST be raised, i.e. D and below. The flute is designed to sound right played this way.

[AuLoS303]

Thanks for the info guys

[jemtheflute]

The Eflat hole will have very little acoustic effect on a B natural (the note you are describing). The effect will become much more noticeable as you get closer to the Eflat hole. i.e. E without venting the EFlat is very audibly different on a Boehm flute

With the upper notes in the octave (e.g. the B) the Eflat key is more important for balance, since there aren't many fingers on the flute at all. Here, any difference you hear will be because you have changed the position of the flute by adding or removing the EFlat finger.

And, yes the accepted way is to leave the EFlat finger down on all notes except those where it MUST be raised, i.e. D and below. The flute is designed to sound right played this way.

All of which is also true of most antique keyed simple system flutes. And other key venting - an F key for F# and the C key for open C# in particular. Definitely the Eb key should mostly be held open, though there may be a few more notes than on Böhm where it should not. Modern made simple system flutes, not so much - they tend to have been tuned not to need key-venting, though one should always check what actually works best.