Opinion on best Irish flute

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:23 am

What do you play, Doc?

And, btw, Tennessee Williams was the best playwright.

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:16 pm

Congratulations wrote:What do you play, Doc?

Terry McGee Grey Larsen Preferred.

I'm am sometimes tempted by great Rudalls. But the GLP has a dark, focused tone that just does something to me. I have a boxwood Rudall here right now that just boggles my mind. Every time play it I'm sure I like it better than the GLP. Then I play the GLP and ahhhh...I'm home again.

Hmmm, maybe I need a boxwood GLP.

I think I could die happy with any flute by one of the "Well-Regarded" but my GLP suits my style best.

Doc

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:05 pm

If i could have only one flute, of all the ones I've played,
it would be the Olwell Pratten.

It's light, it has an extraordinary sound, it has very good
volume....

There may well be better flutes I haven't played,
but I've played a good number of em by now.
YMMV.

One thing for sure--it's hard to go wrong with Olwells.

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:39 pm

jim stone wrote:If i could have only one flute, of all the ones I've played,
it would be the Olwell Pratten.

It's light, it has an extraordinary sound, it has very good
volume....

There may well be better flutes I haven't played,
but I've played a good number of em by now.
YMMV.

One thing for sure--it's hard to go wrong with Olwells.

Yup, nuttin' wrong with those babies. I'm too lazy to ever form a permanent relationship with a Pratten.

Doc

Father Emmet · Post by **Father Emmet** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:47 am

jim stone wrote:If i could have only one flute, of all the ones I've played,
it would be the Olwell Pratten.

It's light, it has an extraordinary sound, it has very good
volume....

There may well be better flutes I haven't played,
but I've played a good number of em by now.
YMMV.

One thing for sure--it's hard to go wrong with Olwells.

What shape is an Olwell emboucher?

fluteress · Post by **fluteress** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:54 pm

I've got a McGee Rudall that I love (from Doc's store no doubt!), though I really like his Grey Larsen Preferred. I think it's the embouchure for me, & the GLP didn't have the cut I liked so I got the Rudall, but now I'm tempted to try some more GLPs with different embouchure cuts (other than rounded rectangle).

I also recently tried a Copley I liked, but it was for a left-handed player & I don't know if that affected how it played for me (a righty).

ozkorrigan · Post by **ozkorrigan** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 4:21 pm

For affordability for the beginner, you can't go past Hammy Hamilton. He makes practise flutes out of aluminium and they help break you into a real wooden one. They sound pretty good too!

TimBenson · Post by **TimBenson** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 4:40 pm

I think it has to do with getting used to the flute. I have owned flutes by Hammy Hamilton, Dave Copley, Skip Healy, and have played on Olwells, Casey Burns, Rudall, John Gallagher, and Seth Gallagher.

The truth is any of these makers makes a great flute, and you can train yourself to get a fantastic sound out of any of them. The one I played the longest was by Dave Copley, a six key. It was by far my favorite out of any of the ones I have owned or played. It just became a "best friend", and I learned all the intracacies of it.

Aran Olwell showed me a cocus 6 key that he made when we were in the Catskills. I was amazed. You could make it do anything you wanted.

They are all a little bit different.

I once heard Kevin Crawford raise the issue of some flutes being "too easy" to play or fill, and I didn't understand what he meant until a couple years later. Some of the old Pratten models are, of course, harder to fill, yet they have a lot of room for coloration, expressional vibrancy, changes in embouchure, and variations of all kinds in the way the player actually manipulates the instrument. I then understood that just because a flute is hard to fill doesn't mean it is necessarily a drawback. Some of the flutes that are hard to fill are capable of a wider range of sounds, the same way a more open aperture on an uilleann pipe reed gives you more "meat to cook with".

That doesn't mean you have to blow the crap out of the flute either. I used to do that until I met John Daly, a fiddler living in Chicago. He described flute players back in Ireland that would barely fill a flute and yet produce an almost magical sound. So I tried it, and I found that as long as you get a tone that is middle-of-the-road, you have a lot of volume left over when you feel like expressing yourself. And I think that this music is all about enjoyment and expression.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:52 pm

Father Emmet wrote:
jim stone wrote:If i could have only one flute, of all the ones I've played,
it would be the Olwell Pratten.

It's light, it has an extraordinary sound, it has very good
volume....

There may well be better flutes I haven't played,
but I've played a good number of em by now.
YMMV.

One thing for sure--it's hard to go wrong with Olwells.
What shape is an Olwell emboucher?

It's a standard elipse.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:21 pm

TimBenson wrote:I think it has to do with getting used to the flute. I have owned flutes by Hammy Hamilton, Dave Copley, Skip Healy, and have played on Olwells, Casey Burns, Rudall, John Gallagher, and Seth Gallagher.

The truth is any of these makers makes a great flute, and you can train yourself to get a fantastic sound out of any of them. The one I played the longest was by Dave Copley, a six key. It was by far my favorite out of any of the ones I have owned or played. It just became a "best friend", and I learned all the intracacies of it.

Aran Olwell showed me a cocus 6 key that he made when we were in the Catskills. I was amazed. You could make it do anything you wanted.

They are all a little bit different.

I once heard Kevin Crawford raise the issue of some flutes being "too easy" to play or fill, and I didn't understand what he meant until a couple years later. Some of the old Pratten models are, of course, harder to fill, yet they have a lot of room for coloration, expressional vibrancy, changes in embouchure, and variations of all kinds in the way the player actually manipulates the instrument. I then understood that just because a flute is hard to fill doesn't mean it is necessarily a drawback. Some of the flutes that are hard to fill are capable of a wider range of sounds, the same way a more open aperture on an uilleann pipe reed gives you more "meat to cook with".

That doesn't mean you have to blow the crap out of the flute either. I used to do that until I met John Daly, a fiddler living in Chicago. He described flute players back in Ireland that would barely fill a flute and yet produce an almost magical sound. So I tried it, and I found that as long as you get a tone that is middle-of-the-road, you have a lot of volume left over when you feel like expressing yourself. And I think that this music is all about enjoyment and expression.

This is brimming over with good sense, of course.

I guess I would say that all of these makers are making good
flutes, but only some of them are making great flutes.
Whether any of us needs a great flute is another matter.
There are some makers today who are genuine maestros,
others who may well become such... others who are good
enough. I agree you can train yourself to get a terrific
sound out of most any adequate flute, however some
flutes on your list did begin to drive me bats after
I played them awhile.

It's worth noting which flutes are performed on by good
professional flautists, IMO. This proves nothing, of course,
because there are reasons other than the goodness of
the instrument that may lead somebody to perform
on this or that flute.

Still I think it says something for the Hammy, for instance,
that so many good people use it to record.

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:04 pm

Only real men play Hammys (and real women...sorry Mary).

Sometimes I wish I weren't so dad gum lazy because they really are wonderful flutes.

Doc

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:10 am

Not for everybody, the Hammy, I agree.

Whistlin'Dixie · Post by **Whistlin'Dixie** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:42 am

That big flute's going to be the death of me

M

TimBenson · Post by **TimBenson** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:30 am

Re: Hammy flutes. You need to have a lot of time to develop a nice strong embouchure, and an embouchure that is capable of evolving. I recommend spending time playing really strongly, then really lightly. Experiment. Play insanely loud, then insanely soft. Play with really strong pulsating rhythm, then play with a sustained kind of flow. Move the cork around and experiment with different positions. I like mine to be fairly close to the emb. hole. Listen to as many different players as possible, and if possible, live in a room with them, like in a session.

You can do what I did and be a lazy undergraduate who only took 12 hours per semester. However, I wouldn't recommend this (or fake diplomas for that matter) to generate more time for embouchure development.

But I must admit, it's the time you put in; and yes how much, but even more importantly how often. Play everday to keep those muscles working, or you will lose them. There's nothing more painful then putting your flute down for a month, then showing up at your local session and expecting to pick up right where you left off. Halfway through the Sally Gardens you will feel like you just received some kind of dental anesthetic.

Gordon · Post by **Gordon** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:31 am

I've played a Hammy for about six years -- I've always found it easy to fill, certainly as easy as any other Pratten-hybrid I've played, give or take. Where this flute gets tricky is in the fingering response; if you're sloppy on a Hammy, it does not hide your sloppiness -- rather, it announces it to anyone listening. So, precision is key to sounding good, as long as you also are pushing a good tone up front.
All other observations made above are true, as well, but Jim's comment about good v. great flutes, and who need them, is a great point. I remember an interview with John Skelton (on Brad's site?), where he said he plays a Rudall, but not a "great one". While we should all be so lucky as to have a not-great Rudall, there are -in fact- many so-so ones out there. When Skelton plays his, however, I doubt anyone thinks of it as a so-so Rudall. Any decent flute will do you proud if you play it well. If you're lucky (or wealthy and patient) enough to get a truly great flute, that will only enhance the experience, and - hopefully - your fondness for your flute. But so, so much more important is the player, and the amount of work he/she puts into their flute, that the search for the perfect flute is a bit like hunting an albino whale (This is a literary reference, BTW, and decidedly NOT whale-hunting advocacy).
Best,
Gordon