Favorite key for Second Flute?

[mariajef]

Hi

Just wondering the general feeling as to the preference for a second flute beyond a "d" flute.

If you had to purchase a second flute, would it be one in Bb or C?

Or perhaps another key?

I've ordered a Rudall Refined keyless, tuning slideless "c" flute from Terry McGee, which should be finished shortly. I love my 'd' McGee Rudall flute, and thought for various reasons, that a 'c' flute would be nice to have.

Any comments?

Jeff Zajac

[Cubitt]

I would suggest G. Great for French trad, which is a lot of fun and much easier than Irish. Also good for playing with a harp.

Most trad tunes in C are better placed on a G flute. The range of most C tunes is such that, on a C, you either have to start out too high or too low for the range of the tune. Jumping octaves sucks.

[chas]

Now I've got flutes in A, Bb, C, D, Eb, and F (and C# if you count an A415 flute that way). Since the Eflat tube is new, it's been my secondary flute since I got it. Under normal circumstances I probably play the C or Bflat the next most.

I prefer the warmth of the low-pitch flutes over the fast response of the high-pitch flutes.

[cocusflute]

C or Bb.
Easy is a lousy criterion for a musician. You can play Canadian tunes just fine on a D flute.
You can play C tunes on a D flute as well. And, yes, it's easy. If you do your homework.

[jim stone]

Two categories of evaluation--
useful, and nice.

A G flute is very useful, for the reasons Cubitt gave.
You can play easily in C and of course you've got
G and even D. Also it carries. But G flutes
aren't so very nice--high pitched, not the sort
of thing I play at home.

A C flute can be lovely (nice), though not so terribly
useful (however there are tunes
where it comes in handy). But C flutes have
a lovely sound, they're responsive and not much
more of a stretch than a D flute.

Also as this isn't something you are so likely to
play with others, a tuning slide isn't essential.
So you can go with something all wood.
Sweetheart makes some very lovely, very simple
C flutes. Not expensive. I have one in cherry. It sounds beautiful
and it's very light.

Bb flutes aren't terribly useful, they're lovely,
but more of a handful than a C flute.
And it's hard to come by a good one.

So I guess if it's useful we're after, a G flute,
and if it's nice, a C.

[Cubitt]

Jim Stone's assessment is right on. I would not use my G flutes to play ITM, for example, because the sound for these tunes is generally (although not always) a bit too penetrating. Not so on the French tunes.

But the reason I am adding another response is because Jim's concept of
"useful" reminded me that a G flute is also ideal for Early Music, for which a D flute is generally too low.

[Jayhawk]

Personally, I can't quite fathom the need for any flute other than a standard D flute - especially if you have keys - unless you want to play older music on, for example, a baroque flute so you can play with an ensemble at a different pitch (or even play alone in the pitch the music was written for). My flute plays all the notes, and seems to be able to play in any key. It can also play very high or low. It's quite versatile.

Please feel free to enlighten me on this issue...but I honestly cannot grasp why you'd need another key. I have this same issue with whistles - a D seems to cover all my needs.

I am being serious here - I really don't get it at all.

Eric

[Cubitt]

Personally, I can't quite fathom the need for any flute other than a standard D flute - especially if you have keys - unless you want to play older music on, for example, a baroque flute so you can play with an ensemble at a different pitch (or even play alone in the pitch the music was written for). My flute plays all the notes, and seems to be able to play in any key. It can also play very high or low. It's quite versatile.

Please feel free to enlighten me on this issue...but I honestly cannot grasp why you'd need another key. I have this same issue with whistles - a D seems to cover all my needs.

I am being serious here - I really don't get it at all.

Eric

I'm feelin' ya, Eric. I have an eight-key and a Copeland whistle in D, which pretty much covers it. For a variety of reasons, I do have instruments in other keys, so I felt I could offer an opinion, with qualifications. But if I never had another flute other than my eight-key, I wouldn't miss it.

[Jon C.]

Hi

Just wondering the general feeling as to the preference for a second flute beyond a "d" flute.

If you had to purchase a second flute, would it be one in Bb or C?

Or perhaps another key?

I've ordered a Rudall Refined keyless, tuning slideless "c" flute from Terry McGee, which should be finished shortly. I love my 'd' McGee Rudall flute, and thought for various reasons, that a 'c' flute would be nice to have.

Any comments?

Jeff Zajac

Eb! Great for cranking it up! Probably no one to play with, but that is "buisness as usual"

[jim stone]

Personally, I can't quite fathom the need for any flute other than a standard D flute - especially if you have keys - unless you want to play older music on, for example, a baroque flute so you can play with an ensemble at a different pitch (or even play alone in the pitch the music was written for). My flute plays all the notes, and seems to be able to play in any key. It can also play very high or low. It's quite versatile.

Please feel free to enlighten me on this issue...but I honestly cannot grasp why you'd need another key. I have this same issue with whistles - a D seems to cover all my needs.

I am being serious here - I really don't get it at all.

Eric

Well, this is the first occurence of 'need' in the thread.
Nice is nice; so let me talk about useful, at least in my
case.

I'm often busking, and the G fife is audible, light, and
not terribly expensive if it gets destroyed. The
D flute less os on all counts.

I'm often playing with singers and musicians in C.
The tunes are often ones I've never heard before,
and often I'm improvising as part of the jam. So it's
helpful to be able to play in C with a G fingering,
in which I'm fluent. So I play a copeland G whistle.
When they go to D, I sometimes play a Copeland
A whistle, for the same reason. Also the copelands
sound grand.

I'm playing an unkeyed flute in this venue; my keyed
flutes either can't be heard or sound too refined.
I haven't yet mastered playing blues on a
Grinter--the Olwell Pratten is better, rougher, tougher.

Maybe if I were more fluent on a keyed flute, these
options wouldn't be so helpful. Making slow progress.
You'all are inspiring me to try harder.
But, when the chips are down, I play what will let
me perform best and also what sounds really good and
can be heard in the particular circumstance.

As to nice, gee, some of the lower pitches are really
something else....Lovely sound, lovely voice. And they are expressive
in their own way. So the Bb flute has the most passionate
sound in flutes, IMO.

[Jayhawk]

Thanks Jim - if it works for you, that's great, but playing D tunes on an A anything seems too complex for my simple mind...

I do understand the volume of a higher pitched instrument for busking - and I can see where finding the balance between an ear bleeding D fife and a D flute would lead you to a G flute. You definitely need to get their attention, but you don't want to harm them.

Eric

[chas]

I actually got most of the other keys to play along with records. A for Chris Norman, Bflat for several, Matt Molloy comes to mind immediately, C for Touchstone plus some English stuff, Eflat for Deanta, Dervish, etc. F was just because there was one listed here and I couldn't resist.

More than that, though, is the different character. D and Eflat are kinda the same as are A and Bflat, although Eflat is more responsive than D, and my Bflat flute is more in tune than the A body. C is entirely different. Not the low flute sound, but still a lot mellower than a D flute.

I still play D more than all the others combined, but I have chromatic D flutes and D flutes with a wide variety of character. If I had only one, I'd probably play the other keys more.

[Cubitt]

I actually got most of the other keys to play along with records. A for Chris Norman, Bflat for several, Matt Molloy comes to mind immediately, C for Touchstone plus some English stuff, Eflat for Deanta, Dervish, etc. F was just because there was one listed here and I couldn't resist.

More than that, though, is the different character. D and Eflat are kinda the same as are A and Bflat, although Eflat is more responsive than D, and my Bflat flute is more in tune than the A body. C is entirely different. Not the low flute sound, but still a lot mellower than a D flute.

I still play D more than all the others combined, but I have chromatic D flutes and D flutes with a wide variety of character. If I had only one, I'd probably play the other keys more.

What do you do in your spare time?

[michael_coleman]

I would say Eb as well since it is very difficult to play in Eb on a D flute and you will find the odd session in Eb. Bb is great for the odd fiddle tune and the sound is gorgeous.

[rama]

a "C" flute is very handy. there are a bunch of really really lovely tunes like "jug of punch", "bunch of keys", "farewell to milltown", "dowd's", paddy fahy reels, "sgt. early's dream" etc. etc. etc. that have f-nats. they might be a bit demanding on a "D" flute and are sometimes transposed up one step, thus changing the key, in favor of making it easier to finger on the "D" flute. This same fingering applied to a "C" flute puts the tune back into the original key.