Difference between Boehm and Irish flutes Options

[Lemontree]

All players of both systems: What are the main difference between a Boehm system and an Irish flute (especially the one with keys)?

Tx

[Ligneo Fistula]

All players of both systems: What are the main difference between a Boehm system and an Irish flute (especially the one with keys)?

Tx

- The "typical" keyless Irish flute (k- IF) covers around 2 octaves from D. Keyed foot joints can be added on to access C and C#.

- The IF is said to be pitched in D in that lifting each of the six fingers in turn (i.e. thumb hole not necessarily present) produces a D major scale (but it isn't a transposing instrument) and in this sense isn't too dissimilar to playing a Boehm flute (BF)with the foot joint removed although in the latter F is produced instead of F#.

- The IF also comes in Eb, Bb and C flavours which, I believe, are transpoing instruments.

- Keyed IFs (k+ IF) help access to accidentals although, by the very nature of traditional reels, jigs etc, a fully chromatic is not necessary and in any case accidentals can be reached through fingering (cf. the recorder)

- IFs have a overall conical bore, becoming narrower at the distal end to help tuning, cf. general cylindrical bore of BF.

- The IF tends to have a darker tone than the BF.

Australian flute maker Terry McGee has an excellent site on IFs:
- close look at an IF: http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/irishflute.html
- Frequently asked questions: click on the 'changing from BF to IF' (4th) link
- IF Fingering chart: http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/SixKeyFluteV4.pdf

Also, the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_flute

[Jack Campin]

There is a LOT of myth-making about these, largely fed by flute makers who have something to sell. Don't trust anything you read without looking for comparative opinions. McGee is certainly not accepted as an impartial authority by everyone in the field. Opinions about him range from "demigod" to "obsessional crank".

Crossfingerings usually don't work as they do on a recorder. They will if the fingerholes are small enough, as they are on a Baroque flute, but the large holes typical of a modern keyless Irish flute mean the only way you can get accidentals is by half-holing.

The kind of flute first used in Irish music in the 19th century was the three-piece conical-bore blackwood 8-key no-maker's-name "German flute" commonly used in the British Army and in bands and orchestras throughout the UK. That type is now generally sneered at by Irish music buffs (whose attitude to historically informed performance is up there with Leopold Stokowski). I have one. It's probably indistinguishable from what my great-grandfather used to play; he was an Irish peasant who joined the army at 14 and learned to play Irish music on the flute in Afghanistan. I doubt he'd have seen anything particularly Irish about the "Irish flutes" sold today.

[Lemontree]

All players of both systems: What are the main difference between a Boehm system and an Irish flute (especially the one with keys)?

Tx

- The "typical" keyless Irish flute (k- IF) covers around 2 octaves from D. Keyed foot joints can be added on to access C and C#.

- The IF is said to be pitched in D in that lifting each of the six fingers in turn (i.e. thumb hole not necessarily present) produces a D major scale (but it isn't a transposing instrument) and in this sense isn't too dissimilar to playing a Boehm flute (BF)with the foot joint removed although in the latter F is produced instead of F#.

- The IF also comes in Eb, Bb and C flavours which, I believe, are transpoing instruments.

- Keyed IFs (k+ IF) help access to accidentals although, by the very nature of traditional reels, jigs etc, a fully chromatic is not necessary and in any case accidentals can be reached through fingering (cf. the recorder)

- IFs have a overall conical bore, becoming narrower at the distal end to help tuning, cf. general cylindrical bore of BF.

- The IF tends to have a darker tone than the BF.

Australian flute maker Terry McGee has an excellent site on IFs:
- close look at an IF: http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/irishflute.html
- Frequently asked questions: click on the 'changing from BF to IF' (4th) link
- IF Fingering chart: http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/SixKeyFluteV4.pdf

Also, the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_flute

Thanks for that excellent answer. It helped a lot!

[all ears]

Whatever you think of McGee, what Ligneo Fistula says is worth reading carefully! I have an "Irish" flute and used to have an old Boehm-system wooden flute, and the difference in bore and embouchure made them quite different to play, quite apart form the keys. I don't remember exactly what kind of embouchure my Boehm-system had, but it was certainly bigger and more oval than my modern "Irish" flute has.