Jennifer CluffCanadian Flutist and Teacher | |
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OPEN-HOLE Flute versus CLOSED HOLE flute: ________________________ Question: What do you folk think of open hole flutes? ____________________ Answer: Probably not, but the open-hole design has become popular, especially in North America, and flute players are still very much divided on the topic of plugging open-holes to facilitate ergonomics. The inventor of the modern flute, Boehm, felt that closed keys were superior. Marcel Moyse played closed hole, and flute maker Albert Cooper suggested, in designing his "Cooper scale" that it's probable that open-holed create more tuning problems then they solve, but the jury is still out on exactly what open-holes do. The flute community is even divided about what plugging open-holes does to the tone and the pitch. I think plugs that are shallow and air-tight don't adversely affect the flute, but until some truly scientific tests are done on "identical" flutes with and without perforated key cups we all have to do our own experiments. Flute companies still build their top models offering both key styles. But in certain parts of the world plateau style keys are "special order" and disallows a flutist from trying many "identical" flutes and choosing the best one. But whether or not open-holes really make a positive difference is a topic that has long been discussed and debated. No one has yet proved that the tone quality is affected by the air exiting through the open holes in the keys. Many flute builders believe that the key heights must be incrementally increased by fractions of a millimeter if you have plateau (closed) keys to allow proper venting for tone and tuning. You have to try for yourself and see what suits your needs. Summary: You can use closed hole if you prefer and not play contemporary music; quite a few professional performers have used closed hole and played standard repertoire. However if you wish to play contemporary or avantgarde music, or have the option of special fingerings for colour changes, then you will need an open-hole flute. _________________ Quotes from top quality flute books state things like: Nancy Toff: from google books:
_________________________________ ----------------------- Controversial Robert Dick quote that is pro-open-hole: Point that RobertDick is making; ----------------------------- Also you can read more on this by scrolling down 1/4 of the long page to: "2.1.27 What kind of flute option is best, open or closed-hole?" ______________________ ___________________ __________________________ Another good quote: from Campbell's book on woodwinds:
Note the above text: According to Albert Cooper "closed hole flutes generally tend to be better in tune than open-hole flutes". Now when were those pitch tendencies measured and on what brand of flute? Hmmmm......inquiring minds need to research further.
After testing minutely and carefully with a tuner, I found the only pitch descrepancy was on E2 at pianissimo where the difference that plugging the open-holes made on the bendability of the pitch was less than 1 cent on the tuner. I can live with that. :>) Best, Jennifer Cluff 2010 Back to Jen's homepage |
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