Cyberknight wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 11:22 am
And do you deny that over time, more and more makers began adding keys to the flutes in keeping with 19th-century tradition, so that now, there are more makers making keyed flutes than there were in the 70s? Because those two points are the only historical claims I'm making. If I'm wrong, please tell me exactly what points I'm wrong about.
Yes, you are wrong about that. There are far more keyless Irish flutes around today than there ever used to be. There are makers who will make a keyed flute, but most of them still make more keyless flutes than keyed flutes, because there is a big market for them, and of course they are cheaper. The keyless flute is capable enough that it can be used to make music at the highest levels. When you complicate it in order to address chromaticity limitations you also introduce disadvantages. For some players it is worth it, and for others not.
It is also worth bearing in mind that half holing, particularly on the D#/Eb note is much harder on a flute than on a whistle, so much so that I'd claim that the six hole whistle basically IS fully chromatic through the use of relatively easy half holing, whereas the six hole flute of the Irish style really isn't. You can modify the keyless flute design to make the tone holes larger, etc, as with a bansuri, for example, to address this, or you can add a foot key, or you could try adding extra holes along the lines you are suggesting. Everything has been tried and various solutions shake out, some more popular than others.
Cyberknight wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 11:22 am
And yes, we have been reading the same discussion, and no one has even attempted to refute my argument for why extra holes are superior to keys. Like, my argument very well could be wrong, but no one even offered a refutation on that point. I guess you haven't been reading the discussion carefully, or you would know this.
I gave you a very comprehensive explanation for why extra holes are problematic. You stubbornly ignored it. In a nutshell, extra holes without keys constrain the placement of fingers on the instrument, which is very problematic ergonomically. For most people, this is so much so that it is disqualifying. With keys, the instrument can be designed such that the keys are closed by default, thereby leaving fingers free to stabilize the instrument in the location that matches the players hand size and flexibility requirements.
But keys also introduce complexity, cost and more possibilities for leaks, so many players in ITM decide that the capabilities of a keyless instrument are more than sufficient for the vast majority of tunes, and they put in the time to learn to half hole, cross finger, or otherwise improvise (by note substitution, say) to avoid notes that may be problematic for them. As a result, they get to enjoy an instrument that is reliable, ergonomically excellent, and relatively inexpensive. In the case of whistles, they are so inexpensive that you can have a quiver of whistles in different keys, allowing you to play virtually all Irish tunes, for less than the cost of a keyless flute ... which itself is an inexpensive instrument.
So my advice would be to spend time practicing half holing, and spend money on whistles in a few complementary keys, rather than spending so much time typing and spending money on an obscure and more expensive instrument with poor ergonomics that still won't give you as useful a range as a set of whistles in different keys.
Now I'll take my own advice regarding the typing!