Is there a difference between the two, in the sound and volume wise?
The first chair flutist in my band is just incredible... I've tried sooo hard to play like her. she can play with an awesome volume but keep a nice sound and it's very Vibarto which I've been working on, but I just still haven't been able to get to sound like that.
The open holes have no effect on tone or volume. That is all in the headjoint. The open holes are used for pitch shading, extended effects, and to allow some notes in the 4th octave. Unless you are going to be playing some of this stuff, you might as well have a closed hole instrument.
Well, yes the embouchure and air stream also have an impact, and you must learn to control those to allow a large dynamic range, as well as a good tone, but I was speaking only of equipment related things that have an impact. In my experiemce with them, Gemmies do tend to be more limited musically, and the fact that you are playing other instruments (particularly brass instruments) almost certainly is not helping your embouchure.
I don't recommend specific models. Every player is different and will want something different from whatever instrument they play, so while I have my favorites, I can't honestly say that one flute is the best for whatever amount of money, as much of it is personal preference. Why do you want a new flute? How much money are you looking to spend? Any requirements (openhole, B foot, etc.)? We can put together a list of brands for you to try that meet your requirements, but in the end, you will need to play test the various options against each other to see what you like.
Re: Open holed Flutes Vs. Closed holed 19:25 on Wednesday, August 16, 2006
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Account Closed (3248 points)
I do beleive this subject has been brought up many times in the past on this forum. You may want to do a search in the box and you will have a lot to read from.
A very good suggestion...I didn't realize there was a search feature on this forum (though now that I look, I see it's rather obvious). Thank you Kara. And to the original poster, beware of extremely old posts as this forum was a bit crazy at one point, and you never know how valid some of the information you turn up from acouple years ago might be. If you stay within 6 or 8 months (maybe even a year or more) of today, you should be okay....Just take everything with a grain of salt, and ask questions if you need to.
Oh, okay. I didn't relize that there were other ones.
Well I'm going to see if I can get my flute to be open holed, I think I might be able to just get it modified. And I'm getting a new head joint... the rim of mine is kind of rusted or something. It's all brown around the inner rim.
I do not think it is feasible and in any case could cost more than the price of new instrument. I also suggets you eead prevous threads on the subject.
Re: Open holed Flutes Vs. Closed holed 19:56 on Thursday, August 17, 2006
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Account Closed (3248 points)
Do you think making the holes open on it is going to make it play any better?
You are much better off in purchasing a whole new better flute. It is a waste of money in my opinon to get a new headjoint for a student Gemeinahardt flute. You can easily clean the one you have.
I completely agree with the others. The amount that you would have to pay to get the mechanism converted (not really, converted...Most likely replaced) by a French key mech would be astronomical in comparison to the purchase price of the flute. It's not as simple as just drilling holes in some of the keys...You would actually have to have a new mech made (or possibly find one that fit the scale of the existing body), which could be extremely expensive. Even on a fine, handmade flute, oftentimes it is not worth the cost to try to convert it, and it is best just to sell that flute and buy another. A new headjoint certainly can make a difference, but if you're going to spend a lot of money buying a better head, you are probably better off stepping up to a better flute as a whole, rather than putting a professional head on a mediocre body. Once you have a body that you are happy with, it makes sense only to replace the head, but putting an excellent head on a student Gemmie is only going to have so much impact.
ahh..i see too. i've always wondered about open and closed. okaay! you are right. i seem to play 4th octave notes with a ease with my open flute than my gemi closed one. Stuff is making sense. I've always wondered if tone affected open and closed. Hmm..but the headjoint. right. I think i've heard one of you guys saying the headjoint is like the heart of the flute? ahhhh..i see.^_^
Yeah, the head is the heart for all things sound related (tone, colours, etc), as well as things like response, and part of the resistance. Of course, it wouldn't be a flute without the body, so that also plays a key role...
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