J.S. Bach Badinerie on Rudall Carte & Co. late 8-key wooden flute

[williamswhistlepipes]

hello again jem have you seen the fellow with this flute on piping live its on alba tv on iplayer at about the 24 min mark..so what type of bore dose it have and how much do they sell for.

all the best james

[Jemtheflute]

@williamswhistlepipes: Yes, that's Calum with this very same flute, though with a different, modern head, as I have written before. The body bore is cylindrical and the head is Bohm's "parabolic" design. basically the body is a typical Rudall Carte Bohm flute, but with 8-key simple system tone-holes and keys. There are very few of these around which will play at modern concert pitch; I've seen quite afew high pitch examples go through on eBay...

[Jemtheflute]

... but they don't command very high prices because of their reduced usefulness for present day ensemble use. I've never seen another one built for A=440. It'd be very difficult to place a value on it - most modern trad players would prefer a conoid bodied flute, so although rare, this type is less sought after by players, perhaps reducing its sale value.... but I'd say it ought to be worth over £2k. What one might have to pay to acquire one if another could be found, who knows.

[Jemtheflute]

Oh, and thanks for drawing my attention to that Alba programme - I'd not have known of it otherwise. It's the 3rd one of the series of 3, BTW, easily found by a Google search on "BBC Alba Piping Live Episode 3", but it probably won't be available on the BBC i-player for very long (4 more days @ 28:12:11)

[Jemtheflute]

Calum Stewart has now made a superb album (with duo partner, guitarist Heikki Bourgault) exclusively using this flute - with a new, modern head and after some other minor surgery to improve the intonation. The album can be obtained from their website (link added in the "see more" blurb above) or check them out on MySpace. Very strongly recommended!

[MrJamesAlto]

Wow - what a low octave sound. It has a woody warmth that my Boehm (more rounded and homogenically smooth) just doesn't.

The Rudall sound is rather fascinating me. Thanks for sharing!

[Lisnageeragh]

That is a realy nice instrument....would be great for the trad market!

[Jemtheflute]

@Lisnageeragh - indeed! You obviously didn't read the video blurb saying what has become of this flute. Click the double broad arrow below the hit-count and skip to the last, added paragraph. I also made a comment myself to much the same effect. I can add an update that Calum is now using a wooden headjoint by German maker Thomas Mancke in the flute. It couldn't be in better hands!

[Jemtheflute]

BTW, there are several clips of Calum playing it, with the Bigio head, I think, given the date, on the channel of cindarellissima, as well as on his own channel, calumfrancisstewart,and in any performances you can find by the band Mabon.

(For some reason I can't post direct links in this comment! You'll have to use the search facility.)

[atonalsenfoni]

i like that, maybe i will play like this;) i have same this flute,(one seperate my flute have b foot) can you explaine,what kind of flute, is this early orchst.? or late 8 key flute? whats that mean? my seller said to me boehm flute..but?

[Jemtheflute]

@atonalsenfoni: Hi. Thanks for your comment. I would need to see good pictures to be able to tell you anything about your flute, and here isn't the place for that discussion. Please contact me off YT and I'll help if I can.

[holmesway]

Nice Jem. It's interesting to hear this flute in full flow, well played. It confirms too that I prefer the conical sound too. (don't we all?)

H

[Jemtheflute]

Thanks! "Full flow" is a bit generous, though - as previously noted, I was missing holes etc...... Other clips (of trad material) I did at the same time were even messier - too much so to publish. I take it you have met the flute since Calum acquired it? Now there's a player who can play it well!

[rondoweiss]

I hope your better at repairing than playing.

I would not be pleased with that version, but I liked your audacity.

[Jemtheflute]

I wasn't "pleased" with it either, but if you read my caveats in the notes and my other responses you'd see that I have a pretty fair idea of where my playing is - or isn't!

My repairing is probably better than your spelling/syntax or accuracy of historical information! ;-)

[Jemtheflute]

Viewers of this clip may be interested to know that this flute now belongs to young Scots wooden flute virtuoso Calum Stewart (search him out here on YT and on Myspace) who has had a new head made for it by Robert Bigio.

[scarletdaisies]

That was pretty!

[Jemtheflute]

Thanks! I wish I could play it really well, but I never do the serious practice required.......

[oscarlovesimsgames]

Wow awessome playing i love it

[Ultimoexilio]

I like your playing very much.

Rock on, Jem

[sk8bitchng]

oh god,this flute is so perfect...but dode,your a so bad player....

[Jemtheflute]

Yeah, it's a lovely flute, which was the point of the clip. I'm not classically trained and have no pretensions to be more than a dilettante when playing Baroque music! I hadn't been practicing at all plus I was having a bad embouchure day the day I had to do the clips and no time to do repeat takes to get it better - the first half-way decent one had to do! And at least it's a proper flute, not a durn tin typewriter!

[tomtomscott]

Well, as a completely impartial and unbiased party. I would disagree, a few slip-ups doesn't equate to a bad player.

I thought that was very good Jem :D.