Choosing a New Flute: Open and Closed Holes
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- One of the main choices facing you when deciding on a new flute is whether to go for open holes or closed holes. Two of our flute consultants, Adam Clifford and Hugh Roberts, discuss the history, debunk some misconceptions and talk about the benefits of each.
⏩ Jump to:
Misconceptions - 4:00
Benefits of each system - 7:20
🔗 Flutes featured in this video:
Nagahara 20k (closed holes): justflut.es/chi
Yamaha YFL-312 (closed holes): justflut.es/bbf
Yamaha-YFL-372 (open holes): justflut.es/hxb
🌅 Orange Dawn by Ian Clarke: justflut.es/sve
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I like this approach, you don't reveal which is open and this is wise decision. Musician must know by heart what sound he is chasing, and choice needs to be done only with feeling, not with advice from other musicians.
The difference in the scales should be mentioned. All flutes have a compromised scale, but open hole flutes have an even more compromised scale because of the extra venting (sharpening) caused by the five perforated keys. The tone hole positions and/or sizes are adjusted to compensate. Closed hole flutes have consistent venting and therefore have the tone holes in the best positions for a better overall scale. Brannen makes a model with closed left hand keys and open right hand keys for a better third octave. Great closed hole players include Marcel Moyse, Severino Gazzelloni, John Wion, and Sebastian Jacot.
Very true, although the subject of scale is another topic altogether! And as there’s no such thing as “perfect”, all flutes require a certain amount of adjustment by the player. There are pro players on all brands in all sorts of configurations who play their instrument in tune; you simply choose your tool and learn how to get the best from it!
Great informative video. Thank you for the unbiased review.
Our pleasure! We're happy you enjoyed it!
As a very small handed adult,Thank you so much for making me feel good about playing a closed hole flute. .
May I ask a few questions?
1. Would the closed-hole flutes be better suitable for marching bands, when the musicians must wear gloves? I presume that would be a better option.
2. As for the open-hole flutes and closed-hole flutes, they are somewhat similar to regular clarinets and the "plateaux clarinets"; plateaux clarinets have no rings or open holes, but have keys instead covering all holes. Very much like the closed-hole flute keys, or the saxophone keys. Such clarinets are suited for marching bands, players wearing gloves (for shows, or during the winter), and players with some sort of illness, injury or disability.
3. Then regarding the bending of notes; it was shown in the video on the open-hole flute. However, even on a closed holes instrument like the saxophone, bending and even glissandos are not only possible, but can sound fabulous. (Check out Johnny Hodges on an alto saxophone). It is done by slowly sliding down the key(s) with the side of the finger, instead of pressing them "straight down" with the tip of the finger. Considering that bends and glissandos are possible on a saxophone, I would presume it is possible to do them on the closed-hole flute too?
(Passion flower by Johnny Hodges: th-cam.com/video/_ww-XDuaxcw/w-d-xo.html )
Absolutely! Yes, closed hole flutes would be preferable for musicians wearing gloves, or sealing the holes with silicone plugs. You’re correct, closed hole flutes are analogous to plateau clarinets - the difference with saxophones is that the key spacing would make it impossible to play an “open holed” saxophone, which is why they are “closed hole”. Also bear in mind the evolution of these instruments: the clarinet and flute evolved from Baroque and Classical instruments that were essentially a tube with holes in, whereas the saxophone was a more modern invention without this background.
Regarding the bending of notes - it is virtually impossible to note bend on flute by slowly opening the key, due to the smaller size of the tonehole and lower key heights. Bending via uncovering open holes is much, much easier!
First was open.. 100 % the difference in sound is huge! I personally don't enjoy very much the sound of closed holes.. It's like from another room
Even on an open hole flute several keys will still have closed hole pads. Also in many cases the player's fingers will be so close to an open key that the open hole could be effectively closed?
I say that flute #1 was the open hole. Open hole flutes tend to have an open-box, slightly more hollow but broader sound. But, the _world may never know._
I upgraded to an open hole flute because my teacher told me to, and played it for many years, but after hearing some experts say the same as you I got some plugs, hoping that they would improve my lowest notes which have always been a bit hit and miss. And they did. Do you think there is a significant different between open hole plus plugs and closed hole?
If you’re a purist, using plugs will ever so slightly affect the scale (the internal tuning, if you like) of the flute, although you can argue that no flute is perfect and every instrument requires the player to adjust for certain notes. So it’s debatable as to whether this is “significant”, as your question asks. If it works for you and it helps improve the lowest notes and you’re happy with the sound, it’s doubtful that an audience would hear the difference.
Thank you for a very considered answer
Thank you so much for this. I am just about to my first flute and confused about the difference between open and closed, so I think I'll buy a closed hole one as all I want to do is play some tunes.
So glad it helped! ❤️ If you just want to play some nice tunes, go for closed holes!
Was the second flute the open holed one?
We’re not saying, it’s a rhetorical question! 😉
The second one sounded richer with more colour , it had a better tone to my ears so I’m guessing the second one was the open holed flute?
Thanks for commenting! ❤️
It’s interesting that you link the concept of open holes to a better tone. One of the reasons we made this video was to challenge the idea that open holes = “better” sound.
Many players associate open holes with a “better sound” because they probably started on a closed hole flute and were told to “upgrade” to open holes - thus the mental link between “open holes” and “better” is made, when in reality this isn’t necessarily the case.
We won’t reveal which flute is which but we like hearing people’s thoughts as to which they think is open and why ☺️
If a closed hole flute doesn’t sound much different to an open hole flute then note bending possibilities seem to be the only advantage.
The audible difference, if any, of the tone quality to a highly variable human ear seems to be minimal and subjective.
Can any difference in quality of tone be detected by sound equipment, in the way that top-quality hi-fi can be measured, but the difference won’t be noticeable to a human ear?
Also, Can any difference between tone quality of wooden and metal flutes also be measured by instruments rather than human ear?
It was kind of bogus to not confirm flute #1 and #2. It leaves my senses unsatisfied. I have my suspicions, but given nuances of recording equipment there’s no way of know if what I heard was true. I’d consider that unfaithful to your viewers.
Thanks for your comment! We deliberately left it as an open question, to make the point that there is not a significant tonal difference between the two. If we answered the question, we felt it would lead to confirmation bias: “ah yes, that flute sounds better because it has open holes”. Which flute do you think had the open holes?
The difference is so minute, it's completely negligible. It may may be the case that the musician was playing them so slightly differently.