I saw this and it caught me off guard a little....why even MAKE this?? I think the lever on the main body would be a pain to play on....then again it would be fun to hit a nice low Bb. Other than that, it seems completely useless...just thought id share with the rest of the class.
Gemeinhardt did it also... I think I have heard it called a 'flute d'amore' unless that's something completely different... *shrug* Same reason they made a simple-system flute with range to LOW A!! Beats me!
no, that's it suzie. It's got the same bore as a c flute but has that extra range sort of like an alto. weren't they common in the baroque era? then again, wasn't everything around in the baroque era?
I've seen most of those things before... One of the larger flutes (this one I believe http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/2302/contra_flute_pvc.jpg ) is manufactured of pvc and uses rubberbands in lieu of springs... Funky! Jay Easton has an exquisite collection and even includes some flutes with his collection which consists primarily of saxophones both large and small and some clarinets, too! Jay Easton played a concert in Minneapolis when I was living in MN (I believe it was late 2004 or early 2005 - I may still have the saxophone pictures around here) and my roommate went, borrowed my camera, and drooled over meeting this guy for about a week (yes, my roommate was male lol - it was more of an admiration thing (I THINK!))! Ah yes! I forgot about those Chinese flutes with the "opportunity" to have 3 footjoints! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! *beats head on wall* Now, if they had 4 footjoints MAYBE I'd consider getting one (just kidding!) as the D foot is quite interesting... Actually I keep forgetting to invest in another jeweler's saw to hack off this junker flute's footjoint and make it a D foot! =) *ahem* In bassoon land, a friend of mine (who was the principal bassoonist in the San Diego symphony a few yrs back) had both a $40k Heckel and a contrabassoon which were both quite interesting! A friend in PA has an Eb flute which looks JUST like a regular flute but a little bit smaller or makes you look like you have HUGE man-hands (for us ladies, anyhow lol!)! Ab clarinets are hard as hell to come by and I think Pichard was producing them for some time... I used to see a few of them (still rarely) on eBay but not anymore... Taragato's are Hungarian instruments and look (in my opinion) like a mix between a soprano saxophone and Bb clarinet in shape. C melody saxophones came in alto and tenor styles... Difference is the shape of the neck and some folks liked them to play flute parts, etc. since they're in the key of C. The Grafton alto saxophones (plastic) are worth thousands if in good condition. Problem with that, however, is that they're PLASTIC and BREAK. WTF were they thinking?! **I'm done putting in little tidbits of info now lol!!**
These are awesome for jazz work, but you'll never actually run into one($$$$). Real shame, too, since it really gets the basically the same job done as the Alto but is tons easier to play.
Why make it? because you can.
Some argue like Rampal.. why have a flute with a B foot and others from the even older school would argue as to why have one with any notes below a low D.
Suzie, thanks so much for the link to the eBay seller's crazy set of instruments. I LOVE to see instruments of all sorts. I loved the 600 pound saxophone!
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