Method for the One-Keyed Flute. Janice Dockendorff Boland

tight. If the tenons are wrapped with thread, adjust the wrappings for a proper fit.

      

Never put the flute away wet in a horizontal position. Lindsay (1828–30) says that doing so will cause the water to accumulate on one side of the tube, expand that place, and throw the instrument out of tune for the moment; the flute will eventually rot from such treatment.

      

Play a new flute or a newly acquired antique flute only ten minutes on the first day and gradually increase the playing time over a ten-day period. This allows the moisture on the player's breath to permeate the wood evenly, which helps to avoid cracking or warping the bore.

      

Lightly grease the tenons before each assembly. Use cork grease, petroleum jelly, or even Chapstick. Here is a recipe for homemade tenon grease: melt one part petroleum jelly (Vaseline) with one part beeswax, mix, and pour into a jar to cool.

      

Swab the flute after each use to remove all moisture. A silk cloth is especially good for absorbing moisture; cotton is also good. Silk cloths on a long string, made for oboists, are available at music stores.

      

If the flute is not swabbed or taken apart, place it upright on a peg so that the water may easily drain off.

      

Wipe the outside surface with a soft, lint-free cloth.

      

Be sure the tenons and sockets are dry before putting the flute away.

      

If the pad on the key is sticky, apply a little talcum powder to the key pad.

      

Keep the flute in a plastic bag when flying in the pressurized cabin of an aircraft. When the air pressure drops, the moisture is quickly sucked from a wooden flute.

      

Oil a wooden flute regularly (about once a month) inside and out. A new flute will need to be oiled even more often until it is “played in.”

Oiling the Flute

      What type of oil should be used? The answer to this question depends in part on the flute you own. If you are playing an antique flute, it will be helpful to know that Quantz (1752) recommended almond oil. Tromlitz (1791) preferred rapeseed oil (also known today as canola oil), saying almond oil was too light and disappeared too quickly.

      If you are playing a modern replica, contact the maker and ask what type of oil was used when the flute was crafted. It would be logical to use the same oil. Almond, canola, peanut, and olive oil are among the oils preferred today.

      Linseed oil has been somewhat controversial, both in the eighteenth century and today. Lindsay (1828–30) recommended oiling the bore of the flute with cold-drawn linseed oil with a feather. However, Tromlitz (1791) found linseed oil to have too much substance and said it is known to form a crust inside the flute which changes the bore and spoils the flute. Flute maker Rod Cameron warns against the use of linseed oil, saying it is a hardening oil. Flute maker Ardal Powell reports that some makers of modern replicas use raw (not boiled) linseed oil as a finish because it forms a water repellent skin; these flutes can subsequently be oiled with raw linseed oil or other oils. I recommend avoiding the use of linseed oil unless it is recommended by your flute maker.

      Before you begin to oil the flute, be sure the wood is dry—don't oil the flute immediately after you've played it. To protect the key pad from being damaged by oil, remove the key. Then be sure the key hole is free of oil before replacing the key. Or you may follow the advice of Lindsay (1828–30), who recommends placing a piece of paper, doubled, under the key pad before the oil is applied to keep the pad from absorbing the oil. Also consider removing the cork in the head joint before you begin oiling.

      Now you are ready to oil the flute. First wrap an ordinary pipe cleaner around the end of a wooden chopstick to form a tight spiral about 1.25 inches (3 centimeters) long. Dip the stick into the oil and wipe it partially dry, then use it as a paintbrush in a spiral screw-thread motion down and through the bore of each joint. Tromlitz (1791) cautions us to use oil sparingly, saying that too much oil deprives the wood of its elasticity and damages the tone.

      After letting the oil sit inside the bore of the flute for about half an hour, wipe out any excess with a paper towel rolled around a wooden chopstick.

      Tromlitz (1791, p. 40) admonishes those who, believing that oil improves the tone, apply an excessive amount so that “it runs about inside” the flute.

¹ See Trornlitz, Unterricht (1791), transl. Powell, 33–37 to learn how to wrap the tenons with thread.

² See Tromlitz, Unterricht (1791), transl. Powell, 33 for a discussion of why the flute is thrown out of tune when exchanging the upper middle joints.

³ Traverso-player Christopher Krueger told me that most surviving eighteenth-century flutes with corps de réchange show significant wear on only one corp, and the playing characteristics vary considerably with each one. Personal communication, October, 1997. Also see Tromlitz, Unterricht (1791), transl. Powell, 33–37 for more information about corps de réchange.

       CHAPTER II

       LEARNING TO PLAY THE ONE-KEYED FLUTE

      Illustration from Jacques Hotteterre, Principes de la flûte traversière….

      Paris: Christophe Ballard, 1707.

      Engraving by Bernard Picart. Perhaps a portrait of Jacques Hotteterre.

ON GETTING STARTED

       He who wishes to excel in music must feel in himself a perpetual and untiring love for it, a willingness and eagerness to spare neither industry nor pains, and to bear steadfastly all the difficulties that present themselves in this mode of life.

      Quantz (1752, p. 15)

      You are embarking on a mission to learn a instrument totally different from the modern flute. The one-keyed flute is not inferior to the modern Boehm-system flute, as has been suggested by some twentieth-century writers; it is merely different. The flute in its one-keyed version suited the needs of music and musical expression for well over one hundred years. It is our challenge to explore that expressive capacity.

      In this exploration, it is important to study the early flute tutors, for there is much to be learned. This text is full of references to the more important eighteenth-century tutors. However, we cannot simply mimic historical evidence, as ideas changed over the years and much of this historical information is conflicting. So in addition to studying historical references, the player will find it both necessary and rewarding to take cues from the flute itself and from its music, and to be influenced by the work done by players all over the world who have found a personal expression and brought this wooden flute to life in concerts and recordings.

How to Proceed