(No, that isn't me...)
For most of the 1970s, I studied the Boehm flute with Bonnie Lake, a fine player and inspiring teacher, at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. During those years and for some time afterward, I pursued an interest in modern jazz and free improvisation while at the same time teaching myself to play the recorder and soaking up everything I could find relating to Medieval and Renaissance music.
After a number of years devoted more exclusively to church music and composition studies, I returned to flute playing in the mid 1990s and applied myself to traditional Celtic music played on the simple - system wooden flute and a variety of tin whistles. These instruments, along with various sizes of baroque recorder, were featured in my incidental music for a number of Shakespeare's plays performed by school - age children.
In the new century, I have returned to the modern concert flute and its standard repertoire, and have continued to explore free improvisation utilizing modern, historical, and folk instruments.
MY INSTRUMENTS
My modern Boehm flute was made by the W. T. Armstrong company of Elkhart, Indiana. It is an open hole (French), thick wall (.018) instrument made of sterling (.925) silver with a B foot joint. The headjoint (also by Armstrong) is thin wall (.014) sterling silver and has an 18K gold embrochure plate and riser. I use an Olnhausen ring insert, which improves the response and intonation of the entire instrument in a truly amazing way.
I am an avid collector of older Boehm flutes and have quite a few sitting around, some of which are unplayable and awaiting restoration. The playable one I like the best is a Selmer (U.S.A) flute in coin silver (.900) which may well come from the days when that firm was still located in New York City. George Haynes of the famous Boston flute - making family was overseeing Selmer's flute shop at the time and even temporarily moved the shop to Boston in order to have the craftsmen trained at the William Haynes factory there. This flute plays just like a production model Haynes of the 1920s and has the same dark velvety sound. Other instruments of interest include a German silver (nickel) flute by the Harry Pedler company of Elkhart, Indiana. Pedler was comissioned by Hollywood to build all the woodwinds and brass used in the film version of "The Music Man." I am reasonably certain that my flute is older than that, and was probably made during the First World War.
My favorite wooden flute is a keyless Irish - style flute in D in cherrywood by Ralph Sweet. I use high whistles by Tony Dixon, low whistles by Daniel Bigamon, and bamboo flutes by Patrick Olwell.
My favorite recorders:
Soprano: Mollenhauer "Traumfloete" (maple) designed by Adriana Breukink
Alto:: Mollenhauer after J. C. Denner (olivewood), Zen-On "Bressan" (wih cedar insert and custom voicing by Lee Collins)
Tenor: Dolmetsch Voice Flute (tenor in D) after Stanesby, Jr. (rosewood)
THE FUTURE
I would like to acquire an alto flute in the not - too - distant future, and eventually a bass flute as well. The idea of a wooden headjoint or even an entire Boehm - system flute made of wood is intriguing. My Dolmetsch voice flute is the most magnificent recorder I have ever played and I hope to one day own a whole set of Dolmetsch Stanesby recorders in every key. At some point in the future, I hope to learn to play the keval; it is the vertically - held rim - blown flute of the Balkans, which has been used so effectively by JohnTavener in his recent works. And as far as vintage instruments go, I am interested in finding a Carte system flute (especially the "Guards' Model") and a German "Reform Flute" from the early years of the twentieth century.
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