Irish flute

The term Irish Flute (Irish: fliúít Gaelach) or "Scottish Flute" (in a Scottish setting) refers to a conical-bore, simple-system wooden flute of the type favoured by classical flautists of the early 19th century, or to a flute of modern manufacture derived from this design (often with modifications to optimize its use in Irish Traditional Music or Scottish Traditional Music). The vast majority of traditional Irish flute players use a wooden, simple-system flute.

Although it was, and is, played in every county in Ireland, the flute has a very strong heartland in the mid-western counties of Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon, with South Fermanagh, East Galway, Clare and West Limerick also having a reputation.

Physical characteristics

The Irish flute is a simple system, transverse flute which plays a diatonic (Major) scale as the tone holes are successively uncovered. Most flutes from the Classical era, and some of modern manufacture include metal keys and additional tone holes to achieve partial or complete chromatic tonality. Due to its wooden construction, characteristic embouchure and direct (keyless) fingering, the simple system flute has a distinctly different timbre from the Western concert flute. Most Irish flute players tend to strive for a dark and reedy tone in comparison to classical flautists. Though most commonly pitched in the key of D, simple system flutes are available pitched in other keys, and are often heard in Irish music pitched in E flat, B flat and C. Although referred to as a D flute, this is a non-transposing instrument, so if you finger C, a concert-pitch C is sounded. The name D-flute comes from the fact that the simplest 6-hole wooden flute has D as its lowest note and plays the scale of D without any cross-fingering. The E-flat, B flat and C versions are transposing instruments.