Flute Stuff
As mentioned on my home page, I play a Rudall & Rose Patent Head flute
restored by Hammy Hamilton . I
have sent the particulars to Terry
McGee , a flute maker / player in Australia, who has done extensive
research on wooden flutes. He has a pile of information on Rudall & Rose on
his Rudall, Rose,
Carte & Co - the Eight Key Flute Years page and the results of his
ongoing research are on his Conclusions
site. You can see the raw data he has collected on his Raw Data page.
My flute is number 5353.
This is a scan of the whole flute in its four sections. All keys except the
bottom 4 on the foot joint work. I haven't bothered getting them repaired
because they aren't really needed in playing traditional music. This scan was
done before I sent the flute off to Hammy to get a new short F natural key put
on and some other work done. (Click on the images to get a larger picture)
Here's a look at the flute since Hammy did his work. As you can see, he did a great job. The Flute now looks and sounds 100% better. I still didn't bother with the bottom 4 pewter plugs (allowing me to get to Bb below bottom D), mainly because time was tight and I can't see how I'd be able to stretch to use them anyway.
A look at the Patent Head coat of arms and the Rudall & Rose mark on the
flute (it says Rudall & Rose, No. 1 Tavistock Street, Covent Graden,
London, 5353):
A "before" detail scan of the Eb key. I did this because as you can see there was a crack through the mount for the key....
And the "after" scan. Hammy filled the crack so you can still see where it was, but it's smooth as silk and tight as a cup now.
Here are a few tunes I've just learned. They're from the playing of Rufus Guinchard, a fiddle player now deceased, from Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula. The first tune is Prosper's Jig, named for Hayward Prosper, a shipmate of Rufus' on the SS Ethie who whistled part of it; Rufus made up the rest. I follow it with Old Bill White's Tune. Bill White was a fiddler from Sandy Cove, Newfoundland. To finish off the set I play Lizzie's Jig. There's no notes in the book, so I can only assume Lizzie was a fellow musician who gave the tune to Rufus. I've broken them up into their own bits for those of you who are unlucky enough to be stuck with dial up.
Prosper's Jig (518 kb MP3)
Old Bill White's Tune (524 kb MP3)
Lizzie's Jig (536 mB MP3)
These tunes come from Kelly Russell's recently published Kelly Russell's Collection, The Fiddle Music of Newfoundland and Labrador Volume 1. I've been going through it, picking out flute friendly tunes and have come up with loads. If ever I get a high speed connection, I hope to be able to update this page with new sets, so check back later and see if I've done it. Until I get the high speed connection, updates may be few and far between.