Michael Copeland Irish Flute

[s2maur]

ITEM HAS SOLD ON EBAY

THANKS FOR LOOKING.

Edited June 24, 2004 by s2maur

[Steven]

Actually, Michael Copeland has started making keyless flutes again. I don't think it's quite the same design he used back in the 80s, but it's similar.

 

I got a chance to try an older Copeland flute last year. It seemed very nice, but it was so different from mine (a Copley) that I had a hard time playing it. The owner sure made it sound good though!

 

Steven

[s2maur]

Steven,

I just rec'd a notice from a very good friend that Copeland has started to produce flutes. I believe the production of these will be overseen by michael and made to his specifications simular to his later whisltles.

He originally made his whisltles and flutes himself but do to health reasons quit making flutes altogether and modified his whistle making to accomodate his health recovery.

I'm glad to hear and see that he is now again in a position to produce flutes in additon to his whistles. It is good to have competition among the makers if only to increase the in hand time.

As to quality of playing between the old versus new I will have to say that it would be a subjective view of any player since the human anatomy and tonal tastes are so greatly varied. Compared to all of the other flutes I have played this was the best.

The only thing that I had to get used to was the amount of air I needed to get from one phrase to the next since the bore was the biggest I had encountered. One thing was for sure is that it could be heard over the other instruments in an acoustic setting. That had never happened with my earlier flutes.

[Steven]

Yeah, I don't know who's doing the actual handwork on the new flutes. I thought Michael only had one other person working in the shop with him (Jim), but there might be others. I've never actually gone to visit the shop, even though it's close by. Of course, they recently moved across the river into New Jersey, which makes it even less convenient....

 

As for the quality of the flutes, either old or new, I wasn't at all saying they weren't high quality. The one I saw (and tried to play) was clearly of a very high quality. It's just that the embouchure was so different from the one I was used to playing that it was hard for me to adjust. Michael Copeland and David Copley obviously modeled their flutes after quite different designs, and then probably made their own modifications to the designs in different directions. Both make a great flute, but it's not easy to switch back and forth unless you're a very accomplished player (which I'm not).

 

In any case, given that the whistle and flute came well before concertina for me, I'm sad to see someone giving up the flute, even if you're not giving up the music. Unfortunately, having just recently bought my concertina, I have nothing left in my musical instrument fund....

 

Steven