The Boehm Flute - Some Imperfection and Potentials for Redesign

Resonance measurements on a Boehm flute show how the headJoint taper compensates for the effects of changes in lip cover.Comparative tests are described using a parallel headjoint and a smooth bore flute.Blown spectra indicate the relevance to flute performance. BOEHM' S FLUTEThe flute as we know it today was patented by Theobald Boehm in i836.Boehm's new design represented a radical change from the existing baroque flute.This had a body with a conical bore.tapered down towards the end, with a cylindrical headjvoint.The holes were small and covered by the fingers, except that later versions had one or more keys.used primarily for tri_lls and ornaments.The new Boehm flute, on the other hand.had a cylindrical bore and tapered headJoint.with much larger tone holes covered by pads.Although the Boehm flute has a body made from a cylindrical tube.the geometry inside is complex due to the fact that each of the flat pads closes on to a, tone hole chimney filed to the main tube.This factor.together with the complications of the end corrections make it difficult ' to calculate the precise positions of the tone holes.huch of Boehm's efforts in designing his new flute were directed towards the determination of the best hole positions.He did this by blowing a headJoint attached to tubes of different length.made up from sets of short tubes which could be connected together.