Truth of the flute - Materials cannot change the flute sound.

Some blind test had led to the following results: Materials cannot change the flute sound. Focusing on such topics, I will introduce some of the truth of the flute.

Table of contents

1. Materials of flutes
2. Results of blind tests
3. Why not change the sound of flute depending on the material ?
4. What part of the instrument affects the sound ?
5. Galway / Moyse
6. Concern for the future and measures
7. Reference

1. Materials of flutes

Modern flutes are made of wood, nickel silver, silver, gold or platinum, etc. A lot of musicians and listener feel different sounds of flute depending on the material. Many sellers, described as if the sound is different depending on the material, sell expensive flutes.

But, James Galway says "I cannot tell the difference (of materials) when I am listening to someone play." And, Marce Moyse has continued to play with nickel silver flutes of his life. Hiroaki Kanda, principal flutist of the current NHK, is using the wooden flute.

Like the audio, I was thinking we may have been put on the cajolery of the seller. In fact, there is some experimental results that we cannot tell the difference of materials of flutes. I introduce them.

2. Results of blind tests

The following are the results of of blind tests.

1. SILVER, GOLD, PLATINUM - AND THE SOUND OF THE FLUTE:
This paper reports on experiments done with 7 different flute materials and 110 testpersons, where the price of the instruments is between 3,000 - 73,000 euro(!) �¨ There was no significant difference in the top and bottom of the price.

• The same maker, Muramatsu's 7 flute �Fa silver coated, full silver, 9 carat gold, 14 carat gold, 24 carat gold, platinum coated and all-platinum flute
• 7 professional flutists (members of Viennese orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra)
• The Judge of the soundcolor of a flute with 111 persons.

The result is here:

instrument	sound quality (averaged)	Brahms	Bizet
9 carat gold	2.16	+ + + +	+ + + + + + -
24 carat gold	2.38	+ + + - -	+ + + - - - -
Platinum	2.60	+ - - - -	+ + + + - - -
silver coated	2.66	+ + + + + - -	+ + + + + - - - -
platinum coated	2.79	+ + + -	+ + - -
14 carat gold	2.79	+ + + - - -	+ +
full silver	2.92	+ - -	+ + - - - -

The evaluation of the sound quality showed a very small range: the values for all instruments can be found between 2.16 and 2.92. In addition to the evaluation of the sound quality, the test persons were free to use a �g+�h for �gI like it�h and a �g?�h for �gI don�ft like it�h. The following table points out the listeners�f preference depending on the played music.

Tests with experienced professional flutists and listeners and one model of a flute made by Muramatsu from 7 different materials showed no evidence that the wall material has any appreciable effect on the sound color or dynamic range of the instrument. The common stereotypes used by flutists and flute makers are exposed as �gstereotypes�h.

2. Above7 flute's materials are guessed right (but...)

The test in the same link place, Listening tests have many bar graphs. The graph on the right was the test with the total platinum flute. Only 6.8 percent of testers said platinum. But many testers felt the sound of 9K gold. The other graph had wrong results, too. It showed you that you can not guess the material in the blind test

3. Why not change the sound of flute depending on the material ?

4. What part of the instrument affects the sound ?

5. Galway / Moyse

6. Concern for the future and measures

7. Reference