Janet always described her medieval flutes as "basically just a tube with holes in it". It's literally true. Even the basic taper bore (which helps upper octave intonation) wouldn't appear until the 17th century. I think. She was the flute nerd, not me. And what a flute nerd she was. The expressiveness she'd pull out of those simple instruments was amazing, as was her ability to come up with weird fingering for the accidentals, and still stay in tune. I've been playing her flutes lately, and truthfully, there's a couple that are essentially unplayable. By me, that is.
Janet's old enemy Rheumatoid Arthritis kept her from playing baroque period flutes for the most part. Their length required too much of a finger stretch. It's a crying shame, because she had a hard plastic baroque flute that she could rip away on in her early twenties, before RA showed up. I remember her entering an SCA music contest (a medieval/renaissance themed group). I know, sounds like slumming, but the organization actually has a number of good early and folk musicians in it. Still, as one of the judges told me later, the discussion about the winners started with "Okay, everyone's agreed on the girl with the flute, right? Now, let's decide on the runners up..."
She did have a special baroque flute made for her by the instrument maker Jim French, who also made that deerbone flute she played on the Goliard album. It required her to bend every note up or down up to a quarter step. Even for Janet, it was pushing things, but it did allow for a closer finger spacing. She'd haul it out from time to time, though. I'm pretty sure she's the only one who was ever able to play it. Call it the Excalibur of flutes. I have it, and it's beautiful. But it just can't sing without her.
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