The Selkie™ is my latest hybrid flute creation, and it is something that I made specifically for players of Irish Traditional Music, though it is by no means limited to that style.
I call it a hybrid because it is a melding of two musical traditions. That is to say that the flute design itself is based upon the Chinese xiao, but the scale it plays, as well as the character and tone have been tweaked to align with features of the Irish Flute and the penny whistle. It’s a xiao that has turned into an Irish flute! Hence the whimsical name (suggested by fellow flute maker Jonathan Walpole).
The Selkie is a mythical creature that can shape-shift between human form and that of a seal, and it associated with Celtic culture. A perfect name for an instrument that can move seamlessly between different musical traditions.
In the world of Irish Traditional Music, there are flute players and there are whistle players, and there are a great many who play both. There are also a lot of flute players who, due to some physical issues, cannot comfortably play the transverse flute any longer. Many of them choose to play whistles, which are held vertically and are therefore more comfortable and ergonomic. But a whistle is not a flute! The degree of tonal control, as well as the actual range, is greater on a flute.
Knowing this gave me the idea to make a vertical flute that would embody enough of the character of the Irish flute that it could serve as an effective replacement. It has the added virtue that any whistle player who is curious to try the flute but is unwilling to play in the transverse style can learn on a much more familiar instrument.
From a physical standpoint, the Selkie is a modified six-hole xiao. In China they do make six hole xiao that play this same diatonic major scale, but the xiao is normally designed to be a more delicate instrument with a more subdued voice. The Irish flute is played in such a way that it has a powerful, reedy tone, and the players push it to create strong harmonics and pulsing rhythms (for certain tunes). An ordinary xiao won’t respond quite the same way and ITM players would likely find it to be underpowered. So I modified the xiao design, making alterations to the blowing notch, the bore size and shape, and the layout of the finger holes, and the result is a flute that can really step up and stand in line with the Irish flute. Like low whistles, the lower tunings of the Selkie might require the player to utilize the piper’s grip for comfort and stability. For more instruction on different approaches to holding and fingering this type of instrument, see Richard Cook’s video below.
Blayne Chastain made me a quick “out of the box” test sample of the Selkie. So this is fairly simple, but you can get a good idea of the tone and range.