i would quite like to have a go at a few easy baroque era flute pieces - any recomendations on easy places to start short of a flute teacher?
… i downloaded the dots for Pacabells Gigue in D (of Cannon and Gigue in D fame) but its a long piece for a string quartet so i would need more friends… one for the mid-to long term
I do have a fully chromatic flute in D, with a working C foot, though i havent managed to push into third octave land and im not going to get it in perfect tune either.. but the piece is not really for exabition, it for me to play myself, and perhaps seranade random nice wimmin with at some point.
A little further thought brings up Triste Espana sin Amore and of course, as a nice exercise in circular breathing Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.
Cheers,
Bob
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier : 6 Suites for unaccompanied flute
Georg Philipp Telemann : 12 Fantasias for unaccompanied flute
Anton Stamitz :8 Caprices for unaccompanied flute
Stamitz is early classical instead of baroque but the Caprices are written for one-keyed flute.
Bodin de Boismortier is fairly easy with all ornaments noted on the score, which is an advantage if you’re not a baroque specialist .
“Baroque Flute Pieces” - we think, Books 1 - 5, edited by ABRSM and available, reasonably cheaply, from well-nigh any UK music shop. Brilliant, they are - especially if you happen to have a keyboard or continuo player available as well. Any continuo, like, say, a pretty good Bassoon player.
another really good idea… i guess i thought that the ABRSM are only responcible for tormenting young people trying to learn instruments! - i assume as is their habit that the pieces are arranged in order of difficulty or are they all pritty damn trickey?
No. They are roughly in order of difficulty, and the ones in the first two books (the only ones I’ve got, so far) are eminently suitable as relatviely easy pieces on the 8-key wooden flute. I wouldn’t want to try some of them on a keyless, but no particular problem for an 8-key.
Try here, Telemann, Bach, Handel, Corelli etc..
got to be something there that’ll be suitable.
12 Fantasias by Telemann is mostly very hard but in amongst are some
fairly straightforward dance tunes. http://icking-music-archive.org/ByComposer.php
You also might try some O’Carolan. Quite a bit of his stuff is in a quasi-baroque style, and there are also many pieces in the interesting keys (F, Eflat, etc.).
i can just about get away with using this forum in work!
i not sure i could make discussions about getting nice baroque music should like computer storage technobabble… unless theres a composer called ‘Multi-Mode Lazer’*
i found book one of the ABRSM stuff on amazon for a hair under £2, i spent more then that on vending machene chocolait today so i bought it.
it ways grades 3 - 5, im assuming that there isnt an easy way to factor between folk-ability and ABRSM grades, but kenetically i feel like im playing about grade 3 or 4, assuming grade 1 is twinkle twinkle and grade 8 is flight of the bumblebee.
*thinking about it, this could well be the name of my first child; if i am ever allowed to breed.
Personal favorite: Loeillet Sonata No. 1. It’s commonly arranged as a duet for recorders, flutes, or recorder / flute. The “Adagio” in particular is very simple and lies very well on the Baroque flute, but is a haunting, beautiful melody.
You can hear it played on recorders on various youtube vidoes like this one.
That’s what I was thinking, although bear in mind that the published keys are totally arbitrary. All of those pieces were collected from the oral (err, aural?) tradition, mostly played by harpers whose instruments were built in no particular key, and were tuned by ear to be played solo, so they had only to be in tune with themselves.
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