So I’m finally finding the time to play more and am trying to fix a few of my more egregious problems. One thing I really need to work on is hitting both C and C# mostly in tune.
After playing around a bit, it seems that fingering 0xx x0x will give me a fairly decent Cnat. Has anyone found a better fingering? How do you handle having different fingerings on different flutes? I tend to get confused in the heat of the moment. Is just a matter of something that comes with time and practice?
For C#, I find I have to turn the headjoint slightly away to bring it into tune (I think away, I don’t remember now). For a passing note I probably don’t care, but for longer notes, is this the best approach? It seems awkward to get right and in tune.
C# is usually a bit flat, at least on Prattens. Having a C key or a low C# key helps. OOXXOX makes C# a bit more stable, allowing you to play it with a faster air stream (i.e. rising pitch) without killing tone.
A good fingering for Cnat is OXOXXX. Doesn’t work on some flutes though.
As a complete newby, take this FWIW! I come from a Boehm flute background so I was used to making Cnat very differently, and I found Cnat on my Copley keyless to be confusing at first. I think it was Cork who told me to try fingering OXO XXO and the fingers would learn where to go with a bit of time.
It’s only been two weeks, but I am very comfortable already with this fingering, and I’m able to keep it very close in pitch also. I’ll still get a little tripped up with more tricky changes such as coming down and maintaining my speed from D2 to Cnat then to B and make it sound clean. I’m still trying to decide if I like OXO XXX for Cnat better though, but for now I’m sticking with OXO XXO most of the time.
How far off are your Cnat and C#? How far off is Cnat with OXXOOO fingering? Given Pat Olwell’s reputation I would guess everything is as in tune as it can be.
Are contemporary made wooden, simple system flutes tuned to just intonation or equal temperament?
I second the suggestions supporting oxo xxx, with or without Eb open (experiment), for C nat in passing or if you haven’t got a C key, though Prattens do sometimes get a better C nat with oxx ooo. Assuming you are talking 6 or 8-keys, play it with L1 and the C key for slower passages and held notes. C# needs venting with the C nat key - so if you haven’t got one, all you can do is lip it up as you describe (lift head/roll out/thrust jaw etc.): opening the Eb key may help a little, but doubtful. If you have a keyless, it doesn’t matter who made it, issues like these are unavoidable, and are more or less noticeable in different modes/tonalities.
I’d assume most modern flutes are equal tempered, or as near as the design compromises allow. I doubt a maker would go for just intonation save for a special order. They either copy originals with all their quirks accurately, or they modify for mainstream modern requirements.
Knowing several different fingerings for C natural gives you the option to use whichever fits the tune best. oxo xxx has the truest pitch on my flute and some others I’ve tried, and I’ll occasionally use it if I want a Cnat that better matches the timbre of other notes. (I also use the Cnat key in certain circumstances.) But the bulk of the time I use oxx ooo or oxx xox, depending on what’s most technically facile. (And the slightly veiled sound of C those fingerings is–no pun intended–natural to the music.) I also occasionally use oxo ooo, for a sort of ‘piping C,’ not flat enough to be a true C natural or sharp enought to be a C#.
I’ve had the good fortune of taking lessons from several excellent and well recognized flute tutors. They all used OXXOOO for Cnat to good effect and recommended to us students to do the same. I’ve been told that Cnat is tricky no matter what the fingering and that a good embouchure is the real key to getting it strong and in-tune (as with any note!).
Before coming to ITM flutes, I spent a year or so playing a one-key Baroque flute. Now, I was told that the one-key flute was/is fully chromatic, being able to be played in all musical keys. Well, it’s true, the one-key flute indeed can be played in all keys, all the way around the circle of fifths, but in order to do so, a number of cross-fingerings must be used. It turned out that, at least IMO, the tones suffered when cross-fingered, and here let me describe them as being like the sound of distant ducks on a foggy day.
Moreover, the 0XX 000 fingering for Cnat all too much reminds me of those cross-fingered sounds. Yeah, it does take just a bit of embouchure correction to get either 0X0 XX0 or 0X0 XXX to produce Cnat in tune, but once that slight correction is made, the end result produces a notably clearer tone, much like that of its neighbor tones.
The veiled sound of the oxx ooo Cnat is one of its charms and a reason to use it, not a deficiency to overcome. Listen to the ways pipers manipulate that particular note; having its timbre (and even intonation) stand out a bit from the rest of the scale gives the music pathos, and is very much part of the Irish flute sound. C is the Irish blue note.
I find the OXX OXX C natural John Skelton gave me for the flute most in-tune to my ear and also the most efficient when playing fast but alas, it doesn’t seem to cross over to my pipe chanter.
Standard piping C nat is OXX XOX, and it’s been very difficult to make the switch! And I can’t get OXX XOX to sound right on the flute to save my life, though it works OK on the whistle.
FWIW standard piping C# is OXX XXX + thumb (which would be middle D on a flute, but let’s just stop there).
D is the new C#, cocus is reccing a Delrin flute. Life is amazing.
The usual flute fingering for Cnat is given as 0XX 000, which allows for the easiest Cnat, and one which is pretty much in tune, but, perhaps those who could be less than satisfied with the sound of that fingering could prefer either 0X0 XX0 or 0X0 XXX (or as Denny said: 0X0 XX?), which truthfully does need to be slightly “lipped” in, but don’t worry, for that really is easy to do.
Tintin, however, did make a great case for Cnat as 0XX 000, and thank you, Tintin!
I’m going to make one more pitch for OXX OXX, being as I got it from a guy who I’d say has pretty much mastered an Olwell Pratten. It also works nicely on mine. And in the bargain, it makes life for C-D taps very easy; just tap your right index finger and Bobsyer.
