I’ve been instructed by teachers, who
pass through these parts on their way
to the real world, to cut as high as the flute
will respond. So on a low D or E I cut with
the ring finger or middle finger of my left hand.
What I want to ask is this:
suppose you are playing a second octave
G, say. Where do you cut?
How about a second octave E?
In general in the second octave
I’m having trouble getting the
flute to respond to cuts higher up,
though the solution may be to cut
in a very fast and shallow way.
One lady a saw cut the G on the
G, that is, simply lifted and replaced
the left ring finger on the hole,
quickly. Best
If I was playing a 2nd octave G I would cut with L2 (i.e. B)
If I was playing 2nd octave E I would most probably cut with L3 (i.e. A)
I don’t really find myself cutting differently from how I would cut in the 1st octave. The main problem with cutting notes like E and D is that the notes dont come out quite so crisp due to the lack of venting, so you could consider cutting lower down for these i.e. L3, R1-3 etc. I don’t quite understand why people would advise to cut “as high as the flute would respond” because of this. I’ve even considered cutting with R1 on E (high and low) to get a more crisp sound but decided against it for now.
Ultimately there are no hard and fast rules regarding cutting. Whatever works for you should be fine.
Thanks, very helpful. I think the idea,
which I may not have represented so well,
is that the higher the cut, the more dramatic
the chirp.