Developing a better f-natural on a keyless flute

Irish Flute
1

There are a couple nice tunes I’m working on that require a f-natural. Does anybody have any hints on getting a more accurate tone?

I’ve been trying to do it by slowly lifting the tip of my finger to flatten the note, but I never seem to get it right. Are there any good shortcuts or do I just need to site in front of a tuner for a few weeks until it clicks?

And wouldn’t you know it, just as I was getting more confident about my playing and able to actually play several tunes in a row, the session I attend was kicked out of the bar we would gather in. Apparently folks buy more beer watching football than listeing to a session. Hopefully a new place will be found.

thanks,
Eddie

2

Depending on your flute, you can cross-finger F nat. as:

XXX XOX

It’s kind of a blue note fingered like that, but I like it. I doubt this finger would work with a Pratten or large hole R&R style flute, though.

Eric

3

I rock my RH2 finger. Finger stays in E position, but the side nearest RH1 lifts off \

Kevin Krell

4

Thanks.

XXX X0X flattens the F# slightly only Seery but not enough to close to F natural.

Rocking my RH2 finger is better, however I have difficulty ‘hitting’ the note and the tone is week. As with most things, I guess the only fix is to practice practice practice.


Eddie

5

I think (although I may be wrong) that, when I have to half-hole F on a flute, I slide my finger away from the flute (towards my body), so that my finger-tip kind of sinks into the fingerhole on the way (I usually do this on large-holed flutes), until I hit the F. I find that this gives me more control over the amount of air getting through that hole, and also lets me keep the covered half of the hole ( :confused: I’m confusing myself!) well-sealed. If that makes any sense, you can experiment and see whether it helps. And good luck!
Deirdre

6

I rock my finger like Kevin Krell described. For the G# I learned to place
the finger down 1/2 off the hole without having to rock first. I got the
hang of it by trying different intervals very slowly. Eventually the same
note comes out twice. I’m still working on it for F. Like, GF#,GF#, GFnat
GFnat, GE GE. For playing with others, when I have an Fnat I still take a
breath. Hope that helps.

Lesl

7

Same here for G#.

Kevin Krell

8

When going down to F from a higher note, I bend my right middle finger and aim to put the tip of the finger squarely on the driver’s-side edge of the F hole. I’ve gotten pretty consistent results with this. If I’m going up to the note from D or E, I roll the finger halfway off the hole, which usually sounds sloppy and horrible. Life is much, much better with keys.