Are there any alternate fingerings for the third-octave E that aren’t on the Gibraltar chart? (It’s admittedly for whistles, but one of the fingerings generally works for flutes.)
I’m having trouble with both the Bleazey and Dixon three-piece. Both of them have good, in-tune D, F, and G with:
D: OXX OOO or OXX OOX
F#: XOX XOX
G: XOX OOO or XOX OOX
On most flutes I play E as XXO XXO. Gibraltar lists alternate fingerings of XXX XXO and XXO OOX. These give me either F, F#, or Eflat. Both of the flutes just want to jump past E, which is a pretty useful note.
Is it just me, or do some flutes have notes they just plain don’t like? Since the other notes are in tune, I suspect it’s not a cork-placement issue.
I can get the high E on my Dixon 3 piece, but I need a fiercely tight embouchure to get it (and it’s still just a tiny bit flat - but at that range who’d notice anyway?).
I have had good luck with these fingerings for high E:
x x o | x x o
x x o | o x x this one is especially good for fifes and some whistles
x x o | o x o this may work when nothing else will
On just about every instrument I have, x o x | x x x gives a good high F-sharp, and x o x | o o o gives a good high G.
Don’t be afraid to play with coming up with your “own” fingering for high E…every flute is different, and sometimes you can find wonderfully strong “non-standard” fingerings for the third octave.
[quote=“chas”]Are there any alternate fingerings for the third-octave E that aren’t on the Gibraltar chart
Being a newbie on both my whistles and 3 piece Dixon (and currently learning and practising like crazy) please can you tell me what the Gibraltar Chart is and where to get hold of it???
Cariad, go to the main Chiff and Fipple site and click on “Fingering Charts.” It has the chart I’m talking about.
Jim, I do have trouble with notes fading. Fact is, I still suck at playing the flute, and I have less trouble with the Bleazey than I do with most other flutes.
