If a flute is in D at A=415, does this translate to it being in x at A=440, and what would x be?
Thanks.
Kim
About C#, I believe. Or maybe exactly.
A D instrument in A=392Hz will sound in C at A=440Hz.
Stuart
Thanks.
Would it be possible to turn a flute in D at A=415 into a low flute in B or Bb at A=440 by adding a piece between the headjoint and the first joint, or would the whole thing need to be reworked, or is it not possible?
Kim
OK, so I’m probably not the best one to answer the question, but . . .
You’d have to do a lot more than lengthen the flute. If that were possible, we’d all just pull out our headjoints to play in C# or C.
In addition to lengthening the flute (which you would have to do), you’d have to change the spacing of the holes. That’s done, in old instruments, to accommodate various tuning standards (like A=409, A=415, A=392, etc.) by adding so-called “corps de réchange” which are often top-hand sections which add (or subtract) length and change the spacing between the holes. Of course, they make some compromises with tuning.
A D flute at A=415Hz would be great for playing in a C# session, or with C# uilleann pipes, or solo . . . but I don’t think it’d be easy (or even all that fruitful) to try to modify it to play at another pitch.
Stuart
My guess would be that this would not be a good idea. Since the fingerholes will be at the same spacing as they were orignally, a longer total length will make the notes closer together in pitch – so overall intonation will suffer. The flute’s scale will no longer be in tune with itself.
A=415 is the pitch used by (many) players of authentic early music, including Baroque music. You can buy Baroque instrument copies that are pitched to A=440 (so you can play with friends who have modern instruments) and you can buy Baroque instrument copies that are pitched to A=415 (so you can play with your Baroque buddies who have authentic instruments or copies of authentic instruments).
You can also buy instruments that you can play at either pitch, but they don’t just have a longer barrel. Insted, they have a whole section with respaced fingerholes. Here’s a picture from Ralph Sweet’s page, so you can see –
Not only is the extra piece a different length, the fingerholes have been respaced. And that’s for something that is approximately 1/2 step different in pitch – going from A=415 (which makes your flute a slightly flat Db flute) to a Bb flute is trying to make the thing a minor third lower – like taking a regular, modern D flute and trying to make it a B flute.
Now that I’ve said all of that – you could try it. I would try pulling out all of the joints as far as I could, and then play the thing with a tuner. If it plays close to a Bb flute, and if you are ok with how intonation of the scale sounds, you might have spacers made for each section. If it does work, please post and let us know, because it would be a pretty cool setup! I will also try this when during my practice time today, and let you all know if I got anyting useful.
If anybody cares, here is a table I made in Excel that shows the frequencies of the chromatic pitches (equal temperment) for the first octave on a D flute tuned to A=440, a D flute tuned to A=415, and a Bb flute tuned to A=440, so you can compare how much of a change you’d need. The formatting is bad, but I hope you can follow it.
Fingered
note______D flute A=440______ D flute A=415_______Bb flute A=440
E_________329.6275569_______310.8987185________415.3046976
F_______349.2282314________329.3857183________440
F#________369.9944227________348.9720123________466.1637615
G________391.995436_________369.72296 __493.8833013
G#415.3046976________391.7078398________523.2511306
A________440 415________________554.365262
Bb_______466.1637615________439.6771842________587.3295358
B________493.8833013________465.82175 __________622.2539674
C_______523.2511306________493.5209527________659.2551138
C#________554.365262_________522.8672357________698.4564629
hi D________587.3295358________553.9585395_________739.9888454
D#_______622.2539674_______586.8986284_________783.990872
E _____659.2551138________621.7974369________830.6093952
Edited: Uh, I realized that I went the wrong way with my calculations in the spreadsheet, so I have corrected this chart.
Thanks for all the info!
What I’m really looking for is a polymer low flute with small holes. I thought if the Aulos Stanesby could be easily modified that would do it. I don’t have one but maybe someone who does could try pulling the joints out and report back.
Kim
Ah, that explains a lot – I was wondering why you just didn’t play the flute in front of a tuner!
Nah, you don’t want to do it. I tried with my D flute this morning. Basically, I could get the flute to go down about 1/2 step at most (and that is with a 5 section flute, so I had a lot of places to pull out). The intonation was – ok. But the tone was awful. Very breathy. I suspect this is because the bore now has a lot of wide spots in it, from where I pulled out.
On your proposed A=415 flute, you’d essentially end up with a bad C flute. But what about a Tipple?
Thanks for checking that out.
The Tipple has pretty large holes, and I can just barely make the reach on the D flute, so I don’t think one of the low flutes will work for me.
Kim