Third octave without keys

Irish Flute
1

I’m trying to round out my third octave with fingerings on a keyless flute (Ari De Keyzer). I’m using Rockstro’s fingerings as a reference - as reproduced in Hammy’s book. Of course most of those fingerings include keys, but I can get a good D E F# G and A. On a good day I can get top Cnat.

What I’d like is keyless fingerings for Fnat and B. I’ve been experimenting with half holing to simulate some of the keyed fingerings but it doesn’t work. Is this even possible?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Nohoval

2

On my flute (Lehart) I can get a good third octave B nat with the normal B fingering (xoo ooo)…

3

Thanks, but that doesn’t work for me. At least not for now - you never know where a bit of practice will take you. Does it blow very diffently to A (oxx|xxo)?

4

When it comes to flutes I believe that they very in the fingerings Fife and some flutes can play Fnat XOOOXX or XOXXXX.

Perhaps this site will help.
http://www.oldflutes.com/charts/simple/

5

The third octave fingerings rely heavily on harmonics and correct venting - so the vent holes have to be at the right position. Half-holing doesn’t work for that.

For example, to play 3rd 8ve G natural, you probably use XOX OOO or XOX OOX - with keys, X,XX OOO works much better (, = c natural key, as that’s pretty much the position where the pressure node of high G is located*).

  • to the acousticians: I’m not very sure if it’s the pressure node or the antinode - please correct me if needed!