hi, i’ve got an old german flute with 8 keys.
before buying it i was used to my bansuri, played with the piper’s grip, and i used to half hole to get the C nat, and it was easy, fast and in tune.
Now i had to change my grip to play with keys, and i can’t half hole any more. So i discovered that is not that easy to use the C nat key (for the right hand), specially if i play from the second octave to the first (from up to down), at a fast speed. so i tried the classic cross fingering (OXX OOO, OXO XXX etc) and it’s easier from up to down, but not very nice from C to B, and also not much in tune.
what should i do? should i just get used to the key, forget about it (hmm), or mixing the two possibilities (with key from down to up and without it from up to down)?
what do you usually do?
If your only concern is Cnat, then I would suggest that you put the effort into using the cross-fingered Cnat, and remember that there are different ways to finger Cnat, as a search of past threads here will show. With practice, your speed will improve, and with practice, your embouchure will better tune the tone.
If your only concern is Cnat, then I would suggest that you put the effort into using the cross-fingered Cnat, and remember that there are different ways to finger Cnat, as a search of past threads here will show. With practice, your speed will improve, and with practice, your embouchure will better tune the tone.
so what’s the use of the C key (apart for venting notes)? i belive that if most keyed flutes has it it should be for a reason. am i wrong?
Silly question, but how are you fingering the Cnat with the key? This is how I do it.
xoo ,ooo
where the comma is R1.
The Cnat key tends to have better intonation and tone than cross fingering and so it’s great for slow tunes. It also enables a clean b-c or c-b legato since it avoids a brief blip. It’s also better sounding than oxoxxx for the second octave c, and you might rarely use it for b-c trills, and as an alternate for cutting any LH note. It’s a good key to have but it’s the least critical.
Othannen, I use a combination of the C key and the cross fingering in my playing, using whichever is most convenient in faster passages/passing notes, and the keyed note for any sustained C nat at top of 1st 8ve - C nat at top of 2nd octave is usually best on this type of flute fingered xox xxo with one of the F keys opened and the Eb key, though the keyed version (usually flat if sustained) is useful for trills or quick B-C alternations. I tend to use the cross fingering for Cnat in the 1st octave when crossing the break in scale patterns in either direction, especially in combination with D (only one finger to change from oxo xxx to oxx xxx) but the key for other patterns and combinations. I vent the C key for 1st 8ve C# too much of the time.
Have you got a fingering chart for the keyed flute? I can send you one and give you references for others.
I would say, along with learning the changed hold, yes, it is worth persevering with the key use - it will become habitual and to feel “normal” soon enough - especially if you learn new material with its use from the start rather than trying to adapt your fingering of material you already know well without the keys.
Me too. I add the C nat key to the mix, sometimes cross fingering,
sometimes not. It simplifies fingering in some passages,
cross fingering simplifies them in others. I find it useful
used this way.
A question to the wise ones–is it a good idea to
use the C natural key in ornaments, e.g. rolls, cuts.
You can, in rolling the A, for instance, tap the
key instead of cutting the B.
What I wonder is if this produces a crisp enough
ornament?
Just why there are so many keys on a flute is a long story. At first, flutes had no keys, at all, and the people of the world managed to play music without them. Then, however, somebody invented the key, and put it on their flute, so that a flute could then play even more music. Well, because one key was such a good idea, it soon became popular to put more keys on the flute, and then even more keys, so that eventually flutes had many keys. At that point, the sun shined brightly, the sky was blue, the grass was green, the mountains were high, the oceans were deep, and the world looked good! Unfortunately, however, trouble soon appeared, and the people of the world began to have troubles with their flutes, and so with their music. Oh, no! Now what were they supposed to do? Well, as it turned out, the people of Ireland knew what to do. They knew that all those keys were at the root of the troubles, so they said to the people of the world that they should remove the keys from their flutes, all of them, and while they were at it they should also make the holes a bit bigger. This got the attention of the people of the world, and, slowly at first, one by one, they began to remove the keys from their flutes, and also made the flute’s holes just a bit bigger. Then, of all things, and slowly at first, the sun began to shine more brightly, the sky became bluer, the grass greener, the mountains higher, the oceans deeper, and the world began to look even better than before. And, more than just saving the flute, this is the story of how Ireland saved music, for the world.
anyway, ITM is not the only existing music, and baroque flutes cross fingering is not enought (i confess i’m not an expert of the baroque flute, BTW there must had been a reason if flute technology surpassed it).
