Pitch

Bo · Post by Bo » Sun Sep 06, 2009 6:10 pm

I have a piece called "Fantasy" by Graham Powning with the following instructions: "On three occasions the pitch is meant to go a quarter tone below and above the main note" (such notes are marked).

How can this be achieved effectively?

Thanks,

Bo

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:19 pm

Try this quarter tone fingering chart: http://www.sfz.se/flutetech/06.htm

If the notes are marked as a glissando or pitch bend, you can use you lip to make the note go sharp or flat as indicated.

Bo · Post by Bo » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:15 am

Thank you!

Bo

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:53 am

If you have an open hole flute, you can just push down the key without covering the hole. For example, if you wanted to play a quarter tone beneath F, you would do the normal fingering for E, but instead of covering the E key, you would just push down the key.

Should work, I don't do it much, so I can't remember if it works exactly right.

Bo · Post by Bo » Mon Sep 07, 2009 1:26 am

Thank you, I will try that!

I started to play alright with open holes by the way. It is just a matter of practice, and it really doesn't take long. I can still improve, but I am progressing...

Bo

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:49 am

That's good. It is super important to do that, because if you don't do that first, then you never actually get around to taking the plugs out.

Yeah, it took me a couple days before I could get a constant sound without breaking when doing runs. It gets super fun when you can do it, and your peers want to try, but they can't do it.

Bo · Post by Bo » Mon Sep 07, 2009 1:47 pm

I think it is important not to choose the easy way in order to achieve one's goals. I personally like challenges because they give you a sense of satisfaction....

Also, it is important I get used to playing without plugs just in case I lose them and then am at a loss...

apicultrice · Post by **apicultrice** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:20 pm

This is a bit nitpicky, but I would always (always) use a tuner when trying to determine what fingering works best for a quartertone. Just depressing the rim of the key will not always give you an exact quartertone - sometimes all you need is to vent the key slightly. Using a chart along with the tuner helps, obviously!! But just depressing the rim of the key is inexact.

Sorry, I'm a nerd about extended techniques.

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:32 am

It is almost the same thing with trills though. Many trills in the third octave do not give you the desired second note, but because it is so fast, most can not tell the difference. So what I would say is that unless you are holding the note for a second or longer, then you should get the correct fingering, but when it is a sixteenth note, it is not worth the trouble to try to get the correct venting and all that.

apicultrice · Post by **apicultrice** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:47 am

I would disagree - I go for accuracy in these situations - trills and quartertones. An experienced ear can tell the difference.

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:31 pm

Trill fingerings were created so that you could use that ornament effectively. For example, lets say you want to trill from a third octave Ab to a third octave Bb. Unless you can switch between those two fast enough to not make it sound like sixteenth notes (or less) there is no way to get an accurate pitch for the high Bb.

apicultrice · Post by **apicultrice** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:11 pm

Perhaps I was unclear. There are different ways of fingering trills in the 3rd octave (in the same way that there are different microtonal fingerings) - some are more accurate, pitch-wise, some are less. You should always use a chart (hopefully with a variety of options) and a tuner, when you are trying to discern which trill fingering or which microtonal fingering would be most accurate for you.

Anyway, this discussion is silly. I am correct! Don't just rim a note when you're going for a microtone! It is not always correct, no matter what your tempo. Robert Dick was my teacher, he knows what he's talking about.

So.. I'm done!

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:17 pm

Congratulations, you sound extremely arrogant.

99% of the people on this forum are either beginners or intermediate, and in no way professional players.

First, the chance of playing a quarter tone in a piece of music is rare, unless you are a strictly modern flutist. Second, no one is going to kill you because you neglected to vent half of the hole. Unless you had a tuner right there, almost everyone would not be able to tell the difference.

Also, like you said, everyone has a different way of doing things, yet you still say that would you do is correct. How do you know that I don't slightly lip down in addition to pressing the rim?

Know-it-all's like you are extremely annoying.

apicultrice · Post by **apicultrice** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:05 pm

Ah, I didn't mean to come off as arrogant, perhaps I did! At any rate, you're kind of dispensing some specious information in general around here.. So I just felt like the record needed to be set straight. What's the use in learning a technique if you're not going to learn it correctly?

Rim it, lip it down (ha ha, all of this sounds kind of gross), whatever - just use the tuner and make sure you're getting an actual quarter tone instead of just assuming that's what you're getting. That's really all I'm saying.

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:52 pm

Big graphics as ad banners for message signatures are also annoying...