"The Other Flute"

[Bo]

Hi,

Has anyone here read "The Other Flute" by Robert Dick? I am going through it right now and it is really good, but I find it difficult to memorize all those alternative fingerings! There are literally hundreds of them! How did you work through the book?

Thanks!!

[Zevang]

Hi Bo,

It's good to have these books as a reference. But I find it difficult to memorize all the stuff just because we keep what we really use and simply discard what we don't.

A good example is the alternative fingerings when we want to simplify a difficult passage, say, in the higher notes. It's good to know they exist, but it's worthless memorize them all when you wont use them at once.

So, the good thing about resources like these is knowing where you can find them, when you need them. Reading this book can be still a good thing because of that. It becomes your source for future reference

[Bo]

Thank you for the reply, Zevang. You are absolutely right. We do discard what we don't use. It is interesting to see how our memory works. In a crisis situation, or when we really need something and have to look for it, we remember it much better. On the other hand, I have heard that most people have forgotten much of the stuff they learned in school or at the University, even when they were very good at that stuff back then, because they haven't used much of it in real life.
I agree that "The Other Flute" is an excellent reference work, and also useful to practice sound production. I just had my flute serviced, so I thought it is the right moment to practice those subtleties...

[Zevang]

Always welcome Bo

[flutego12]

Hi Bo,

It's good to have these books as a reference. But I find it difficult to memorize all the stuff just because we keep what we really use and simply discard what we don't.

A good example is the alternative fingerings when we want to simplify a difficult passage, say, in the higher notes. It's good to know they exist, but it's worthless memorize them all when you wont use them at once.

So, the good thing about resources like these is knowing where you can find them, when you need them. Reading this book can be still a good thing because of that. It becomes your source for future reference

Hi Zevang. Thanks for that. I've often wondered what those are for but I personally have not reached that level of play. However in my initial fever flush of enthusiasm I bought a stack of recommended flute books - one of which is James Pellerite's (I think that's how you spell it) Modern Guide to Flute Fingerings.

How does that compare with Robert Dick's?