Flute choices

Becky · Post by **Becky** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 6:13 am

I'm a student aspiring to play in a ballet orchestra for my career. I won't be ablr to afford a new flute for a while. But since I would like a flute to last me well into my career, I've started looking, learning about different makes, models etc.
In order for my career choice, which do you think; a C foot or a B foot? What are the differences? Does the fingering change for a B foot? Is the highest note a B with the B foot? Which do you think would be most advisable? Please help,

Becky x

Kendall · Post by **Kendall** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 8:24 am

I offer my knowledge of playing both. I say GO WITH THE B FOOT! It does not change any fingerings. It can go to whatever your highest note is. I'm not sure what the official "highest note" available on a fingering chart is but I believe it was D or D sharp. But it does make it easire to do C, C sharp, etc if you have the B foot (but only if you have a "gizmo key") try searching the gizmo key in past forums, if you don't find it I can explain.

Hope that helps,

embum79 · Post by **embum79** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 4:51 pm

I agree.. go with the B-foot. Then you will have the versatility to play low B if you need to. Many pieces have low Bs, although I'm not familiar with ballet music. Also, some people have both a B and C foot that they can interchange.

powayflute01 · Post by **powayflute01** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 11:34 pm

Yeah, I agree with the others on the B-foot. Plus, I've noticed that people who learn their low register with the low B don't struggle as much with low C. People with a low C think that they'll never use a low C, so they never bother to play a low C and they have a really hard time getting it out, whereas with a low B people think that they'll only need to go to C instead of B, so their low Cs sound better. It's just a different mentality, but it's surprising how much it can affect your playing. On a similar note, if you only practice your range up to a C4, then you may experience difficulty playing a C4. But if you practice your range up to a C#4 or a D4, then you won't have any problem getting the C4 out (this happened to me; I only added D4 to my chromatic scales recently and you would not believe the difference it has made in my high notes!)

biggzh · Post by **biggzh** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:08 pm

you know, it is possible to go to a high F sharp (like, above C4).

powayflute01 · Post by **powayflute01** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:11 pm

It is, but it's rarely used.

biggzh · Post by **biggzh** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:40 am

but, in the chance you need to go up that high, I believe that you need a B-foot for some of the fingerings.

MeLizzard · Post by **MeLizzard** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 8:57 am

Also open holes...I have fingerings for notes to high G#, but have only had to use up to F in an any literature. C# and D are pretty common in modern (and, surprisingly, some much older music

), and a few pieces have Es. The D# between, however, is extremely unresponsive...I have--literally--16 fingerings for this note, and only one works on my flute

(a Muramatsu, not a hunk-o-junk, lol)!!! This note turned up in one of the All-State band pieces, Donald Grantham's Southern Harmony, a couple years ago. My student, sitting second chair, reported afterward that nobody managed to play the note!

biggzh · Post by **biggzh** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:04 pm

how embarrasing (there's a reason they invented piccolos for those high notes)

powayflute01 · Post by **powayflute01** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:38 pm

Just because I've always been curious and I haven't been able to find any extended fingering charts, would someone mind posting some of the extended fingerings they use? I think it would be really interesting to know all that. I've only been taught to play to D4...

biggzh · Post by **biggzh** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:46 am

search for flute fingering charts. I'll post in a few minutes with the site.

biggzh · Post by **biggzh** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:49 am

http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/flute/fl_alt_4.html

there you go

MeLizzard · Post by **MeLizzard** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:58 pm

The Pellerite fingering book (can't remember the exact title--it's lying on the shelf in my studio) is excellent. There's a chart of fourth-octave (above-high-c) fingerings, including multiple choices for each note. It also contains regular, alternate, trill, tremolo, harmonic, and multiphonic

fingerings. Steve Tanzer wrote a book like this for piccolo. I'm sure these are available from someplace like Flute World or Top Wind.

But, as the old trumpet professor once said, "We really should focus on the quality of our 'money notes' first.". He meant that we should have a great command of regular and alternate fingerings, and their correct applications, in a range in which we would most commonly play (on gigs, usually--hence the nickname). With good tone and intonation. Then learn an extended range or funky "effect" fingerings or techniques. Of course, as flutists, it's sometimes hard to define that 'money' range--we all know it keeps stetching!