Alternate fingering for Db?

[rh_flutist]

My band director tells my flute section to use the alternate fingering for Db, but we have no idea what it is. HELP PLEASE! He says it sounds better and less airy when you play the alternate. Thanks.

[flutepicc06]

Well, you can add fingers in your right hand , but unless you have a C# trill on your flute, this is the only "alternate" fingering for C# that could be reasonably convenient and it won't make a tremendous difference. There are many options for producing a C#2, but most are very unwieldy and only useful in certain specific situations. Should you decide to use an alternate fingering as your band director suggests, do not make it your default fingering....They are meant to be used only when the "real" fingering simply won't do due to technical or tonal requirements, as most alternates have either poorer tone or pitch accuracy than the "real fingerings they replace. There are several reasons why we have one option as a "standard" fingering for most notes, but the primary one is that the standard fingerings offer the best compromise of pitch and tonal clarity. C# is troublesome for many flutists, as it uses a significantly shorter section of tube than some other pitches (D for instance), and thus is more unruly. Work on tone matching exercises (chromatic longtones from a pitch with where you like the tone in both directions), and you'll more than likely notice an improvement. Fingerings alone, though are not likely to help much. Most players will find C# to be both thin sounding and pretty sharp, so to correct both, try directing your air into the instrument more than across the embouchure hole. This will bring pitch down and also help focus the sound. In the instance that you need alternate fingerings in the future, I would take a look here:

www.wfg.woodwind.org

They have a whole fingering chart for alternate fingerings which is very useful (not to mention several others specifically for trills, picc, alto, etc.)

[rh_flutist]

Thanks.

[joolz]

Do you think he might actually mean B flat? Maybe he just said the D flat but meant B flat. Just a thought.

Joolz

[flutepicc06]

That's unlikely...There are 3 standard B-flat fingerings, 2 of which are acoustically "correct" and one of which is not, but does not sound any different on a well-built flute. It's possible that he meant something other than an alternate Db fingering, but Bb doesn't seem to fit (what does is anybody's guess, though).

[MrBaz]

That's unlikely...There are 3 standard B-flat fingerings, 2 of which are acoustically "correct" and one of which is not, but does not sound any different on a well-built flute. It's possible that he meant something other than an alternate Db fingering, but Bb doesn't seem to fit (what does is anybody's guess, though).

Incorrect. There IS a difference on tonality of the fingerings on any flute. It is pretty much so small that it doesn't matter though. Unless you were listening out for it, you'd never really know it.

[Flute_star3]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but I can't find it. How do you finger high D7? The handy dandy fingering chart doesn't have it Thanks.

[fluteguy18]

D7 is also called D4

Left thumb, left ring finger, right pointer, right middle, and pinkie c#.

Here is a link to other fingering charts [although not as easily read as the one above].

http://www.larrykrantz.com/flpicfgr.htm

[Claiken]

which fingerings are there for Bb? theres the one with the thumb, or the one with the regular thumb and right index finger.... what else is there?

or do you mean the higher octave one?

[lhampton520]

there's a little key right above the right index finger; it looks like a j on its side.

[Alexandra]

That I discovered accidentally a long time ago.