Help with Rutter's Suite Antique

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Serpentine
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:45 am
Location: Wiltshire (UK)

Help with Rutter's Suite Antique

Post by Serpentine »

I am playing Rutter's suite antique, movment 6 the Rondau at the moment which is pretty easy until you get to the middle harmonics bit. Can anyone give me any hints on how to play harmonics quickly without them going out of control!?!?!

Also, does anyone know any cheat fingerings for the very end bit which goes ABAG in semi quavers very quickly!?!?

Any help would be apreciated!

Cheers

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flutepicc06
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Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 11:34 pm

Post by flutepicc06 »

Practice!!! You'll get the hang of it, but that'll take time. Harmonics are essentially the same as normal tones, but with different fingerings. Keep the air pretty much the same as it would be if you were just playing the notes, but use the appropriate harmonic fingering. As for the "cheat" fingering, I would not suggest using alternate fingerings unless absolutely necessary, especially in a solo work. If the passage is not particularly exposed, and the intonation and timbral difference are minimal, you might be able to pull it off, but otherwise, you should work it up slowly using the standard fingerings. Anyway, if you're absolutely set on using alternates, it depends what octave you're in. In the first and second, the A-B-A-G pattern is pretty straight forward, and there are not any suitable alternates. If you're in the third, try using trill fingerings between the A and B (trill fingerings can be found at www.wfg.woodwind.org). The fingering that is best for this will depend on your individual flute and playing, so experiment a bit.

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