Two questions....

[Bo]

Hi,

I see myself confronted with two questions at the moment and hope somebody will be able to help me...

1) I know how to do flutter-tonguing, but I seem to run out of breath very soon while rolling the r. Maybe it is because I have a prolonged bronchitis I cannot get rid of, but at any rate I run out of breath only with flutter-tonguing (long notes).

2) I have found notes with two and even three dots at the top. I thought they might mean "staccatissimo", but I checked and I haven't found any reference to this.

Thanks for your help!! Have a great week!

Bo

[fluteguy18]

You may be referring to double or triple dotted notes. These are basically an extension of the idea of a dotted whole/half/quarter note.

A double dotted half note would be the length of a Half, Quarter, and eighth note put together. A triple dotted half note would be a half, quarter, eighth, and 16th note put together.

[Bo]

Thanks for the reply, fluteguy18.
The dots are actually ABOVE the notes, like in staccato...

[atoriphile]

Does the note have a slash (or two) diagonally through the stem? If so, that is a form of shorthand. If it's a quarter with two dots over it, you would play it as two eighth notes. If it's a quarter with three dots over it, you would play it as triplet eighth notes.

As for the flutter tonguing, it seems take more air than normal for me, too. You'll just need to practice conserving your air while flutter tonguing so that you can play the whole phrase.

Good luck!

[Bo]

Hi atoriphile,

No, they are otherwise normal notes (no slashes).
If this can help, it is a score called Déjà Vu by Johanna Selleck...

Thanks!

Bo

[fluteguy18]

If it's a quarter with two dots over it, you would play it as two eighth notes. If it's a quarter with three dots over it, you would play it as triplet eighth notes.

I've seen this before. It doesn't have to have the slashes to be played this way.

[Bo]

Thanks, it makes sense, but in my case it is a little bit complicated... The three dots are above 32nd notes....

[pied_piper]

Hmm. Methinks some composers either expect the impossible or never learned the basics of music.

[Bo]

Oh, she uses her own symbols, but for the others there is an explanation, for the dot weirdness..... nothing....

[Bo]

Somebody told me the dots above the notes in flute music have to do with tonguing, so two dots indicate double tonguing and three dots triple tonguing...

[stewyflute13]

oh yeah in Moyse's "studies and technical exercises" they have that and it does mean two dots for double tonguing and 3 for triple.

my only other thought would be that maybe it's a signal for some sort of extended technique or something

[Bo]

I don't have that book... There are not many flute book available here, which is a shame. I basically already bought everything I could find...
The guy who told me actually doesn't even play the flute, but he is a walking music theory encyclopedia...