Hi everyone!
I've recently started to self-taught flute playing. So far I'm really enjoying it and I'm eager to keep learning and practising.
I don't have any previous background on music theory or flute playing. At the moment I have a Dizi flute (chinese bamboo) and a western concert flute.
My main doubt at the moment, and I know this is a completely beginner questions is what exactly does mean that a flute is of a determined key. My dizi is E major, and I've found partitures that are G Major for instance. Does it mean I can't play them, or that I have to change the fingering on my flute to play them?
If I want to play a G on a flute, will the fingering always be the same or I have to change it in regards of which key the flute is in?
Thanks a lot for your attention and help.
Differences of Key in flutes
Moderators: Classitar, pied_piper, Phineas
Re: Differences of Key in flutes
Hi there,
I'm learning by myself too. It's really good fun when you have a proper working flute!
The Dizi flutes are really really beautiful. I think the tone from a $50 Dizi flute is way better than my $400 silver plated one.
You don't need to know much theory to play a dizi flute - you can work out tunes by ear, provided you are trying to play a tune in the key of G major.
G major goes like this:
G A B C D E F* G
where * is a 'sharp' key (or just a 1/2 tone above E, and 1/2 tone below G, rather than a full tone, like all the rest.
This means, that you have to find music in G major i.e. with only 1 sharp. Or you need to buy a battery of Dizi flutes to play different tunes. Or you need to learn how to bend notes using the open holes (more complex).
All Dizi flutes are in fixed keys - you can't get a western equivalent of the western C concert flute, which has a more complicated key system. The Dizi was originally designed as a folk instrument, made of bamboo or wood. It never saw the advances which Boehm introduced to the western concert flute.
Having said that, it is still a beautiful instrument. You might like the Shuakachi flute too, or the American (native) flute. The Penny Whistle in Low D is also very good
All these instruments are 'fixed' in 1 key only. So if you see a B flat major scale or piece, you will not be able to play the music, unless you know how to transpose scales. Even then, it isn't always possible. This is why, Dizi players often have a range of Dizi flutes; Penny whistle players have a range of penny whistles in different keys.
Don't know if that helps, but I think D Major is probably the most useful key to get if you're getting a folk instrument!
I'm learning by myself too. It's really good fun when you have a proper working flute!
The Dizi flutes are really really beautiful. I think the tone from a $50 Dizi flute is way better than my $400 silver plated one.
You don't need to know much theory to play a dizi flute - you can work out tunes by ear, provided you are trying to play a tune in the key of G major.
G major goes like this:
G A B C D E F* G
where * is a 'sharp' key (or just a 1/2 tone above E, and 1/2 tone below G, rather than a full tone, like all the rest.
This means, that you have to find music in G major i.e. with only 1 sharp. Or you need to buy a battery of Dizi flutes to play different tunes. Or you need to learn how to bend notes using the open holes (more complex).
All Dizi flutes are in fixed keys - you can't get a western equivalent of the western C concert flute, which has a more complicated key system. The Dizi was originally designed as a folk instrument, made of bamboo or wood. It never saw the advances which Boehm introduced to the western concert flute.
Having said that, it is still a beautiful instrument. You might like the Shuakachi flute too, or the American (native) flute. The Penny Whistle in Low D is also very good
All these instruments are 'fixed' in 1 key only. So if you see a B flat major scale or piece, you will not be able to play the music, unless you know how to transpose scales. Even then, it isn't always possible. This is why, Dizi players often have a range of Dizi flutes; Penny whistle players have a range of penny whistles in different keys.
Don't know if that helps, but I think D Major is probably the most useful key to get if you're getting a folk instrument!
Ussually when an instrument is called a "some specific letter" instrument that means the note you finger and see written on a page is not the actual note played.
For example an alto flute is actually a G flute which means that when you finger a C on the instrument you actually play a G. You can play around with this if you have a tuner and set it to chromatic so it picks up whatever you play.
Lots of instruments fall into this category though I don't know if this is the case with your instrument. Old style and folk instruments can't always play in any key, and the transpossing instruments are largely a product of the modern era.
Modern flutes are C flutes, so we actually play exactly the note we see and fingure.
For example an alto flute is actually a G flute which means that when you finger a C on the instrument you actually play a G. You can play around with this if you have a tuner and set it to chromatic so it picks up whatever you play.
Lots of instruments fall into this category though I don't know if this is the case with your instrument. Old style and folk instruments can't always play in any key, and the transpossing instruments are largely a product of the modern era.
Modern flutes are C flutes, so we actually play exactly the note we see and fingure.
cflutist wrote:I have an Irish flute in D, you finger a D, it sounds a D.
But for a Civil War Fife, you finger a D, it sounds a Bb. Confused me at first.
Things get confusing when you start going back to the older instruments lol. I had similar experience when I first started playing the alto flute. I definitely do not have perfect pitch but I knew the notes were sounding different then I expected