Flute: Difference between revisions
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== Flute Microtones == | |||
Playing microtones on a concert flute is as simple as rotating the head plate towards or away from your lips (<u>not</u> twisting against the body!) to decrease or increase the effective length. Increasing the distance sharpens the note, and vice versa. This requires extremely-minute precision and fine muscle memory for instant execution. You may also need to change your embouchure to avoid whisper tones. | Playing microtones on a concert flute is as simple as rotating the head plate towards or away from your lips (<u>not</u> twisting against the body!) to decrease or increase the effective length. Increasing the distance sharpens the note, and vice versa. This requires extremely-minute precision and fine muscle memory for instant execution. You may also need to change your embouchure to avoid whisper tones. | ||
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Additionally, some flutes come with holes in the keys ("ring keys") to facilitate quarter tone use. However, I do not recommend you purchase this type of flute unless if you have a desire to play in [[24edo|24 EDO]]. These holes allegedly change the tone-color, which might be considered an undesirable side effect. | Additionally, some flutes come with holes in the keys ("ring keys") to facilitate quarter tone use. However, I do not recommend you purchase this type of flute unless if you have a desire to play in [[24edo|24 EDO]]. These holes allegedly change the tone-color, which might be considered an undesirable side effect. | ||
== Cross-fingerings == | |||
[http://flute.fingerings.info/ flute.fingerings.info] has hundreds of fingerings for each note, sorted by intonation, rounded to the nearest 5¢. | [http://flute.fingerings.info/ flute.fingerings.info] has hundreds of fingerings for each note, sorted by intonation, rounded to the nearest 5¢. | ||
==Custom Flutes== | |||
[[File:7edo-flute-01.JPG|alt=7edo-flute-01.JPG|480x94px|7edo-flute-01.JPG]] | [[File:7edo-flute-01.JPG|alt=7edo-flute-01.JPG|480x94px|7edo-flute-01.JPG]] | ||
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The flute was completed in under 12 hours and required under 1 USD of raw materials. One could feasibly hope to make multitudes of these inexpensive flutes for every EDO or other tuning scheme. | The flute was completed in under 12 hours and required under 1 USD of raw materials. One could feasibly hope to make multitudes of these inexpensive flutes for every EDO or other tuning scheme. | ||
== Links == | |||
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3GD0Omr4Z0 Eva Kingma and the quarter-tone flute] - video demonstration of a modified flute able to play quartertones | * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3GD0Omr4Z0 Eva Kingma and the quarter-tone flute] - video demonstration of a modified flute able to play quartertones | ||
[[Category:Flute]] | |||
[[Category: | [[Category:Howto]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Instrument]] | ||
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Revision as of 07:01, 24 July 2020
Flute Microtones
Playing microtones on a concert flute is as simple as rotating the head plate towards or away from your lips (not twisting against the body!) to decrease or increase the effective length. Increasing the distance sharpens the note, and vice versa. This requires extremely-minute precision and fine muscle memory for instant execution. You may also need to change your embouchure to avoid whisper tones.
For example, suppose you want to play a tone of 449 hertz (A4+35¢). The closest note in the 12 tone tempered scale is A4 at 440 hertz, so you would need to sharpen this note by approximately a sixth-tone, or 35 cents. You would accomplish this by rotating the head plate away from your lips. This technically increases the effective length of the flute, which physics dictates would normally flatten a note, though contrary to common sense it does the opposite.
Additionally, some flutes come with holes in the keys ("ring keys") to facilitate quarter tone use. However, I do not recommend you purchase this type of flute unless if you have a desire to play in 24 EDO. These holes allegedly change the tone-color, which might be considered an undesirable side effect.
Cross-fingerings
flute.fingerings.info has hundreds of fingerings for each note, sorted by intonation, rounded to the nearest 5¢.
Custom Flutes
Above: a hand-made PVC flute tuned to 7 EDO, which can also play many intermediate notes of 14 EDO with cross-fingerings.
The flute was completed in under 12 hours and required under 1 USD of raw materials. One could feasibly hope to make multitudes of these inexpensive flutes for every EDO or other tuning scheme.
Links
- Eva Kingma and the quarter-tone flute - video demonstration of a modified flute able to play quartertones