Chiff and Fipple Forums

Evening all, I just purchased an Aulos Stanesby flute, and I'm having difficulty fingering the f natural and f sharp to make the difference in pitch noticeable, whichever fingering I use, there is minimal difference between the two notes. I have played all sorts of flutes including a Folkers and Powell Denner copy so I have some experience with forked fingering. Solutions anyone? Thanks.

I am no expert but am working on playing baroque flutes (I own a couple of 3D printed flutes from Jeff Wulf). For the forked finger Fnat try blowing a bit more softly and image pronouncing the sound 'ang'. That's from Doretthe Janssens' book, "New !Method for the Traverso"

I was a Baroque Flute Major for a time in Uni, yes there's only one fingerhole for F natural and F sharp.

It plays around halfway between the two notes.

For an in-tune F sharp you finger xxx|xoo and open the D# key and roll the flute out to bring up the pitch.

For an in-tune F natural you finger xxx|xox and roll the flute in to bring down the pitch.

If you're after using a Baroque flute fulltime for Irish music, and don't mind alterations, you can carve out the F hole to make an in-tune F# with normal blowing.

Other than F# a Baroque flute works fine with Irish flute fingerings, it just has the wrong tone for ITM.

Thank you for those ideas!, I'll certainly give them a go. I'm not using the Stanesby for ITM, just to maybe have a go at some Hotteterre, leclair etc. I find it hard nowadays to cover the bigger holes on an "Irish" flute due to having had hand surgery, so I thought I'd do better with the smaller traverso holes. I'll give it a couple of months, then, if no joy, back to my Boehm system! Thanks again.

In Janice Dockendorff Boland's book, she cites Quantz as recommending the F# fingering

x x x | o x x K

for use in the key of A because

x x x | x o o K

is too flat relative to G#. Quantz seems to have been very sensitive to such issues. I guess the point is that it's more noticeable when there's a G# in the context.

What pancelticpiper says is I think true for any Baroque flute--both F natural and F# must be adjusted. JDB and Quantz also agree on this point.

My experience with the Stanesby is that you have to adjust a lot more in the first octave. The second octave is much better behaved.

I notice that the fingering chart that comes with the instrument doesn't suggest using the D# key for the usual F# fingering. I found the difference to be minimal. But perhaps this varies with the player.

fintano wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2024 1:42 am In Janice Dockendorff Boland's book, she cites Quantz as recommending the F# fingering
x x x | o x x K

Right, that's the sharper Baroque F# fingering. They were into all that enharmonic stuff then.

I didn't go into that because the OP was talking about using a Baroque flute for Irish trad (which I assumed meant using the standard Irish trad woodwind fingerings).

Playing the baroque flute in tune is all about lipping. The embouchure needs to be small but VERY flexible. Pancelt's advice about rolling the flute is good, as is the alternate fingering from Fintano. After years of playing, I do all the adjustment of the attack angle by directing the airstream rather than moving the flute. An additional way of practicing is to play with a tone generator. Practice long tones with a note a fifth above or below and try to make the note you play sound as natural as possible next to the drone note.

The Stanesby Jr is a very nice inexpensive baroque flute. That and a Copley Delrin are my travel flutes.