This might be the nerdiest yet coolest video title I've ever seen

@OrchestrationOnline

4 жыл бұрын

Amen, spread the word to the flute faithful...

The flute “solo” at the beginning of the last movement of Mahler’s 10th … to die for.

I've been a composer for several years now and the flute was the first instrument I had ever learned. I completely agree with you on the subjects you've discussed here. The high 3rd octave is the most fun to play because you mostly overpower the other instruments but the tone of the 3rd octave is less than ideal unless you have some serious years of experience. The low 1st octave is very warm but is barely audible (with other instruments) and is hard to play fast because of the amount of air required. The problem with composers is that they see the 2nd octave as too easy and boring and see it as amateurish because of its association with beginning bands. This video disproved that way thinking and I am very grateful for that.

Although I personally am not much of a flutist, my dad, grandfather, and sister played flute, and I personally really enjoy the repertoire. I think what you’re saying here makes a lot of sense from the perspective of orchestral writing, which is exactly what your channel is about. So, well done! Best I can tell though, from the perspective of mastering the instrument, sculpting your middle register is absolutely foundational! It is the bread and butter of solo repertoire.

One of my favorite flute middle register parts is the beautiful solo from Brahms 4th Symphony - 4th Movement.

Once again, thank you Thomas. From Argentina.

You should do a video such as this about the bass trombone

@bro748

4 жыл бұрын

I agree, as a Bass Trombonist I often feel that composers (and even directors) often aren't aware of the intricacies that exist in writing for the lowest Trombone part.

Thanks for this video im a grade 8 virtuoso flute playing looking to start composing more thank you man

As a beginner flutist, I'm with you 100% when it comes to the flute registers. I hear more radiance from the second octave C, even though the first octave C is arguably richer in overtones. This overtone richness is what makes it almost impossible to play pianissimo in the oboe's low register unless you have a super talented oboist, right? Whereas the bassoon can play pianissimo even on say the lowest note possible, Bb1 and definitely within the low register of the bassoon. In fact, I treat the bassoon more like a low clarinet than an oboe when it comes to dynamics. No, I don't write niente for the bassoon, even if there are bassoonists out there that can play niente. But I certainly don't avoid writing pianissimo in the low register of the bassoon like I would for the low register of the oboe.

I've finally caught one of your videos only hours after release (on a leap day no less). Anyway, just wanted to say that this is the most informative music channel on KZread that I know. Thank you! There's some big channels out there but yours is consistently insightful and educational. I recently rewatched your Mahler videos and was well impressed by you, and Mahler of course. Maybe some day you will discuss the orchestration of the Sixth's slow movement (my personal favourite). Or maybe Wagner's Parsifal prelude. The blending in that prelude seems like black magic to me. Or Strauss's Tod und Verklarung, another personal favourite and stunning piece in the way motives, orchestration and programme elements combine to reach transcendental levels (no pun intended). Anyway, I'll keep an eye out, not just for validation of my music preferences, but also to learn about others composers whose works and methods I may not be as acquainted with as I could be. Keep up the great work!

Thanks! The last Bach audio is distorting.

Funny. Now that I think about it, all my flute parts are firmly in the middle register. Maybe it's because I can't play the flute at all and those are the only notes I can reliably produce on mine. Maybe I just come from a different school of thought (USSR). Or maybe I've just listened to Debussy a few times too many. At any rate, up high above it only ever plays a supporting role hitting the overtones to add a bit of sheen or attack. Though there's a multitude of other instruments to accomplish the same task.

As a professional flutist, those of us who have studied for many years CAN make that lower register very powerful but it comes at a cost to the quality of sound. Some of us play so nasal down there it stops sounding like a flute and more like an oboe. Just saying we can play down there but best left that range to the other instruments that can play down there

@OrchestrationOnline

4 жыл бұрын

Not denying that at all. It's a given that whatever it takes to make the lower and middle register concert quality will limit the flute's projection.

@kevinconk8164

4 жыл бұрын

It adds to the projection if you do it right.

@douwemusic

Жыл бұрын

@@kevinconk8164 truth

Interesting video. And i agree.

Wow! Lots of distortion in the audio. I think KZread's compression introduced a lot of artifacts. Maybe it doesn't handle flutes very well.

@OrchestrationOnline

4 жыл бұрын

No, it's just the use of several archival recordings. You'll notice that there's no issue with the vocal audio.

@BluemountScore

4 жыл бұрын

@@OrchestrationOnline KZread hates flutes :D

Bach's flute parts are overall mostly featuring the middle register because the traverso was almost always played in this way- baroque flute parts were never meant to be heared above a large string ensemble- the flute was almost without exception used as a pure register of 2 flutes and bass, grounding or thickening the violin part at pitch or playing in one to a part chamber orchestra, trio sonatas or solo sonatas. Altogether, traverso parts usually have their nadir between d''' and g''', the altissimo was never used or to be precise, notes above e''' were considered altissimo. Traverso parts before ca. 1710 are even lower. Bach's manner to let the flutes play the soprano line of the chorale at the octave is already quite high for the time. In earlier Church works, the traverso was more likely to double alto or tenor parts at the octave.

Adler's "nondescript" shows lack of research. Rimsky-Korsakov practiced every wind instrument himself.

It's puzzling to me how these registers are not the physical registers of the instrument (which are also marked.) For me the low register (the first octave is what I'm talking about; that's the actual first register) should never be breathy except for special effects, but yeah if you don't get it in just the right place it won't be very loud, but when it is right it has the full overtones and is thick, oboe-like, not like any of these descriptions here. The second register actually starts at the D, and the notes in the first register do get thinner as they go up. The C# is a troublesome, thin note. The D has a unique color which can spread to the Eb and E just above but those notes in particular can be problematic to balance well too even though you'd think they should be thicker than the notes above. The notes above speak very well but they don't have same kind of magic depth that you get in the first octave and then above that all you get is the regular "flutey" sound and descriptions in the books agree with my experience; you have to fight shrillness in the 3rd octave. The fact that all of these tone color changes at the break between C#-D-E that cannot help but happen with good playing due to the acoustics of the instrument are just lumped together under a bracket in the "middle register" with a handful of other dissimilar notes seems very odd.

@OrchestrationOnline

4 жыл бұрын

With very much use in practical scoring and blending/balancing parts, then the register scheme makes a hell of a lot of sense.

@ne0romantic

4 жыл бұрын

@@OrchestrationOnline If anything the descriptions seem out of date. I'm not saying put loud things against the low register, just trends these days are for a more focused tone than this. Some say this is bad, eg. in the past you'd say "put some edge on that tone" and now you have to tell your students "put some tone on that edge", being so the lowest notes are still difficult but can be played almost as loud as the middle register... the chart still being fine for balance things sure, but have you heard the low register of the flute played loudly by modern players? It sounds nothing at all like the description.

@ne0romantic

4 жыл бұрын

@@OrchestrationOnline sorry, I should also thank you for your response, not many big youtubers take the time.

Question for Thomas or anyone in the comments: If a note has an accidental on it, does it carry to all notes of that letter name or just in the original octave it was spelled (within that measure of course)?

@christinasochor

4 жыл бұрын

Original octave. If it is in the key signature it applys to notes of all octaves

@mal2ksc

Жыл бұрын

However, if you think there's any ambiguity, include the courtesy accidental. If it's really that borderline, some people are gonna pencil it in anyhow. You might as well save them the trouble.

📙💯

Are these courses on macshop?

@OrchestrationOnline

8 ай бұрын

Hi jpilot07! I do offer courses in orchestration on macProVideo/Ask•Video - but this video is an excerpt from my book 100 MORE Orchestration Tips, my second book after the original 100 Orchestration Tips.

great video, but pls deal with the audio quality of the video man!

@OrchestrationOnline

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, my audio quality is fine, but there's nothing I can do about the archival recordings. They were all recorded over half a century ago.

@OrchestrationOnline

2 жыл бұрын

Concern trolling comments cheerfully deleted. Not you J F, someone who thought that piling on and negging was a constructive way to engage here. It's not.

Excellent video. Keep it up! Would you like to be KZread friends? :]