[sycc]

On Chuck Mangione's Bellavia and Chase the clouds away,Is it a Alto flute playing the lead????I know Bob Mintzer uses one on McDougal street. Is the Alto flute a octave lower than the flute???Or is it a 4th or 5th lower and in a differant key other than C????For a adult just learning flute but w/30 years of sax playing can you start on alto flute????(I'm getting a closeout Deford regular flute from wwbw.com but if flute is bad{ie teacher doesn't like or plays out of tune} I was thinking of exchanging for a Emerson Alto flute)

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

You read say low C in the score, you call the note C, but it is actually the G below, i.e. a 4th below. A BASS flute is an octave below a normal ("soprano") flute.

I don't know if the Emersons have improved. I got mine about 15 years ago. Although it had quite a good sound, it was wildly out of tune, and very poorly adjusted. Quite poorly made. I had to spend many hours work on it to get it so that the tuning was reasonable.

 

[atoriphile]

The vast majority of flute music is for the standard C flute. So if you're planning to play off of that, stick with the C flute (or the bass flute that plays in the same key, just an octave lower).

If you plan on mostly improvising, then it really doesn't matter which size of flute you play on. Just remember, for the alto flute you need to add a flat (or take away a sharp) in the key signature.

Good luck!

 

[sycc]

Thanks guys!!!I will probably stick w/ soprano flute!!!!Hope the Deford works out from wwbw.com!!!

 

[HOUSTON NONET]

Trevor James has a reasonable alto flute that playes well for $$
Check out Jerry Dodgion's alto flute on the classic Herbie Hancock cd "Speak like a Child" . Henry Mancini states in his arranging book never write rapid sharply articulated low notes for the alto flute. Herbie and Dodgion didn't read that and Dodgion excutes the difficult passages flawlessly:!: Very popular instrument in the 60's not so much now.

 

[daigle65]

You used to hear it a lot on the soundtracks of 70's cop series.

 

[HOUSTON NONET]

You used to hear it a lot on the soundtracks of 70's cop series.

Agree
Mancini was a major influence back then. He has some scores with 5 alto flutes!!

 

[Enviroguy]

You used to hear it a lot on the soundtracks of 70's cop series.

So we're talking about Barnaby Jones here?

http://liorshm.tripod.com/barnaby/barn.wav

 

[HOUSTON NONET]

No --that is same actor but the wrong show-- The Beverly Hillbillies (?sp)

 

[HOUSTON NONET]

Mike Post used alto fl a lot

 

[Enviroguy]

No --that is same actor but the wrong show-- The Beverly Hillbillies (?sp)

No... In Arkansas we always think of Buddy Ebsen this way, no matter what show we are talking about. He's considered a hero here.

But was the flute in the Barnaby Jones theme an alto flute?

 

[HOUSTON NONET]

I do believe you are correct-- and probably Gene Cipriano (the great Hollywood doubler of that era) playing it