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  • Alto and Bass Flute Ranges - Harp question

    Can anyone tell me the lower range of alto and bass flute?

    Also, can a harp play a glissando on a 7th chord? (In this case a C chord with a Bb bass).

    thanks,
    JD

  • last edited
    last edited

    @dackl said:

    Can anyone tell me the lower range of alto and bass flute?

    Also, can a harp play a glissando on a 7th chord? (In this case a C chord with a Bb bass).

    thanks,
    JD


    I have seen different ranges for both Alto and Bass flute, so if you are just using samples use whatever they do. If you are writing for a live player, then find out what is normal for them.

    Regarding the glissando the answer in this particular case is no. You have to have each letter note once and Db, D and D# do not fit your chord. However, if you don't mind a D in the chord then it can do this.

    DG

  • I think this is accurate: alto flute is good down to A below middle C; the G# and G are like C# and C on a regular flute, extensions, so they can be played and may have a good effect, but need special care (like no G-G# trills, no fast passages involving these notes, etc). Bass flute is a very rare instrument, personally I wouldn't write for it unless I had a bass-flutist who wanted the piece (and then I'd arrange a meeting with that person and go over their preferred range, no matter what the instrument is supposed to do!) I think the nominal range for a bass flute is an octave below a regular flute (so down to C in the bass clef). Alto flute is usually written as a transposing instrument.

    Harp true glissando requires hitting seven tuned strings per octave; each one can be tuned a semitone above or below the note in a c major scale. Something like a B dominant seventh is therefore more easily achieved than a C 7. (C string = B, D string = D# E string = Eb F string = F# G string = Gb A string = A B string = B).

    A harpist can make a good fast arpeggio, and it might sound as good or better than the gliss: four fingers per hand, one per note of the chord, covers two octaves of a 7th chord and can be played fast or slow, loud or soft, and with good control.

  • Thanks for the great replies. I got greatly cursed by a harpist once when I wrote a complicated chromatic melody that required multiple pedal changes per measure. It was easy to play on keyboard, and she finally played it well. Since then I'm trying to be nicer.

  • Gugliel is right on that though I would emphasize the low notes on Alto Flute are the best and most characteristic - extremely rich and velvety. It is a transposing instrument written a fourth higher than sounding, whereas the the "Bass" Flute which VSL is going to sample is in C and does go down a full octave. The names of these are somewhat confusing, since "Bass" Flute used to refer to the Alto Flute. When I did Holst's Neptune this was a concern, since it is "Bass Flute" in the score though was in G. But the large C Bass Flute used heavily in film scores is a modern instrument that derives from a 16th century Italian Bass Flute of the same range. Writing realistically for this instrument should take into account the fact that it requires an incredible amount of breath - in fact, more than any other instrument in the orchestra.

  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on