Hi Everybody:

Harmonies. What sounds harmonious and what does not? In White Crow's (I think that´s the name) website there´s a chart that indicates which flutes in a specific key will sound harmonious with other flutes in another key. So from this site I understand that not all fingerings will sound harmonious, but if played with the same fingering it will. Does that mean that a drone in G will sound harmonious with drones in A Major and E major (3 drones playing all chambers in the same finger positions)? Or maybe it will sound more harmonious if played with only 3 single chamber flutes. ?

....Does this situation change if done with 5th part harmony (G with C and D)?

How about three drones in High, Mid, and Low G? If we were to play with all fingers closed on the Mid and Low and then have somebody play a melody with the High, would that sound just as harmonious as if we were to do the same fingering on all three drones?

I ask this because I usually play with instruments like the clay flutes that are not tuned to any standard scale and then I try to acheive and ensemble situation with a software program called audacity. So I am even more intrigued by acheiving harmonies in a live situation. But when I do use Audacity, I record the fundamental note and then I layer it with same fundamental recording but in two other tracks that are 50% higher and lower in frequency. And then I layer it with the melody and the same melody in two other tracks 50% higher and lower in frequency. Does that make sense?

Anyways I´d appreciate anybody´s help....

Ga Nthewihu (Gah Un-teh-wee-hu)
We will gather

Hm? Playing on two different flutes, using the same fingering? That will not sound good.

Example: if one voice (using an F flute, lifting the fingers of the left hand) plays C-D-E, and the second starts on E (on a A flute), then it needs to play E-F-G.

If the second voice plays the same finger, it will be playing E-F#-G#, which will sound interesting, but not what you intended.



I doubt that would sound good. Drones in G and A together do not sound good, though it's an interesting sound. You can probably combine a G and D drone together, but that's about it. Or a C.

Victor.

Actually, I am not a fan of more than 2 flutes in a song, as I think it is better to use other instruments with flutes.

I am not at all a fan of more than 3 flutes together, ever......and even then the players need to be very skilled to play together in a palatable way.

My wife and I played a song at our church with a Mid G and a low D from different maker's and it sounded great.

Now there's a match made in heaven! BOTH of you are fluties!

What song did you play? How often do you two do duets on the flutes?

Hi Carlos,

Here's a handy little chart I found a while back, think it was from flutetree.com....anyway, it tells you which keys of flutes sound best together. Hope it helps!

Laura

Hey Tootie.My wife is NOT a flutie at all.She just wanted to play for the church.The song was here I am lord.She did put together the flute tab and it sounds great.