Playing Bach & Vivaldi on 3 Baroque Flutes (ft. Rachel Brown)

[@ricardoayala2023]

Mrs. Brown came to Puerto Rico in early 90's and I have the privilege to take a lesson with her. Always thankful for that to her.

[@03Venture]

🇵🇷 🥰

[@tashwhimpey8114]

1:27 Bach, E minor sonata 1:59 Vivaldi, Il Gardellino 3:52 Bach 4:20 Vivaldi 7:24 Bach 5:51 Vivaldi

[@passinthru4328]

A clear and interesting illustration of pitch variation in the history of the instrument. Appreciated.

[@wuestenblume7]

Very interesting. Thank you for showing us the three traversos

[@sarahspector5294]

So grateful. Thank you.

[@colinstmartin4795]

Beautiful playing as always! So lovely to hear the Castel in particular as it makes playing at 440 sound much more convincing than any other traverso I've heard or tried at that pitch. It perhaps goes without saying that the Scherer has a truly sumptuous sound. Thanks so much for this demonstration.

[@Oaktreealley]

I love the baroque flute. Especially the French Hotteterre style flute. I just bought one but am already thinking about the next one i want 😅.

[@millennial8441]

I own a Palanca in A=415. The sound is pretty HUGE!

[@Oaktreealley]

@@millennial8441 So it’s going on my list i guess! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

[@millennial8441]

@@Oaktreealley Although I love French baroque music I don't like Hotteterre's flute model because it gets completely overshadowed when it plays with many baroque bowed instruments and especially along the baroque oboe (oboes have more partials that make them a "naughty boy"). Thus the Palanca model has a bigger sound and can play along the baroque oboe and can be heard. Often I try to make some adjustments on breath pressure and embouchure in order to create a sound more "sharp" and "crispy" than usual.

[@Oaktreealley]

@@millennial8441 oh yes i can see that. The baroque flute became such a gentle instrument after the renaissance models. Its charm is in that sweetness, imo, but i can see how un-fun ,and even frustrating, it would be to just be smothered by everyone else.

[@annelantoine4291]

@@millennial8441my Buffardin le fils is also very powerful

[@Recorder-e3e]

Excelente interpretación y explicación. Saludos desde Buenos Aires 😊

[@narekavakianmusique]

Love all 3 flutes. 👍

[@PlanetImo]

This was really interesting, thanks :)

[@MrMarcvus]

I prefer the 392. I have a Naust at a=400 and love the depth which this instrument gives to the music!

[@annelantoine4291]

I have a Boaz Berney Naust 1725 at a= 398 ( its original pitch ) and I love it I love a= 392 too but may hands don’t 🤣

[@mccypr]

Thanks!😎

[@AdHocExNihilo]

Lovely demonstration, thank you. If anyone knows what she's using to protect the embouchure, please respond. In Summer months, if one sweats while playing, it stains the wood (and makes the flute slippery). I've tried a few different solutions but not found one I liked. Any assistance with an identification of the tape she's using would be appreciated!

[@losifova2580]

I was wondering the same thing. I have the impression it could be something similar to vinyl decals since they are easy to peel off.

[@mantistoboggan2676]

Loved this video

[@curtvaughan2836]

They all sound beautiful to me. I have a Palanca tuned to 440, and a Rottenburgh with a corps de rechange of 415 and 440. If I want to play with other musicians, 95% of the time I need a 440 instrument. The 415 will work for the other 5%. My favorite instrument for playing Bach and Telemann is the Rottenburgh. My next performance will be doing the Aus Liebe out of the St. Matthew Passion, at 440, with a 440 organ imitating the oboes da' caccia.

[@israelnoriega5981]

I ❤ Baroque Music!

[@baroquer]

Thank you lovely lady

[@03Venture]

A 440!! ❤❤❤

[@aregavagyan1588]

Нужно большое сердце, как у Баха

[@tunefulcathodic]

Nice!!!!❤❤❤❤

[@edwardtagg]

Light brown venetian copy is so much more what I'm used to with viv

[@weixingxiao5818]

what is the golden tape-like thing on the embouchure hole?

[@millennial8441]

Maybe prevention against cracking?

[@sarahspector5294]

I’m shocked to like number 3 the best !

[@phthartic]

Not that it would be convenient, but seriously, wouldn’t the three flutes sound pretty much the same if you just transposed your part up a half or a whole step so that you were playing the same pitch on all of them? It strikes me that all the talk of “darker, richer tone” or whatever would be indistinguishable even to someone with perfect pitch as long as you were playing the same pitches. I was a brass player, so not a flute expert, but don’t pretty much all instruments have the capability of being tuned to compensate for different atmospheric conditions or different players embouchures or whatever? If you want to tune to 415 can’t you just pull out on the 440 tuned one? Wouldn’t that sound the same?

[@joejoejoe532]

Yes..and no. Transposing on these instrument is difficult due to the fact that the keyless system means certain notes gain/lose strength when transposed due to cross-fingering and half-holing changing the instrument harmonics. A pitch that is played as a straight fingering on Scherer 392hz might be a cross fingering on a 440hz, resulting in *very* different tone colors. The changes in tone color between cross fingered notes and straight fingered notes are so dramatic that baroque composers will specifically make certain notes more emphasized or less emphasized accordingly. On the other hand, transposing on a Modern keyed system flute is easy because the keys do a lot to increase uniformity of strength and tone colors between every note on a chromatic scale. It also makes interpreting Baroque music on a modern flute very challenging since most players of the modern flute have no/little experience with the Baroque flute, and therefore less insight into why composers like Bach and Handel put certain notes and emphasis on specific places. To address your question about pulling out a headjoingtto change pitch: pulling out a Headjoint too much changes the relationship between pitches slightly because a flute built to be tuned to 392 requires ever-so-slightly different fingering position/sizes as a flute at 440. So if you pull out a Headjoint so that the A on a 440hz matches an A on a 392, the other notes might not match.

[@phthartic]

Yeah, as the idea continued to float around my head after posting I thought about the difference between “equally tempered” scales and whatever the alternative is called. Obviously the finger holes are precisely placed on an instrument like a recorder or a baroque flute, as I assume they must be on a baroque (valveless) trumpet, and I’ve heard demonstrations on a harpsichord of pieces played in different keys than the instrument is tuned to and how dreadful they sound and I guess this is an analogous situation. Even on a modern valved brass instrument like I’m used to I can usually hear the difference between someone playing an “open” note (where no valve is pressed) and one where valves are used, which, as a person without perfect pitch, I can use to cheat my way towards determining what key the piece is in. I should’ve thought a bit more before asking. Thanks for the cogent explanation.

[@joejoejoe532]

@@phthartic I had to give it some thought and research as well: the answer isn't an obvious one. As a modern flute player, due to the fact that our key system makes it so much easier to tune and transpose, we rarely have to think about the kind of question that you asked, and so the answer isn't readily apparent to many of us either. Your point about "open" and "valved" notes on a trumpet is actually a very good analogy to "straight" and "cross" fingered notes on a baroque flute! If you transposed two differently proportioned/tuned trumpets so they play the same note, that note will sound different to you if one is playing open and the other is not, even if the they are both playing the same frequency.

[@Rik77]

No...for 2 reasons. 1st is that the bore is constructed differently in these instruments which massively affects the character. 2nd is that the instrument has different characters in different keys because each pitch sounds different. So the Vivaldi is in d major which is a bright full key. If you played it in Eflat major the sound would be duller and more veiled because of the fingerings required for flat pitches.

[@Biber0315]

The mic is too hot and it isn't flattering to the instruments. Quite the contrary, actually.