One hand scale?

[John Gribble]

Hi, All:

Once in a while I see reference to a "one hand scale" in a post and I'm curious. What is it and how is it done?

Thanks

[TheSpoonMan]

Finger and play in teh first octave:

xxx|xxx
xxx|xxo
xxx|xoo
xxx|ooo

You'll get D, E, F#, G.

Overblow to the second octave. You'll get D, E, F#, G, an octave higher.

But if you overblow even higher, with the same fingering, you hit a tighter harmonic so you hid not D, E, F#, G, but A, B, C#, D.

[bradhurley]

To add a bit more detail to what SpoonMan just said, this is reposted from elsewhere:

The one-handed scale works like this:

Start with d in the second octave, fingered whichever way you prefer, either with all fingers down or with the lefthand index finger up (assuming you play righ-handed).

Then play e, f, and g as you normally would, going up the scale in the second octave.

But then to get the a, use this fingering while tightening your embouchure to produce a harmonic:

xxx xxx

And then for the b use this:

xxx xxo

for c# use:

xxx xoo

and for the third-octave d use:

xxx ooo

You have to really focus and tighten your embouchure to produce these harmonics. Try to make them sound clean, pure, and quiet, not breathy and loud. If you work on that for a few months and can produce a quiet, clean scale in the second octave using those harmonics, you'll find that your mouth muscles have strengthened considerably and your tone on the flute will improve dramatically.

Jean-Michel Veillon has referred to this exercise as "the keys to the kingdom" for aspiring flute players. It teaches you to focus and strengthens the muscles you use to produce a tone. When you get this focus your flute will sound more in tune with itself and you'll have much less trouble in the second octave; your breath control will improve as well because you use less air.

[seamasL]

John I can tell you that it really works! I only have five months under my belt on the flute and for the last month have been doing the one handed scale every day to start off my practice. I feel like I have made more improvemant in tone and confidence and improvment in the second octave in the past month than all the rest of the time put together. It is hard at first but you just have to keep at it. As you might suspect the high D is the hardest but again if you keep at it you can get it. Today after a day off without playing my lips must have used the rest to good advantage because when I did the scale I could hit that high D the first try and even play it softly and clearly.
Jim

[flutefry]

Add me to the list of someone who has been doing this for a month since the subject came up last on C+F and who is pleased by the results. I also make this the opening 5-8 minutes of my practice-long tones up and down the scale, aiming for purity, softness, and lack of rushing air noise. For me the big surprise is just how small the hole between your lips can be (try looking in the mirror as you do this). But what's cool is the transfer to all the notes of the scale, especially the low ones.

Hugh

[John Gribble]

Thanks, everybody. This is great, a whole new toy to learn. It reminds me a bit of how a hammered dulcimer works, two notes a fifth apart, played on one set of strings.

Thanks again.

[Guinness]

Tried it this morning and it's neat! I think I'll incorporate as part of my warm-up regime.

[Jack Bradshaw]

This is realy great ! (new trick for old dog)

It solves a problem for me on the M&ER&R...OOO|OOO wants to play c' rather than c'#...I have to realy push it to get it to jump up that semitone....but the XXX|XOO works great......

Note: the plain stopper is replaced w/ a hard faced one (mic) so this may not be a general complaint