The Great Fnatural Deathmatch

Wormdiet · Post by **Wormdiet** » Sun May 15, 2005 7:24 pm

If you had to choose between short and long F, and could only get one, which would it be and why?

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Sun May 15, 2005 7:33 pm

I prefer short F - less chance to damage the key compared to a long one and I've found I can do pretty much anything I want with the short F (you can roll your finger with practice for some of the more difficult passages where folks normally use the long F).

My guess is most folks will say long, but didn't Nicholson prefer the short F...which would put me in pretty good company.

Eric

Blackwood · Post by **Blackwood** » Sun May 15, 2005 8:01 pm

i suppose it's personal preference, but I find the long f natural to provide better stability in playing especially when quick transitions are required...

NicoMoreno · Post by **NicoMoreno** » Sun May 15, 2005 8:03 pm

My pinky finger is too short to reliably hit the long F....

Practise, and a slightly longer touch would do it... but still, I vote short

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Sun May 15, 2005 8:19 pm

My vote's for the long F; it's really the only one I use. I guess I just haven't ran into an instance where the short key would be easier to use than the long one.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:49 am

Oooh! I have BOTH!

Clueless about what to do with either of them . . .

The Sporting Pitchfork · Mon May 16, 2005 12:50 am

Absolutely, positively the long F. Try going directly from D to F natural without it...
I use my short F key from time to time, but mostly just to remind myself that it's there.

Jon C. · Post by **Jon C.** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:57 am

Peggy wrote:Oooh! I have BOTH!

Clueless about what to do with either of them . . .

they are there to make the flute look cool.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon May 16, 2005 2:47 am

Jon C. wrote:
Peggy wrote:Oooh! I have BOTH!

Clueless about what to do with either of them . . .
they are there to make the flute look cool.

That's why I wanted them . . . that and four more . . .

Whistlin'Dixie · Post by **Whistlin'Dixie** » Mon May 16, 2005 5:19 am

Dudette/Dude ~ I think my keyless flutes look "cool" !

I vote for "no" F-key.....

M

Matt_Paris · Post by **Matt_Paris** » Mon May 16, 2005 5:37 am

Now I am used to them, I definitely need both. If I would have to sacrifice one key, it would be the Cnat: I have a vintage flute with the Cnat broken and the hole plugged, and I discovered I didn't really need it. But all my friends with keyed flutes tell me it's their favorite key.

Hard to tell what is best for you...

And it's true the long F looks cool.

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Mon May 16, 2005 5:44 am

I use the short F most of the time, but as someone pointed out above, there's no way to go cleanly from D to F or F to D without the long F natural key. That's primarily what it's there for, but some people prefer to use it for every instance of F.

If you only could have one, the long F is the one to get -- if you get a short F only, you'll have trouble everytime you try to go from F to D or vice versa.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Mon May 16, 2005 5:45 am

For Irish music, I actually think the long F is more useful. My reasoning is with a short F you can easily do most intervals except F-nat to D, which is found with some frequency in tunes like Julia Delaney's and the Sunset.

The long F can do the F-nat to D easily.

The interval the long F can't do is F-nat to A-flat--you have to have a short F for that.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any dance tunes that include that interval. There probably are some; I just don't think I play any.

All of that said, I find I use the short F quite a bit more than the long F. About the only time I use the long F is if there is one of those F-nat to D passages.

--James

P.S. Brad, I didn't mean to step on your post--we must have been typing our answers at the same time. --James

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Mon May 16, 2005 6:56 am

Fnat to D with a short F isn't that hard if you think of it as a slide off the Fnat key. D to Fnat is a slide onto the key.

Then again, maybe I just have freaky fingers...

Eric

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Mon May 16, 2005 7:23 am

Jayhawk wrote:Fnat to D with a short F isn't that hard if you think of it as a slide off the Fnat key. D to Fnat is a slide onto the key.

Eric

I can do the slide off of the key on any of my flutes pretty well.

The slide onto the key, though--that I can't quite make work on any of them. Then again, my flutes have long-F keys, so I've not spent a lot of time trying.

If you really wanna impress me, play this figure from Eileen Curran at speed with only the short F:

K: Gmin

AFcFdFcF

That rocking pedal is hard enough to do *with* the long F!

--James