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Doubt in Carnatic Flute! Please HELP!!!

Topic started by Stanley Lyndon (@ 203.145.182.15) on Wed Oct 27 07:47:12 EDT 2004.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I am learning to play the flute by myself. I bought a carnatic flute and a book. I learnt the notes and fingering from the book.

But, when I went to buy a different flute, I was confused by the variety of models of carnatic flutes!

In "mathiyasthayi" (middle octave) there are flutes from 1, 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2, etc. till 7!

He told me that 2 1/2 is D# flute and 4 is F flute.

Which means that "Sa" (first 2 holes closed) is D# and F respectively in the two flutes. Fine.

But, how are the rest of the notes arranged? Does a D# flute play in the western scale of D# MAJOR SCALE or in any other fashion?

That is, in F flute, playing a "SA" will sound F, playing a "RE" will sound G, playing a "GA" will sound A, playing a "MA" will sound B-FLAT (?), etc?

Or, is it like, "SA" is F, "RE" is G, "GA" is A, "MA" is B, "PA" is C+, "DA" is D+, and "NI" is E+?

Kindly help.

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Responses:

• From: Da Vinci (@ 128.113.109.238) on: Wed Oct 27 08:57:43 EDT 2004
  
  Stanley,
  
  I will see if I can help you. In Carnatic flutes, the fingering of the musical notes is the same, irrespective of the base pitch of the flute. If you can play a major scale in one carnatic flute of a specific base pitch, you would play the major scale with the same fingering in another flute of a different base pitch. Say if you have two flutes with two scales D# and F. You would then be playing D# Major scale and F Major Scale respectively.
  
  The first note with the first two holes closed is the base note of a Carnatic flute. It is the first note of the scale you are playing (let us assume, F). Remove one finger you will get the second note (G). All fingers off, you will get A. Holes from second to seventh closed, you will get A#. Holes from first to fifth closed you will get C. Holes from first to fourth closed you will get D. Holes 1 and 2 fully closed and the third half closed you will get E.
  
  These major notes are similar to the raga Shankarabaranam in Carnatic music.
  
  The fingering pattern would remain the same for all the Carnatic flutes for Major Scales.
  
  Hope it helped.
  
  
• From: Stanley Lyndon (@ 203.145.182.15) on: Wed Oct 27 09:10:19 EDT 2004
  
  Thanks a lot Da Vinci.
  
  How is it that a carnatic flute is designed for WESTERN SCALES? Isn't that odd?
  
  Also, if there are only 12 different flutes corresponding to 12 different notes, how will you play all the minor scales?
  
  
• From: Stanley Lyndon (@ 203.145.182.15) on: Wed Oct 27 09:12:39 EDT 2004
  
  for major scales, it is: base-1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2 while for minor scales, it is: base-1-1/2-1-1-1/2-1 1/2-1
  
  
• From: Da Vinci (@ 128.113.109.238) on: Wed Oct 27 15:12:38 EDT 2004
  
  Stanley,
  
  I dont understand your question 'Also, if there are only 12 different flutes corresponding to 12 different notes, how will you play all the minor scales?'. For, you could play major, minor, harmonic and any other scale in a single flute, irrespective of the base pitch of the flute.
  
  For playing the minor scale (as in the earlier example with F major scale), all you need to do is open half the first hole alone for playing G#, first four holes fully closed and the fifth half open for playing C# and shutting the first three holes fully for playing E. All other notes are the same as in the earlier example.
  
  You could familiarize yourself with the sounds by playing each hole fully shut, half open and fully open.
  
  
• From: Da Vinci (@ 128.113.109.238) on: Wed Oct 27 15:19:04 EDT 2004
  
  oh okay, I understood your question after I made the earlier posting. No, you cannot play all the 12 minor scales or major scales or any scale in a single flute. You would need different flutes for playing the scales starting with different base note. In Carnatic Music, only one pitch is followed throughout unlike Western. All Carnatic music instruments are designed with this in mind. You might be interested to know the violin in Carnatic setting too can play various scales with only one base note generally.
  
  
• From: Stanley Lyndon J.P. (@ 203.145.182.15) on: Thu Oct 28 03:09:48 EDT 2004
  
  You mean to say that all the carnatic flutes are: base-1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2 ?
  
  That is, a F flute will have A# sound for "MA" fingering (2nd to 7th closed), and NOT B (if it is 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1)?
  
  Kindly help.
  
  
• From: Da Vinci (@ 128.113.109.238) on: Thu Oct 28 08:18:16 EDT 2004
  
  I dont know what you mean by 'base-1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2 '. But the fourth note of a scale, say F with the holes second to seventh closed would be A#.
  
  
• From: Stanley Lyndon J.P. (@ 203.145.182.15) on: Mon Nov 1 05:58:51 EST 2004
  
  Oh, thanks a lot. I was just confused as whether the F flute will have notes like F G A B C D E F+ and not the notes of the F major scale.
  
  Now, I understand from your answer that: all carnatic flutes normally available in shops labelled 1, 1 and a half, etc. are based on the MAJOR SCALES (WESTERN) notes.
  
  Thanks a lot.
  
  

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