Alto Flute ~ A Beautiful Instrument for Beautiful People
The Alto Flute Experts
Chris Potter
Chris Potter is an American flautist who specialises in alto and bass flute. She has an impressive CV and has commissioned and premiered many new works for alto and bass flute. Chris has completed a doctorate in flute performance, performed around the world and written/arranged 15 books. She also runs a yearly alto and bass flute retreats and offers alto/bass flute lesson over Skype so students from around the world can benefit from her wealth of knowledge and experience.
Peter Sheridan
Peter Sheridan is a performer, teacher, instrument inventor and mentor to The Techie Flutist. He is a huge supporter of new music and has commissioned countless works for low flutes. Peter specialises not only in alto flute but also in the bass, contra, sub-contra, and hyper-bass Flutes. He is currently working to develop a sub-hyper-bass flute which will reach beyond the lowest notes of the piano. Peter is an inspirational teacher who's contribution to the global low flutes community cannot be overlooked.
Carla Rees
Carla Rees is a performer, arranger, publisher and teacher who has dedicated her life to the low flutes. She is a director of Rarescale which is an ensemble whose primary purpose is to promote the low flutes. Carla is also the director of a music publishing company Tetractys which specialises in producing sheet music for low flutes. She has an extensive CV with many performances and recordings and completed her PhD on extended techniques for Kingma System alto and bass flutes.
The Alto Flute
Until Theodore Boehm's development of the modern flute, the alto flute struggled to gain any recognition. The added size of the instrument's diameter and length (which is what gives the flute its lower sound) meant that until Boehm's system of rods and keys the instrument was too big for human hands. Theodore Boehm was possibly the first flautist and composer to fall in love with the instrument and bring it into the hands of both flautists and composers.
The alto flute has a beautiful and highly expressive tone that extends a fourth lower than the standard concert flute. The instrument is strongest in its first two octaves. Above this, the alto flute's tone starts to become thin and doesn't have the same brilliance as the concert flute. While this can be seen as a limitation, some composer's choose to deliberately exploit this pale and delicate colour. It wasn't until Stravinsky and Ravel that the instrument found its way into larger orchestral works. Today it is common practice for orchestra flautist to double on piccolo, flute and alto flute.
The alto flute is a transposing instrument. This allows flautist to swop between the different flutes without needing to relearn any fingering. Consequently, the instrument is pitched a fourth below what it is written. As with the concert flute, the lowest note of the instrument is set in stone. The highest note may vary from player to player. The important thing to know is that the high you push the instrument the more challenging it becomes to play. Generally speaking, the pitches will become sharp, unstable and limited to a fairly loud dynamic. Composers can take the below range as being relatively safe with the crotchets denoting areas that some performers will be willing to venture into but that other performer will avoid.
Alto Flute Written Range
Alto Flute Sounding Range
The alto flute can play all the same extended techniques as your regular concert flute, however, all the multiphonic fingerings will be different and composers should work very closely with a flautist if they wish to venture into this realm as it can vary substantially between performers. Key Clicks become more effective with the larger flutes as a bigger resonance is able to be produced.
There are 3 options available to performers looking to purchase an alto flute. For people who are smaller in stature, an alto flute with a curved headjoint is recommended. Curved headjoint flutes can be more challenging when it comes to intonation, however, using a flute that forces your arms and fingers to stretch too far can cause some rather serious health complications including RSI. For those who are tall with long arms and fingers, the prefered instrument is usually an alto flute with a straight headjoint. The Kingma System is an open holed alto flute which provides performers with further control over the instrument and opens the door to a vast array of extended techniques that would otherwise have been unavailable.
Starting on The Alto Flute
It is reccommended that students first start learning flute on a standard concert flute. Once a student has grasped the basics of sound production and fingering, and are physically big enough to support a larger instrument they may move accross to the alto flute at any time. In order to make this transition as smooth as possible Chris Potter and The Techie Flutist have developed two complimentary resources that will aid both students and teachers with their journey into the realm of alto flute playing.
Alto Flute Method Book
The 'Alto Flute Method' by Chris Potter is a fantastic method book for the alto
flute. It is in a similar style to the Trevor James 'Flute Practice' books but focuses specifically on the ins and outs of the alto flute. This book includes exercises for tone development, breath control, low flute scales, alternative fingering and etudes. As well as information about purchasing an instrument, maintenance, repertoire and performance aids.
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The Big Picture
The Big Picture is a collection of concert etudes that was composed by The Techie Flutist (Emma Rogers). The work was written by the request of Peter Sheridan and is published through Carla Rees' company Tectratys. The book contains 8 beautiful concert etudes that range from easy to intermediate. The Big Picture aims to provide repertoire to help aid the transition from concert to alto flute. It explores the technical aspects of the instrument in lyrical and highly expressive compositions.
Introducing The Alto Flute
A Techie Flutist Video Coming Soon
Lunar Mural 1 for Alto Flute
Flow for Alto Flute
Books
The Alto Flute Practice Book
The Techniques of Play Flute II: Piccolo, Alto, Bass flute
Repertoire Catalogue: Piccolo, Alto Flute, Bass Flute
The Alto and Bass Flute Resources Guide
~ Trevor James and Patricia Morris
Contains a brief description of the alto flute and playing techniques. Includes a repertoire list and the sheet music for a collection of Alto Flute Orchestral Exerts.
~ Carin Levin and Christina Mitropoulos
Great for composer and performers wanting an overview of flute extended techniques and how they translate to piccolo, alto and bass flute. The accompaniment CD is particularly great for composers.
~ Peter Van Munster
A 75-page book listing works that have been composed for solo alto flute, alto with accompaniment and some chamber music.
~ Chris Potter
This book is an overview of resources that are available for alto and bass flutes. It includes a graded repertoire list, brief history and selected recordings.
Websites
Kingma System
A Practical Guide for Composers and Performers
Fingering Checker
Good for composers wanting to know if there music is playable.