Both traditional pictorial charts and interactive charts are available on the site. The specific instruments available are: the keyless French flageolet (traditional), keyless English flageolet (traditional and interactive) and six–keyed English flageolet (traditional and interactive).
Introduction
Fingering charts are an important resource for any woodwind player. However, they are quite difficult to produce electronically, especially for wind instruments with a large amount of keywork. The fingerings given on this page are informed by those suggested by historic tutors but are mainly those which seem to work best on the author's instruments. As all wind instruments vary slightly from each other, it may be necessary to experiment and to modify them slightly in order to achieve solid intonation.
“Traditional” Fingering Charts
In the following charts the solid square (◼) represents a closed hole. The cross (X) either a half–opened hole, when it is to be worked by a finger, or a “pinched” hole (where the thumb–nail squeezes into the hole only leaving a small space open), when it is to be worked by the thumb.
Each space represents one hole, arranged from the top of the instrument to the bottom. The bottom–most space represents the bell of the instrument:
Keyless French Flageolet
The chart above gives the basic fingering for the keyless French flageolet, although it should work on all French flageolets, irrespective of their number of keys. The majority of French flageolets now in existence date from the 19th Century and were pitched in “A” (i.e. the lowest note on the instrument is an “A”). However, their music was often written a fifth lower, in “D”, with the flageolet then becoming a transposing instrument. In the above charts, the lower stave shows the “A” notation and the higher one the “D”.
Keyless English Flageolet
The chart above gives the basic fingering for the keyless French flageolet, although it should work on all French flageolets, irrespective of their number of keys. The keyless English flageolet has a particular difficulty in producing F♮s and so it is often quite rare to find an entirely keyless instrument. If any keywork exists for this note, then it is recommended that this be used!
Six–Key English Flageolet
Chart
Diagram Showing the Location of the Keys
The six–key English flageolet is the most complex English flageolet commonly encountered. The keywork allows chromatic notes to be played with ease, although the chart becomes somewhat more complex. If it is too wide for your screen, click on it to download the chart as a Portable Document Format file.
When playing on a six–key English flageolet, it is important to note that either but not both of the F♮ keys may be used.
“Interactive” Fingering Charts
Choose the flageolet:
- Keyless English Flageolet
- Six–Keyed English Flageolet
To use: simply choose which flageolet you would like to try from the list and, once your page has loaded, run your mouse over the keyboard. The flageolet on the left should change to indicate the fingering. When a key or hole is coloured, it denotes that you should either cover or press it.
For example, with the first image, below, you would not press nor cover any keys or holes, with the second, you would cover the hole but not press the key and with the third you would cover the hole and press the key:
Please note that you need to have Javascript (and probably CSS) enabled for this to work properly. Using some simple detection, I think that CSS is not working and Javascript is not working in your browser. This is currently a test—if you have any suggestions or problems, please contact me.
