For most flutists, the C#/Db in the staff is the bane of their musical existence. The timbre is often rough and airy in addition to being so extremely sharp that conventional means of adjusting the pitch have little or no effect. The prospect of having to manage this unruly note in performance of Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun” or Griffes’s “Poem” can cause so much stress that the overall performance suffers.
Of course you want to learn to manage this situation and make your C#’s as sublimely beautiful as any other note, but sometimes you could use with a little extra help. Here is a quick fix that will bring the pitch down without compromising tone quality.
Simply add some fingers! The fingering for C# in the staff is all open, all fingers up except for the right hand pinky on the D#/Eb key. To bring the pitch of this note down a smidge or more, add 1,2, or even 3 of the other right hand fingers. I was taught to use the middle and ring fingers (RH 2 and 3) together. Through experimentation I have learned that sometimes the best sound comes from using only one (usually the RH 3 for me.) Using RH1 affects my tone quality too much, but you should try it to see how it works for you.
Give it a try in your next practice session! Experiment to finding the solutions that will work best for you and finally be able to approach playing those C#’s and Db’s with confidence. That will make them sound even better!
Do you have any videos of you playing? Would love to hear you. Thanks