DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

FINGERING FINGEPJNG 53
sliding from one to the other semitone with
the nearest finger. Here also the change took
w
place in favour of the first, second, and third
fi Offers ill succession.
IjTi^-W 4«|--^-ffn»*'= 3 12 30 123 12 30
O Vi '2 3
In the higher positions the fingerin;
chromatic scale may be alternatel}^
1 and 2 going np and coming down.
of the
1, 2, 3, successively going up, and 3, 2, 1,
coming down ;
3 and 2 alternately coming down, as recommended
by Servais.
Thirds are comparatively easy in the upper
positions, with the aid of the thumb. They
are fingered thus, in both upper and lower
positions :
p 1 2
2 3 4
In the lower positions only, 1 and 4 are avail-
able, or 2 and 3 with open strings (without the
thumb).
For sixths in the lower positions the fingers
change more frecpiently
12 3 4 4 ,3
112 3 '^'"^^ 2
12 3
In the thumb-positions -, q o
In the higher positions without thumb
2 3 3
Octaves in the thumb -positions are fingered
3 3 4
either _ consecutively, or _ ^ alternately. In
the lower positions by the first and fourth
fingers only.
The fingering of arpeggios sometimes shows
interesting combinations over four strings ; and
the practice of sliding with one finger, or from
one finger to another forward, backward, or
crossing over a neighbouring finger, is an indispensable
device of the violoncello player. Sjiace
will not permit the detailed explanation of
these points in a dictionary. E. K.
(iii.) FixGERixG OF Wind Instruments.
—The fact that the natural harmonic scale, or
series of notes (referred to below as H.S. ),
although utilised in diiferent ways, must be
regarded as the basis of the intonation of all
wind instruments, is briefly dealt with under
"Wind Instruments, but a slightl}^ more extended,
although necessarily limited view of
the scale fingering of all such instruments as
have side-holes is here given. (For the scale
schemes of brass instruments generally, see
Horn, Trombone, and V,a.i.ve.)
The simplest basis for consideration is an
iuistrument bored with .six finger-holes as the
common fife or flute without keys. Since tlie
prevalence of the modern major diatonic scale,
the holes have been jilaced in such positions as
to give the six degi-ees of this scale which lie
between the tonic and its octave, or second note
in H.S. by the successive raising of the six
=!^t =
fingers, the fourth fingers not being used. The
tonic sounds from the full length of the tube,
liut with exceptions to be subsequentl}' noticed.
By over-blowing on the fiute, all these notes are
repeated an octave higher, and the production
of the octave of the tonic can be facilitated by
lilting the finger from the sixth hole.
These six holes, therefore, supply all that is
required for the production of a diatonic scale
of two octaves in instruments of the flute class,
and also in conical instruments played either
with a reed, as the oboe, or with a cup mouthpiece,
as the old zincke. In the oboe, and
similar conical instruments, the production of
the notes of the second octave is greatly facili-
tated by the opening of one or more small
tubular holes or ' pipes '
in the upper part of
the instrument.
On an instrument with six finger-holes, scales
other than that in which it is set, and therel'ore
requiring semitones foreign to the original scale,
can be rendered only with a rough approxima-
tion to accuracy by partly closing, and so liattcning
the speaking hole, or by closing one or more
holes below it. For a complete chromatic scale,
or the cycle of twelve diatonic scales, five extra
holes controlled by keys have been introduced ;
these, with the six finger-holes, giviugthe eleven
different lengths of tube required in addition to
the total length, for the twelve degrees of the
chromatic scale. On instruments wliich cannot
be overblown, however, whether conical, as the
cliaunters of the various bagpipes, or cylindrical,
as the rudimentary chalumeaux, a seventh hole
is required for the completion of the scale of one
octave, and this liole is usually controlled by
the thumb of the left hand.
In the ordinary flute-scale, as described above,
the fundamental note of the tube is used ; and
as the next note to this in the H.S. is the
octave, the whole of the intermcd'atc notes
have to be obtained by means of variations in
thelengthoftube. If, however, the fundamental
note were not required, the original length with
three variations would give the diatonic scale,
as the second, third, and fourth notes of the
H.S. are the octave, twelfth, and double octave
of the prime. A diatonic scale in the second
harmonic octave requires, therefore, only three
finger-holes, giving the su]iertonic. mediant, and
subdominant, the dominant or third note in
H.S. being derived from the full length of the
tube, and this was the usual arrangement in the
tabor pipe and galoubet.
Returning to the bagpipe cbaunter, the six
normal holes of the flute are supplemented not
only by the seventh, or thumb-hole, to give the