Flaulette is an extremely important technical element for any musician. How did this technique come about? What instruments can I use to play it and how do I learn to take all kinds of flag-flying instruments on a guitar? What are some ways to do this? Let's deal with these issues and learn this technique!
Flaulette - what is it in music?
Each musician begins with something and gradually masters newer and newer techniques that increase his level of play and quality of performance.
Flaulette is a musical technique that is performed on stringed instruments. With it, you can get a soft and airy sound. This technique will allow you to add new colors to the game on musical instruments, the sound at the same time is timbrally different from the sound when you press the string completely, and from the point of view of physics, various vibrations arise. The reception is used in various musical genres, special attention is paid to it in hard rock, where it is played on an electric guitar. Flageoleta is a favorite trick for metal guitar solos.
The instrument, as it turned out, is perfectly suited for the performance of this technical element, since it allows you to enhance the weak sound of the flag-fly, and is often used together with the distortion effect. On string-stringed instruments, the timbre of sound during the performance of a flag-fly resembles a whistle, on plucked ones - a ringing.
Next, we will dwell in more detail on the differences between the types of flageolettes both in technical performance and in sound. For example, on wind instruments, the flagships correspond to a certain method of playing, which consists in blowing on non-standard overtones, which is achieved by strong lip tension.
From the history of appearance
The first known work in which this technique was used is the fourth opus of Lessonsharmonique of the French musician Jean-Joseph Mondonville.
Only natural flagolets are found in it. Since then, the technique has been perfected, new types have appeared, a lot can be learned from the works of the Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino. Later, multi-phageletes and even flageolet chords appeared, which, despite the name, are formed and are taken on the same string. And in the 20th century, it was popular to use flagolets in the technique of playing the piano, they can be heard in many works of George Krum.
Types of Flags
There are two main types of flagships - these are natural and artificial. Natural ones correspond to open strings, and artificial ones arise on those pressed to the fret. If you understand the physics of the process of the appearance of a flavolet, there are no differences in fluctuations depending on the type of flavolet, but they are in the complexity of their execution. It’s easier to learn how to perform natural flagolets.
In addition to this unit, it is also possible to classify flagolets by the extraction method. The following types are distinguished here:
- Finger (it can be both natural and artificial flageolet).
- Plectrum (taken with a pick)
- Semi-bright - two sounds are produced on one string by means of a weak touch of the string, from which it remains to sound both the main tone and the flageolet.
In addition, one more type can be distinguished - these are complex flagolets. They are artificial flagolets, complemented by accompaniment. When they are performed, the right hand is involved both in the game of the flageolettes themselves and in the musical accompaniment to them.
How to play flagolleta on a guitar?
Pulling an open or tightly clamped string on the instrument, you can notice the appearance of vibrations. Such a sound is the main tone, and the sound of the flag on the guitar is an overtone, a residual sound that is not included in the main tone. Oscillations in this case are different from vibrations on an open string. The overtone is always above the pitch.
The principle of flierolettes is that the performer’s finger, loosely pressed to the string, drowns out all the overtones except one. To do this, it is important to touch with your finger exactly at the place of least vibration of the string. Note that there can be several such places.
Natural flagollets on the guitar are taken with a light touch of the string at the points of division, and artificial ones on the tightly pressed string, while the other finger easily touches the string in the range of a quart or fifth from the tightly pressed first finger.
The technique of natural flagollet
It will be possible to perform natural flag-flying on the guitar if you barely touch the fingertip on the string on the twelfth, ninth, seventh, fifth, fourth, third frets, and with your right hand pull the string. However, this type of flagollet is most common on the fifth, seventh and twelfth frets, since it is they who divide the guitar string into equal parts. To remove it, you need to touch the fret line between frets (for example, the fifth and sixth and further by analogy) with the finger of your left hand, while you do not need to clamp the fret. Any beginner guitarist can do this without additional training, the main thing is not to put pressure on the string, the sound should be light and soft.
In notes, it is recorded using the special designation Fl (in the Soviet editions - FL), and the head of the note has the shape of a rhombus (for the finger method) and a triangle (for the mediator). It looks like this: Fl.VII (that is, a flagolet is recorded here on the seventh fret). In foreign publications, the designation harm (arm) is used. The height of the note in this case corresponds to the pitch of the flag.
Technique of artificial flagollet
Technically, this technique is more difficult to implement, since when playing a natural flagolet, the left hand helps the right, stopping the sound at the right time by touching. This is not possible here, since it is pressed to the bar. To perform this technique, you need to barely touch the twelfth fret with the index finger of your right hand, and pull the string with the middle finger, after which you immediately release the index finger and release the string. When playing, you need to drown out the main tone and hear only the overtone. In this case, you can hear the artificial flagollet.
Artificial flagolets are also displayed in notes in the form of a rhombus, while it is indicated on which fret the flaglet must be performed. It is especially convenient to perform this technique on an electric guitar. This flaglet is indicated in the tablature with three notes: the lower one shows where the left hand of the guitarist should be, it also determines the duration of the sound, the middle note shows where the index finger of the right hand (diamond-shaped) should touch the string, and the upper one shows the flagolet itself (we hear). In notes, the writing of complex flagolettes is similar to the writing of artificial ones.
Mediator extraction method
The task here is similar, as it was before. You need to hold the frets on the string, then yank it and immediately touch it in order to muffle the sound. This must be done either with the index or thumb, with any part of it. With this method, it is important not only to know and be able to perform the artificial flagollet technique, but also to hold the pick correctly, that is, there must be a correct setting of the hands. As a rule, it’s in this way that phonolettes are played by musicians playing the electric guitar.
Finger extraction method
When playing brute force the previous method will not work. This technique is more complicated, it is important to find a comfortable position of the fingers and bring the mechanism of the performance of the flagolta to automaticity.
Conclusion
Reception of flageolettes is very difficult and, like any musical reception, requires a lot of time, attention from the performer and training. In addition to guitars, flageolets are actively used on string-bow elements, where they can also be taken with a bow, and their sound is completely different. If possible, it is recommended to master this technique under the guidance of a teacher in a specialty, so the process will go much faster and more productively.
The ability to perform this technique will add self-confidence to all musicians, and you can use it in almost any style. This will allow you to focus on your performance in various places of any arrangement.