The Flute – The Great Train Race – Part 4

The Flute – The Great Train Race – Part 4

Singing and playing

This is simply written into the score as an instruction to sing and play, and is required in bar 30, and all the way from bars 62 through to 70 and again in 89-100. Humming whilst playing produces multiple sonorities being heard in the sound, and will differ from person to person as each person’s voice is different. Mostly it will be a coarse and noisy timbre. “Singing/humming at the same pitch as the flute is not too burdensome but proves much more difficult when the player is required to sing at a different interval.” All the singing and playing in this piece is in octaves. Males are instructed to use falsetto, and females their normal voice. “The descending chromatic/glissando run may effectively end in a grunt and is not expected to be a precise match especially since it starts very high for the voice.” There is a warning not to strain the voice particularly if one if not used to singing and playing.

Multiphonics

A multiphonic sound in some instances can be when a note is overblown on the flute and produces a harmonic; this therefore requires a different embouchure. In this instance, it is the different sound that is produced when alternate fingering positions are provided for a note, and so the majority of the time, the same embouchure can be used as for all other flute playing. All the alternate fingerings are written out for this piece, found several times in bars 31, 32, 42, 44, 46, 50, 54-58, 84 and in the final bar 104.

Timbral trill

A timbral trill, similar to a multiphonic fingering, is an alternate finger position provided for a trill. The timbral trill is a common technique used by Clarke in many of his other pieces, and appears in bar 74 and then from bar 76 to 84, which includes the final bar repeated ad lib, depending on the performer’s ability to circular breathe. “A liquid quality should be striven for. In the long trill section the trill transforms into a more complex sequence in which rhythmic properties unfold. The music then slowly grinds to a halt. It will become apparent to the performer that they may actually stop on any note, except D.”

Read more on The Great Train Race here