The Flute – The Great Train Race – Part 3

The Flute – The Great Train Race – Part 3

Residual tone

This is notated by a open note-head with a slash diagonally through the middle, and comprises the entire first page of this piece. The sound being aimed for is the breathy noise of the flute left when a proper tone is purposefully not formed; Clarke says that “a conventional tone should not be striven for”1. The technique may also be explained as a slight ‘letting go’ and un-forming of the embouchure.2 Pushing the jaw and embouchure forward whilst narrowing the gap between the upper and lower teeth will also help.

Explosive harmonics

These layered harmonics spreads intersperse the opening section of the piece, exploding from the rhythmic residual tones forming a foundation underneath.3 They are designed to build in intensity and as a way of reinforcing rhythm, copying the sounds of a train slowing down and halting to a stop. They are the result of short, increasingly energetic accents produced by very short huffs of air. Exact harmonic notes are written into the score, but the composer’s notes instruct the player not to attempt exact reproductions but to listen more for the effect and follow the dynamic and rhythmic shape. “The harmonics are a result of the explosion and not the other way around, hence a little unpredictability should creep in.”4

Flutter tonguing

Flutter tonguing is marked as fltz over a mordent sign and is found only once, at the beginning of bar 21. It is probably the easiest and most commonly used contemporary technique used in the flute repertoire. The technique can be achieved in two ways. Firstly by using a rolled ‘r’, with the tongue near the front of the hard palate of the mouth, right behind the teeth. This is the least fatiguing way of the two, however it is not genetically possible for some people. The second option involves a gargling or growling sound being produced from the throat. The effect is a change in the pulsations produced in the flute tone in both speed and pitch.5

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