Training path for dizi students

[maxtorsi]

Hi there,
I received my new beautiful dizi (C key) from Singapore and I'm now trying to take my first steps.
I'm a flute teacher and, as a baroque flute player, I'm used to frequent embochure changes; the question is:
"what are the limits of this fantastic flute?" or, better: "What are my limits with this fantastic flute?"

I'll try to avoid a big waste of time to the readers; I'll go straight to the matter.

1) This flute isn't chromatic. So I suppose I'll need a flute for about any key; or, better, I should always play in the best key for the flute I have. But I made a lot of experiment and I found some "alternative" fingers that seems working well giving me few chromatic notes.
Question: Is there somewhere a very good fingering chart with, in case, all the alternative fingering?

2)I believe, like for my other flutes, that there's a range of notes where this dizi sounds a lot better than somewhere else; as baroque player I feel much more confortable with the low-medium octave. But I heard in the web some great performances on very high notes, in perfect tune (as perfect a flute tuning can be, we normally live in a non-equal world...). I suppose it's question of pressure, among the right fingering and things like that.
Question: what is the last note in the higher octave I can play with a C key dizi? Perhaps it will also depend on the quality of the flute, now I'm thruly happy with this one. No money to buy another one more expensive now...

3) Is there a suggested list of:
- masters in playing the dizi to follow as reference guide;
- books / anthologies / websites;
- CD's or other media to hear.

I already took a look to other threads, I know there aren't dizi methods in english; but I'd like to know if a list of scales or finger exercises exists already. As also in baroque practice scales aren't in the normal daily training as it is for the modern flute, I'm used to build my own "gym" tools. But experienced players are often really important with their suggestions...

Thank you in advance to everybody!

Max

[davidmdahl]

Congratulations on your new dizi, Max. As you have no doubt found by now, you will be able to easily play in C, G, and the relative minors of those keys. For other keys, you can cross finger or half-hole for some notes. I find it much better to have a few dizis in the keys that I need. It certainly makes playing tunes in different keys a lot easier. When playing Chinese music I use the jianpu (numeric) notation. If my ensemble decides to perform a tune in a different key, I don't have to transpose -- I just grab a flute in the new key. Depending on your situation though, you may not need very many keys. Most Chinese tunes are in D, G, F, and C. Occasionally, you will find some in Bb and A. The vast majority of the tunes that my ensemble plays are in D or G. If you are playing by yourself, you can play any tune in whatever key you like.

There are fingering charts on the Internet if you look, and also in most dizi method books. There are probably links to some good charts in old threads of this forum. The fingering charts should be pretty good for the first two octaves, but for the high notes, and notes outside of the diatonic scale, you will need to experiment to see what works the best on your dizi. Since a dizi is a handmade flute made out of bamboo, there is not nearly the same uniformity of scale as on a Western Boehm flute. The situation is much closer to that of a traverso, where the embouchure, bore and finger hole differences make each flute at least a little bit unique.

I highly recommend Tim Liu's dizi course (in English) available at 2 measures dizi course . The course assumes that you are using a C dizi, so you would be all set. It is great for learning jianpu and Chinese style on the dizi, especially since you already can play the flute. The course includes scores (in staff and jianpu notation) and recordings with yangqin accompaniment. Read up on the description on the website, and let me know if you have questions. Tim also welcomes questions, so you can email him directly.

Best wishes,

David

[Flolei]

Hello,

Just to add that you can easily play two octaves and a 4th (from G3 to C6) and that each flute has its fingering (especially for half-notes). So, you have to compare fingerings and to choose which one sounds the best on your flute.

Best wishes,

Flo.

[maxtorsi]

Hello everybody and thanks a lot for your suggestions!
I indeed expected more or less all the answers you gave me: the best solution will be to try out any combination and write it down on a sheet when working fine. As my Rottenburgh flutes made by the same maker are very different one to the other, I had to check out every single note in the third octave.
Many baroque / classical fingerings are working fine on my dizi, I'll take my time to decide.
Now I feel I'll need to understand the right idea of chinese music and this, yes, will take a lot of time! But this will be a great pleasure (I'm driving crazy my pupils, a couple of them already ordered a dizi!)
I'll go immediately to see the Tim Liu's dizi course you suggested and, of course, thank you very much. I love this forum!
Best wishes,
Max