Bass Flute Transpositions: Introduction / First Transcription

Song: Midnight Oil

Artist: Luke Pitman

As I had stated in the above title...

I am a beginner in music, and with the Bass Flute.

I hadn't gotten my Bass Flute until January of 2018.

As of now...

I have been playing for less than two months.

I have no training in musical notation, or, in musical theory.

I am learning as I go, just from sheet music I see...

or from my music lesson books, as in the ones below.

So...

if you are an advanced player...

or are well versed in musical composition...

you will probably find a mistake or two

(and if so...please feel free to correct me using the comment section).

The value of this blog...

is that for beginners...

I will mostly be transposing or transcribing music
for which no sheet music is readily available.

I will transpose from singers in many instances.

Many of the songs will also be from other countries...

and from decades...

or even hundreds of years in the past.

I am self teaching through the below books I had bought off of Amazon.

And you will notice...
I cannot draw straight lines...
my handwriting is atrocious...
and I cannot draw.

This has been this way all of my life.

It is not the result of my hurrying or due to laziness.

I hope to start using a computer program which allows for musical notation
to be written professionally.

Sometime in the future...
hopefully soon.

One thing Bass Flute players must realize...
with all of these musical scores...
we will be playing one octave down from all of the notes.

I have found these to be excellent to learn from...

as they teach in a logical manner, which builds skills through repetition

of previously learned skills, as you continue to learn more and more.

As I am fully retired...

I may now pursue my passions in life.

On a daily basis...

I practice the Bass Flute about 3-5 hours.

On some days...

I will practice more...

depending on what I have going on in my life.

As with anything...

daily practice will lead you to your destination.

I realize that tonal quality is the most important thing.

And so, I practice slowly, and I concentrate on getting a pure tone.

If I make a mistake...

I slow everything down...

and I, again, concentrate on getting a pure tone.

Right now...

I am practicing from the advanced book.

I averaged one month per lesson book.

Once I start practicing...

I get into a grove, and I don't stop until my tonal quality starts to suffer...

mostly due to my upper lip getting numb :)

I am sure as I continue...

I will be able to practice more in one stretch.

I have been practicing mostly from these books.

At the conclusion of my day's lessons...

I will then either do more transposing...

or I will play my past transpositions.

As time goes on...

I will get more skilled in playing, transposing, and transcribing...

and I hope get to the point where I will actually be able to compose my own pieces.

First...

why the Bass Flute?

It all has to do with what had struck me when I had first heard it played on YouTube.

I love flute music...

especially music from Asia and the Middle East.

However...

high notes hurt my ears.

When I had first heard the Bass Flute being played...

it was then that I knew I wanted to play one.

The sound just resonated within me.

This is the way beginners of music should pick their instruments of choice.

They should absolutely love to listen to it being played.

This is my Di Zhao Transverse Bass Flute.

I had bought it used, but in like new condition, from the below.

Ron McCarley

805-452-6611 mobile

Ron’s Music Studio

CCFlutes.com

I had talked to Ron personally...

and he had given me a great deal.

He was very friendly, and the service was very quick.

He will ship anywhere in the US...

perhaps elsewhere...

talk with Ron.

As I am sure of almost everyone playing a low flute...

you have heard of Chris Potter.

I had ordered some of her books for low flutes...

and especially valuable...

is the alternate fingering charts for the Bass Flute.

If you are playing a Bass Flute...
you will be playing an octave lower than what is written.

I decided to start this blog only because

when I got good enough to actually play music

(you can actually play simple songs in a day)...

there wasn't a lot of sheet music available for the songs that I really like.

My solution was to listen to YouTube for music that I like...

and to play the notes that I hear...

then write them down...

so I could teach myself how to play the songs.

Although the lesson books I have used don't specifically

go into transposing...everything you need to know is in them by example.

As you are learning to play the instrument...

you are following the notes and musical instructions...

and if you can play them...

you can transpose from music that you hear.

As most beginners don't have the free time that I do...

I thought I would share them with other beginners so they could have some

fairly easy songs to play as they advance.

My first transposition was a song I had heard on YouTube.

Luke Pickman is a fantastic musician...

and the some of his songs, and some of the songs he plays

on his Alto Flute, are just out of this world.

On his YouTube page of the below song...

he had given permission for anyone to write out this song.

His composition was a duet for the Alto Flute and the Harp

(both of which he had played).

My 79 year old mother started taking piano lessons just last month.

I had transposed this for us to use as our first duet

(I visit her everyday).

Bear in mind...

the below transposition was made when I had only been practicing for one month...

so, I don't yet have the skills to add latin words and such :)

Also...

as my musical ear is still very much developing...

I may have misheard, or missed, some notes.

This is his original composition...

and he said he hadn't written it down...

so there was no sheet music available for him to share...

and so:

This song is the one at the top of this article.

For most of my transpositions...
I will try to include the original piece at the top of each article.

I recommend that the beginning student get musical manuscript paper
and copy down each transposition.

This will familiarize you with beginning musical notation.

And...
it will allow you to see the music easily...
and, I am sure you will be able to notate more neatly than had I.

Addendum: 08-07-18 Redo of the music.

The prior music piece was rife with errors...
and was sloppy to look at.

This is the updated version.