Can you play Western style music on bamboo flute?

[AlexC1981]

I'm getting a bit confused trying to understand keys, scales and how they work on different instruments.

A bit of background, at home, bored one night a couple of months back I picked up my old school recorder and book and thought I would have a go, starting from scratch as I can't remember anything I learnt as a child about it. I have learnt a few notes and can play really simple music like Yankee Doodle and Merry Christmas I didn't really like the tone of it, so picked up a used tenor recorder, which sounds much better, but I have dainty hands and find it quite difficult to play!

I thought about the fife, but it sounds just like a descant recorder.
Flute - sounds pleasant, but would be an expensive experiment if I don't get on with the weird blowing technique.
Native American flute. Sounds really good, this is the sort of sound l like, but they don't play all the notes.
Panflute/panpipes. Sounds like the native american flute, but with more notes. Quite tempted by one of these!
Irish tin whistle, I bought one, but it is so shrill and harsh and loud! Not the mellow sound I'm after.
Ocarina, bought a ceramic one from a good company - sounds ok, but a bit of a weird tone. Not really gelling with it.

Anyway, while looking and listening to different instruments online, I came across Chinese (dizi) and Indian (bansuri) style bamboo flutes, which I thought had a really nice mellow and relaxing sound. I can't find many people on youtube playing "normal" music on them. I heard a few Christmas carols and they sounded awful I know Chinese and Indian music works differently to western, but would I be able to just find a fingering chart and re-learn and play the basic songs in my recorder book?

I couldnt resist ordering a couple of cheap ones online just to have a play with. They are both in the key of 'C'.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Chinese-bitter-Bamb...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291497971029?_trksid=p20...

The Chinese dizi looks like surprisingly reasonable quality for £8.38 delivered from China! The good thing about buying from Ali Express is you can see reviews other purchasers have made for the actual product, like on Amazon. The Indian bansuri from ebay looks rough. You actually get two bansuri. One with a flute end and the other fipple ended, all for £9.99 delivered I can't wait for them to arrive, but I'm afraid I'll be stuck at the first note!

[Pothole]

They're tuned to a pentatonic scale aren't they? You might have to half cover some holes to get "in between" notes.

[AlexC1981]

The dizi is diatonic apparently..... The more I learn about music, the more I realise I know nothing about it!

I found this dizi finger chart. https://www.flickr.com/photos/michal18c/7973973312...

The 6 hole flute in C, appears to start from G? I thought it would start from C. Does this mean I won't be able to play A Merry Christmas?

This bansuri chart in C, actually starts from C as expected and looks easier than the dizi.

[Hoofy]

We managed Jingle Bells on one. I say we - I couldn't play the notes and my cousin couldn't blow properly, so I did the blowing and he did the playing. We weren't even drunk.

[AlexC1981]

I expect the blowing will be a challenge, but it's the fingering that concerns. Erm...

I used "fingering" whilst in conversation with a young lady at work recently without even thinking about it. I hope she didn't think I slipped it in on purpose.

The lowest note in Jingle Bells is G in my book, so I should be OK with that if G is the lowest note the dizi can do.

I feel like I'm missing something (lots) from my understanding. There must be a standard method of converting music easily, otherwise what is the point in instruments that start from anything higher than C key or there would be loads pieces of music they can't play.

[Super Slo Mo]

If you're not bothered about accompanying anyone, or having anyone sing along, you could just transpose the music into a relevant key for your instrument.

[Hoofy]

AlexC1981 said:

I expect the blowing will be a challenge, but it's the fingering that concerns. Erm...

I used "fingering" whilst in conversation with a young lady at work recently without even thinking about it. I hope she didn't think I slipped it in on purpose.

And talking about blowing your instrument.

Stop over-analysing an £8 purchase. It's making me dizi. Just buy one and you'll soon find out.

Edit: even cheaper? http://amzn.to/1RMxtKF

[AlexC1981]

Thanks. I'll do a bit of reading on transposing. I've already ordered the flute from Ali Express and the one from ebay to see what type I prefer as they were both so cheap.

I've got a tuning app on my phone, so even if I can't find a good finger chart, I can try random combinations to see what note it produces.

I found an old wooden descant at mum's and after cleaning it and oiling it, today has been the first time I have directly compared the plastic descant to a wooden one and even though it is heavily used, abused, and slightly chewed, the wooden recorder definitely has a nicer and softer tone to my ears than the plastic one does.

Edited by AlexC1981 on Monday 28th December 00:35

[Pothole]

AlexC1981 said:

I used "fingering" whilst in conversation with a young lady at work recently without even thinking about it. I hope she didn't think I slipped it in on purpose.

ahem

[Super Slo Mo]

AlexC1981 said:

Thanks. I'll do a bit of reading on transposing. I've already ordered the flute from Ali Express and the one from ebay to see what type I prefer as they were both so cheap.

Exact transposition is dead easy. You literally just 'move' the whole piece of music up or down to the key you require it to be in.

So for instance, if it's in the key of D and you want it in C, you just shift everything down by a single tone. You can re-write it yourself if you wish, either longhand using musical note paper, or with a program like Sibelius.

Alternatively, and what many musicians do, is just do it on the fly, you just have to remember to play the notes the correct distance away from the written notes.

The only snag you might have is with sharps or flats, if your instrument can't play them. I don't know how to work around this as I don't play the instruments you're talking about.

[AlexC1981]

Thanks. I just downloaded a programme called Musescore, which is a free alternative to Sibelius. There is loads of music on their website that users of the programme have uploaded, which you can then download, edit, print.