Piccolo fingering

[Jeff Mullis]

I just purchased an LA Benge piccolo, never having played a pic before.
This is a 4 valve piccolo. I know I need to get some piccolo books, which I have found by searching prior posts. But, can someone give me the fingering starting at the first space G, and going up to high C. Thanks for any help. Jeff

[Bourbon City]

Fingering is the same for the Bb piccolo as a standard Bb trumpet, except sound is an octive higher. In other words use the fingering to play the scale from middle C and the piccolo will sound an octive higher. It can confuse the brain at first, but you'll soon adjust.

The fourth valve will help you play lower and aid in intonation by allowing alternate fingerings.

Hope this helps.
_________________
Dale Schmidt, P.E.
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Theta Tau Chapter

[DCB1]

When you play a Picc it will sound and octave higher than is written but you would finger it as if you were playing an octave lower than is written. It is a confusing thing for sure.


Hope this will help some... not mine but great info.

"I occasionally get requests for a piccolo trumpet fingering chart. I don't have a chart, but it is very simple. The picc (in B flat, though the fingerings are true in A as well) is half the length of the big B flat, so the harmonic series is one octave higher. Therefore, you use the fingerings for the octave below the sounding pitch, e.g., the D on the fourth line is fingered 1-3 on the piccolo, just like the D below the staff (one octave lower) on the big B flat; the E on the fourth space is fingered 1-2 on the picc, just like the first line E on the big B flat, and so on.

The fourth valve has two uses:

It is the same length as 1 and 3 combined, so you can use it for some false fingerings to improve intonation and facilitate trills. Thus D (fourth line, 1-3) can be played with just the 4th valve, and C# (1-2-3) can be played 2-4. Many players use the first finger of their left hand to operate the fourth valve (like Maurice André), so a C# - D trill can be played 2-4 to 4, with the second finger of the right hand doing the trilling and the first finger of the left hand holding the 4th valve down.
It lowers the whole horn a perfect fourth. The bottom note "on" the picc without the fourth valve is the F# (first space, just like the note an octave below on the big B flat). With the fourth valve, you can play the notes from low F (first space) down to low C# below the staff by playing as follows:
F = 1 -4
E = 1-2-4
Eb = 2-3-4
D = 1-3-4
C# = 1-2-3-4
And most piccs have a nice open pedal C (which is just low C on the B flat).

The smaller the horn, traditionally, the more problematic the intonation. As a result, tuning the piccolo can often be more complex than simply pegging your usual concert A or Bb with the tuning slide. Here is one suggestion on how to get the horn to be as close as possible:

1. Tune the first space F with the leadpipe;
2. Tune the top line F with the first valve slide, but make sure that it doesn't flat the 4th line D horrendously. This D can be especially flat on some piccs.
3. Tune the 3rd valve slide so the low D or C# are in tune. Like triggering, but if you have a 3rd valve slide ring on your picc, you probably don't need to do this. Most don't have tuning rings (why? because the length of the tubing is so short that it tends to bind and doesn't operate smoothly).
4. Tune the fourth valve slide for the low F."



Peace
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[Bourbon City]

Jeff. Thats what I meant to say. You know, all that. Good stuff.
_________________
Dale Schmidt, P.E.
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Theta Tau Chapter

[Jeff Mullis]

Thanks guys. That really helps. I went home and tried the picc for the first time in my life on some baroque stuff. Lots of fun. Not quite Maurice yet, maybe in my next life. I did pretty well on the fingering, but with practice, should get better. I haven't been able to get the third valve slide to move yet, but going to try it again. Jeff