Our WhatsApp Group buzzed again with an interesting topic. Here’s the extract for the benefit of all music lovers out there.
Krishnakant (KK) : Hello. I have a small question which I’m confused about. What pitch of carnatic flute do I need to match an E bass hindustani flute?
I’ve done the reading behind it and it’s kinda confusing. 1. I can’t use the same pitch carnatic flute as the 3 finger sa and 2 finger sa differentiates both sa and will differ every note. But by how much is probably the answer here. How do I figure that out? 2. If I can find out the difference in pitch between E hindustani ‘Sa’ and E carnatic ‘sa’, will that give me a correct answer?
Sridhar Narayanan (SN) : Yes for 1. And for 2, the Carnatic E bass flute’s Sa will sound like a Hindustani E bass’s Sa. But if you play on that Carnatic Flute with Hindustani fingering, the resulting Sa will be the D note. If you play a Hindustani E bass flute and use Carnatic fingering, the sound will be F# for Sa. So opposite of what you were saying. Also, the difference between the two fingering styles is two ‘semitones’. Not two full tones.
