All the Ways That the Flute Can B Flat

Did you know that there are actually THREE ways to finger Bb on the flute?  

Usually flutists play whichever B flat fingering that they learned first, but each has its uses for different situations.  It is important to be familiar with all three ways to play Bb so that way, no matter what music you are playing, you will always be able to finger Bb in a way that is easy and efficient.

Why There Are 3 Bb Fingerings

So why is Bb so complicated?  It actually has to do with the fact that in order to play the flute well, you technically need 6 fingers in your left hand!  

Do you know how you always skip a key between your first and second finger in your left hand?  That is actually the Bb key.  And because we never put our finger directly on that key, we have to control it from keys using other fingers.  And, depending on context, some fingers are easier to use than others.

There are three ways to control this Bb: with your Bb thumb key, with your Bb lever, and with your first finger in your right hand.  All Bbs use your first finger in your left hand and your right hand pinky, but what your thumb and your first finger do in your right hand will vary.

The Bb Thumb Key

One of the most common ways (or at least it should be common) to finger Bb is simply by sliding your thumb onto the Bb thumb key, the round key on the left side of the thumb keys instead of the more rectangular one on the right, which is for B natural.  Your first finger in your right hand will not be used, which is the main reason why it exists, to limit the number of fingers that are necessary to use to play Bb because having to use extra fingers can really slow you down.

Basically, the Bb thumb key converts all B naturals into Bbs.  And one of the best things about using the Bb thumb key is that it does not affect any other note that needs your thumb except for B natural (the one exception however is for the high F#/Gb above the staff which will squeak if you leave the Bb thumb key on).  This means that you do not need to keep sliding your thumb left and right, you just put it on the Bb thumb key and leave it.

Because the Bb thumb key converts all B naturals into Bbs, it is best to use in a situation where there are no B naturals, a situation that happens quite frequently as it is the first flat used in flat scales.  So in general, your Bb thumb key is best used when in a flat key since there will be no B naturals, except for Gb major/Eb minor and Cb major/Ab minor which has Cbs (aka B naturals) in the key signature as well.

For example, a perfect time to use your Bb thumb key would be when playing this version of The Ash Grove written in F major.

If there are B naturals in your piece, you will either need to find a good place to slide your thumb back to the normal B thumb key, such as when your thumb is already off for notes like middle or high C or Db, or use one of the other two alternate ways to finger Bb.

The Bb Lever

While the Bb thumb key works for about 75% of the time, there are situations where B naturals appear too closely to Bbs in order to use the thumb which would have to hastily and clunkily slide.  Fingers move faster when they go up and down rather than side to side, which is why we have the Bb lever.

The Bb lever, sometimes also known as the Bb shake or trigger, is the lever to the left of the F key (from the flutist’s perspective, or to the right from an audience perspective), the first finger key in your right hand.  Every flute has one, but if you additionally have a C# trill key on your flute, you will see two levers, and it is the one that is lower and closer to your right hand.  When you press this lever, you will see that it closes the Bb key, just as did the Bb thumb key.

The Bb lever is best to use when you have Bbs and B naturals near each other, so use it when playing a chromatic scale or when you are in a key with 6 or 7 flats or 5 through 7 sharps.

There is also a special trick you can do with the Bb lever as well.  If you are unable to use your Bb thumb key because of nearby B naturals, but you have a passage in your music with Bbs and other left hand notes like A, G#/Ab, or G, either down low or for the octave above, you can just leave your lever down until your final Bb in that spot.  The reason that leaving the lever down is fine in this situation is because the Bb key is already closed for the notes A through G so having the Bb lever down will not affect any of these notes.  And then you will have one less finger to move!  

A great example of a time where you can do this trick is in the famous chromatic scale piece, The Flight of the Bumblebee.  

It is additionally possible to apply this trick to low and middle F#/Gb as well since the Bb key is closed for this note also. But this works especially if you have longer fingers and don’t mind the stretch from having your first finger in your right hand pressing the Bb lever to your third finger in your right hand pressing down the D key.

The 1 and 1 Bb

If you are not able to use the Bb thumb key or the Bb lever, then your final resort is to have your thumb on the B natural thumb key and put your first finger of your right hand down on the F key, using what is commonly known among flutists as the 1 and 1 Bb fingering.  

Ironically, although it has the fewest uses of all the Bb fingerings, it is often the one taught first to flutists.  Perhaps the reason is because it is a comfortable fingering, as having one finger down in the left hand and one finger down in the right on the F key feels very balanced.  But this fingering should really be the last one to be used because, while putting the F key down does close the Bb key, you are also closing the F key and the key immediately to its left (from the flutist’s perspective) known as the F# key.  Neither of those keys needs to be down to produce Bb and therefore the sound of the Bb isn’t as pure or in tune as the other Bbs, although granted the effect on the sound is minimal especially when using a decent air stream.  But since there are better options, you might as well use them!

The only time this Bb fingering should be used is when you are unable to use your Bb thumb key because say there are B naturals somewhere nearby, but you have Bb coming from or going to a note that requires your first finger in your right hand to be down already, for example the notes D through F in the staff.  Any sound benefit you would gain by using your Bb lever would go straight out the window by having to quickly slide your right hand first finger over to the F key.  Again, a great example of this situation is in Flight of the Bumblebee.

And that really is the only time when you should use 1 and 1 instead of the Bb lever.   However, one possible exception for people with short fingers is for when they go from Bb to F#/Gb since they might prefer to use 1 and 1 instead of the lever which might be too much of a stretch for their hand.

High Bb

It is important to note that all of these Bb fingerings apply to only either the low Bb or the one an octave above, right above the staff, not to the one in the 3rd octave, the one way above the staff!  As mentioned in regards to the 1 and 1 Bb, since the first key in the right hand, the F key, is closed already for the standard fingering of high Bb, it doesn’t matter whether you are using your Bb thumb key or not as the Bb key will already be closed and there would be no reason or possibility for using the Bb lever.

Identify the Best Bb Fingering to Use

As you can see, the best Bb fingering to use in a passage of music truly depends on context.  Try to play an A to Bb trill and you will quickly realize that the 1 and 1 Bb fingering is not the best, but do a Bb to Cb trill and then suddenly the Bb thumb key is no longer the best option.

If you are playing a piece that will require more than one Bb fingering, it would be a good idea to figure out which ones you want to use where and perhaps even write your decisions in your music.

Do you want to practice identifying the best Bb fingerings to use in different musical situations?  Then check out the free downloadable, “To Bee Flat Thumb or Not to Bee Flat Thumb,” where you will get flashcards with a measure of music on one side of the cards and the best Bb option on the other.  And if you are a young flutist or are young at heart, you can play a timed game to see how fast you can identify the Bb fingerings.

Now go out there and B flat!