Playing Prokofiev Sonata high D passage easily and in-tune

I was experimenting today with the first movement of the Prokofiev Sonata and arrived to the passage most flutists are worried about: the passage reaching the top D repeatedly.

The problem with this passage is that it’s really not the most comfortable passage for the fingers and too often flutists tend to play it extremely sharp. So I thought, is there a solution? I’m happy to say that I’ve found one!

Disclaimer: I’m not sure it will work perfectly on every flute (mine is with a B-foot and mechanical E). Simply give it a try yourself at home and let me know in the comments.

Here’s the relevant excerpt from the sonata I’m speaking about:

🤯 Different results require different approach

In my Intensive Masterclasses I meet a lot of flutists who often play this sonata for me. The vast majority of them are choosing to play the passage with the standard high D4 fingering:

This is a great and stable fingering, but for the Prokofiev passage it makes our life rather hard: too many fingers have to move and we have to switch to the low C instead of staying on the Eb in the right hand pinkie.

Luckily for us, there is another fingering for the D4!
Here’s the other fingering of the D4 (notice that you have to play it with the Bb thumb key):

This fingering solves 2 problems – the intonation is lower and the right hand pinkie can stay on the Eb key, but it creates another problem: the Bb left thumb. If only we could leave the thumb on the B natural key, our life would be much easier…and luckily for us, we can!

Based on this fingering I’ve started experimenting and came up with the following solution, that not only lowers the intonation of the D4 even more but it also allows us to play it without the Bb thumb key:

So now we have a great fingering which is pretty in tune, but we need to somehow integrate it into the passage in a way that will actually help us. That’s where the power of other alternative fingerings is kicking in…

🪄 The magic happens with some alternative fingerings:

You might have read already my 2 other articles on my blog regarding the use of alternative fingerings (one is for the Prokofiev classical symphony and the second one is about the 3 reasons why also you should use alternative fingerings). Here is my newest alternative fingerings creation:

The solution I’ve found this time for the above passage from the sonata is the following:

Gb2 – normal fingering

Bb2 – normal (with the Bb thumb or with the right index finger – as you prefer, personally I prefer the thumb version)

D3 – normal

Gb3 – normal (better with the 4th finger in the right hand)

Bb3 – Here comes the alternative fingering:

As you can see, this fingering is extremely similar to the D4 coming right after. That what makes it extremely easy now to change to the next note in the passage, the D4.

D4 – With the alternative fingering mentioned above:

There you have it – the complete fingerings for the passage. I’m very curious to know if that works for you on your flute.

You are very welcome to leave your comments and questions,

Ory

Ory Schneor is a member of the Geneva Camerata, principal flutist with the Morphing Chamber Orchestra in Vienna, the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra and guest principal flutist with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. He is teaching masterclasses around the world and he is the founder and instructor at FLUTEinWIEN – Intensive Masterclasses in Vienna.