Lesson 9 – Fingering Chart

New to the instrument? Start with The Bulgarian Kaval: what it is, how it sounds and how it is made.

Download: PDF Fingering chart

What is a Fingering Chart? 

The Fingering Chart is a diagram that serves as a visual representation of how to play notes on the Kaval. Basically it shows the finger placement positions to play a specific note. The circles colored in black represent the covered holes, the ones in grey represent the back hole of the kaval which is covered by your left thumb, the ones in white are not covered and the hatched ones can be covered to help you balance and hold on to the kaval. Spend as much time as you need so that you fully understand and learn the fingering chart because it’s very important for you to start playing. A lot of the things in that fingering chart are from my own practice, most of the workarounds I found myself and they don’t necessarily coincide with the stuff that you can find in other handbooks or lessons.

On the Fingering Chart you will see 4 different sections each  referring to a specific register of the kaval. Low Registester and the Kaba are identical. Then – 2 sections for the middle registers – low middle and high middle and lastly the high register. The only missing note in the chart is C#5/Db5 between the low and the middle register. I mentioned in the previous lesson that there are a few very cool techniques that would allow you to play completely chromatically but I’ll cover those in the future lessons. Let’s stick to the basics because they are going to set the solid foundation that we need for now. There’s a workaround for that, too, but it’s for more advanced players, for now we’ll stick to the ones in the fingering chart above.

Overblowing

I am not a huge fan of this term because it is not completely correct. When I say “overblowing” I basically refer to getting up to the next octave, fifth or fourth of the kaval (in other words – the next harmonic). While technically it’s true that increasing the airstream will accomplish the task, it’s much more than just that. Again, it’s more about getting the right technique rather than blowing more air, but for the purpose of that lesson, I’ll use that term. You might have noticed already, while practicing your sound, that increasing the speed of air might result in changing the register. As you continue practicing you will see that it’s a lot more than just that. In fact, I almost don’t change anything in my airstream when changing the registers. So, start by increasing the air speed and the farther you go the more you will find your way of doing it.

How does overblowing actually work?

What we’re doing with this “overblowing” is: using the harmonics of the kaval. If you play the lowest A on the kaval (A4), “overblow” once you will produce a note an octave higher – A5, then you overblow again, this time the note will be a fifth higher – E6, which is the next harmonic, and then once more – you will get A6 which is a fourth higher (again, the next harmonic). This formula is the same for each note of the kaval. If you apply it for each note you will find some of the alternate fingerings that are not listed in the fingering chart. The reason they’re not there is, because sometimes the alternate fingerings won’t produce a clear enough sound or the pitch would not be great. Every kaval is different. That’s why I suggest that you stick to the fingerings in the chart that I’ve provided. Eventually when you get better you can experiment and try to find alternate fingerings that might fit your playing, sound or instrument better.

It’s a folk instrument. You’ll have to do an individual tuning process on each note to make it work, and special procedures around the break. Concert instruments have this too, but to a lesser extent.

Exercise

• Going through the fingering chart and the registers. Make sure you spend enough time to learn it properly and master it.
• Try playing simple melodies that you know already. Start really simple, it will help you memorise the fingerings more quickly.