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The Western concert flute is a tranverse (or side-blown) flute, a musical instrument of the woodwind family. A musician who plays the flute is generally called a flautist or flutist. Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the musical instrument. ...
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument in which sound is produced by blowing through a mouthpiece against an edge or by a vibrating reed, and in which the pitch is varied by opening or closing holes in the body of the instrument. ...
A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ...
A flautist demonstrates flute-playing technique A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays the flute. ...
 Public domain image from Websters Dictionary 1911 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
Download high resolution version (142x854, 11 KB)flute in C from 1917 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Download high resolution version (142x854, 11 KB)flute in C from 1917 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Jump to: navigation, search 1917 was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ...
Description
The Western concert flute is a tranverse (or side-blown) flute which is closed at the top. Near the top is the embouchure hole (ahm'-buh-shure) or tone hole, which the player blows against. The flute has circular finger holes, which can be used to produce high and low sounds depending on which finger holes are opened or closed.
The standard concert flute is pitched in C and has a range of about three and a half octaves starting from the musical note C4 (corresponding to middle C on the piano). In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ...
In music, the term middle C refers to the note C located between the staves of the grand staff, quoted as C4 in note-octave form. ...
Also commonly used in Western orchestras is the piccolo, a small flute usually pitched an octave above the concert flute. Alto and bass flutes, pitched a fourth and an octave below the concert flute, are used occasionally. Parts for the alto flute are more common than for the bass. Many other sizes of flute and piccolo are used from time to time. A much-less common instrument of the current pitching system is the treble G flute. An older pitching system, used principally in older wind-band music, includes D-flat piccolos, E-flat soprano flutes (the primary instrument, equivalent to today's concert C flutes), F alto flutes, and B-flat bass flutes. Jump to: navigation, search Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Orchestra at City Hall (Edmonton). ...
A piccolo is a small flute. ...
The modern professional concert flute is generally made of silver, gold, or combinations of the two. Student instruments are usually made of nickel silver, or silver-plated brass. Wooden flutes and headjoints are more widely available than in the past. Jump to: navigation, search General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ...
Jump to: navigation, search General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ...
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, a solid-solid solution. ...
Some jazz and rock ensembles include flutes. Since Boehm's fingering is used in saxophones as well as in concert flutes, many flute players "double" on saxophone for jazz and small ensembles, and vice versa. Theobald Boehm (April 9, 1794- November 25, 1881) was a Bavarian inventor and musician, who perfected the modern flute and its improved fingering system, which has not changed since his time. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Saxophones of different sizes play in different registers. ...
The Boehm flute The dimensions and key system of the modern western concert flute and its close relatives are almost completely the work of the great flutist, composer, acoustician and silversmith, Theobald Boehm, who described his invention in his 1871 book, The Flute and Flute Playing. Minor additions to and variations on his key system are common but the acoustical structure of the tube remains almost exactly as he designed it. Boehm's key system, with minor variations, continues to be regarded as the most effective system of any modern woodwind, allowing trained players to perform with facility in all keys and with extraordinary velocity and brilliance. Theobald Boehm (April 9, 1794- November 25, 1881) was a Bavarian inventor and musician, who perfected the modern flute and its improved fingering system, which has not changed since his time. ...
The Boehm System is a system of fingerings, created by inventor and flautist Theobald Boehm in the 1830s which was originally used on the flute and then on a variety of woodwind instruments, including the clarinet, bass clarinet and saxophone. ...
The Giorgi flute Quite at the opposite end of the spectrum, in terms of the complexity of the key system developed by Boehm, was the Giorgi flute, an advanced form of the ancient holed flute. Patented in 1897, the Giorgi flute was designed without any mechanical keys, though the patent allows for the addition of keys as options. Giorgi enabled the performer to play equally true in all musical keys, as does the Boehm system. Giorgi flutes are now rarities, found in museums and private collections. The underlying principles of both flute patterns are virtually identical, with tone holes spaced as required to produce a fully chromatic scale. The player, by opening and closing holes, adjusts the effective length of the tube, and thus the rate of oscillation, which defines the audible pitch.
Appearance and development The precursors of the modern concert flute were keyless wooden transverse flutes, similar to modern fifes. Later these were modified to be well-tempered, and include between 1 and 8 keys to aid in producing chromatic notes. The most common pitch for such flutes was and remains D, but other pitches sometimes occur. These simple system flutes continue to be used in folk music (particularly Irish traditional music) and in "historically informed" performances of baroque (and earlier) music. Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic politically divided between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ...
Playing a Western concert flute
 Good flute technique requires that the flute be pressed against the lower lip in such a way that it is possible to efficiently blow directly at the far wall of the lip plate (embouchure) at any angle. A maladjusted flute is much more difficult to play, and beginning flute-players should invest in a professional adjustment if their instrument is not new. The most common problem as a flute ages is that its pads rot and leak. Also, rough handling can bend the pads and make them leak. The return springs can also weaken, causing slow or unsynchronized opening of the holes. Also, the pad-closure mechanisms can become misaligned or misadjusted. Occasionally the alignment pins can fall out. Download high resolution version (700x651, 92 KB)This photo was taken on July 21, 2004 with a Toshiba PDR-2300 digital camera. ...
Download high resolution version (700x651, 92 KB)This photo was taken on July 21, 2004 with a Toshiba PDR-2300 digital camera. ...
Beginning flute-players frequently find themselves unable to produce a sound. The most common reasons are that the hole produced by the player's mouth is not aligned with the tone-hole or/and the player is blowing lots of air past the hole instead of angling a smaller airstream into the hole. The standard beginning technique is to feel for the tone hole with one's tongue, and then roll the flute away to the correct angle. It is important to blow less air than most beginners want to, but angle it into the hole.
Beginning flute-players also often have improper embouchures: The correct embouchure is a small elliptical or slot-like hole formed by the lips and directed at the edge of the tone-hole opposite the player. The aim should be more outward, with faster air for higher, or more brilliant sounds (more high-frequency overtones), and lower, more into the hole, with slower air for lower-notes. One reliable way to aim is to move one's chin in and out, but it is best to develop the flexibility to change the relationship between one's lips and tongue and the lip plate, as needed for changes in air direction.
Correct breath control requires a player to emit large amounts of air at times, especially in softer and higher passages, but also requires a player to emit very small streams of air directly into the hole for loud notes in the lower register, which often do not speak if forced. All things being equal, a breathy sound is preferable to a pinched sound, but an efficient approach to airstream direction is best.
Flutes often have some of the most rapidly changing parts in orchestral music. To become able to play these parts, one should practice complex scales and arpeggios in different modes and keys. In music, a scale is a set of musical notes in order by pitch, either ascending or descending. ...
This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ...
Jump to: navigation, search In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic, define the pitches. ...
In music theory, the key identifies the tonic triad, the chord, major or minor, which represents the final point of rest for a piece, or the focal point of a section. ...
More advanced flute-players can also employ vibrato. When playing with vibrato, a player varies the amount of air blown through the instrument at a rapid rate to create a wobble in the pitch and amplitude of the tone. Most classical and jazz flute players tend to play with a continuous vibrato, though the amount and speed of vibrato can be altered for expressive purposes; many purists contend that Baroque music should be played without vibrato, or with vibrato only on certain notes. The most common way to learn vibrato is to practice breath attacks (short bursts of increased air within a constant tone) as half notes, then quarter notes, then eighth notes, then triplets, then sixteenth notes. Eventually, when the breath attacks are too fast to be counted as separate notes, they become an instant though not yet subtle vibrato. Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ...
Baroque music is European classical music written during the Baroque era, approximately 1600 to 1750. ...
In outdoor playing, wind can "blow out" players' embouchures, causing the air stream to become misplaced. It is normal practice for the piccolo and flute players of a marching band to face away from the wind in heavy weather. The section-leader of the flutes in the marching band normally makes this decision. Jump to: navigation, search A marching band performs in a parade A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who generally perform outdoors, and who incorporate movement – usually some type of marching – with their musical performance. ...
Construction and materials Concert flutes have three parts: the head, the body, and the foot. The head contains a tuning-cork (or plug) for precision tuning, adjusted by the head-end knob. Gross, temporary adjustments of pitch are made by moving the head in and out of the head-joint. The player makes fine or rapid adjustments of pitch and timbre by adjusting the embouchure.
Often, a different head can make the flute play like a different flute. Some flute makers sell both end blown heads and transverse heads that can be interchanged. The same flute body can be used as a whistle/recorder style instrument, or as a transverse flute.
The most common mechanical options of flutes are "offset G" keys, "split E" modification, and a "B foot." All of Boehme's original models had offset G keys, which are mechanically simpler, and permit a more relaxed hand position, especially for younger players. Offset G keys are more common on less-expensive flutes, but available on almost all makes at every level of expense. The in-line G was originally invented because it was easier to manufacture, and was used by the better commercial flutes. The split E modification makes the 3rd octave E easier to play for some players. The B foot extends the range of the flute down one semitone to B below middle C.
Trill keys permit rapid alternation between two notes. Fingerings using the trill keys also permit a skilled player to reach four octaves of range, though the commonly used range is three octaves. The C# trill key, an increasingly popular option available on many top-end professional flutes, allows many trills and tremelos that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.
Less-expensive flutes are constructed of nickel alloys, possibly silver-plated. More expensive flutes are made of silver alloys. Flutes have been constructed of gold, platinum, wood, glass and many other materials.
The tubes are usually drawn, Tone-holes may be either drawn or soldered. The rest of the mechanism is constructed by lost-wax castings and machining, with mounting posts silver-soldered to the tube. On the best flutes, the castings are forged to increase their strength.
The head end is the most difficult part to construct, because it is a long thin parabola or hyperbola (note that some editors believe there are only parabolas, others that it varies by maker and model, whereas another editor would like to point out that Boehm used parabola as a metaphor, and flute head joints use neither hyperbolae or parabolae). The lip-rest and tone-hole have critical dimensions, edges and angles, which vary slightly in different models. Fortunately, once made, these never need adjustment. A parabola The parabola (from the Greek: παÏαβολή) is a conic section generated by the intersection of a cone and a plane tangent to the cone or parallel to some plane tangent to the cone. ...
A graph of a hyperbola, where h = k = 0 and a = b = 2. ...
Theobald Boehm (April 9, 1794- November 25, 1881) was a Bavarian inventor and musician, who perfected the modern flute and its improved fingering system, which has not changed since his time. ...
The tube connecting the embouchure hole of the lip-plate to the head has a critical length. The shorter the hole, the more quickly a flute can be played. The longer the hole, the more beautiful the tone.
The holes are stopped by pads constructed of fish skin (gold-beater's skin) over felt, or in some very low-cost or ruggedized flutes, silicone rubber. A recent development are "precision" pads fitted by a factory-trained technician. Over time, fish skin pads rot, and must be replaced. At least one author prefers silicone rubber pads, especially for students' flutes, because they do not rot or change dimension. Jump to: navigation, search Groups Conodonta Hyperoartia Petromyzontidae (lampreys) Pteraspidomorphi (early jawless fish) Thelodonti Anaspida Cephalaspidomorphi (early jawless fish) Galeaspida Pituriaspida Osteostraci Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) Placodermi Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Acanthodii Osteichthyes (bony fish) Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish) Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) Actinistia (coelacanths) Dipnoi (lungfish) A fish is a poikilothermic...
Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ...
Pads were originally bedded in wax or lacquer, which prevented leaks and permitted them to migrate to a perfect closure. Modern pads are held by screws, which are far sturdier. Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees (beeswax) and used by them in constructing their honeycombs. ...
In a general sense, lacquer is a clear or colored coating, that dries by solvent evaporation only and that produces a hard, durable finish that can be polished to a very high gloss, and gives the illusion of depth. ...
Many flutes have open-holed "French" keys in order to facilitate alternate fingerings, and "extended techniques" such as quarter-tones, glissando and multiphonics, (plus to get a nice vibration feeling at the fingertips), which are difficult on a closed hole flute (note: multiphonics and microtones are possible on closed-hole -flute, but not on entire register and is hard to get; glissandos are limited to half tone only in this kind of flute). Many flute-players prefer these open hole keys (some ones says that it has better projection of the sound). Closed holes permit a more relaxed hand position for some players, which can help their playing. Extended technique is a term used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox or improper techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments. ...
A quarter tone is an interval half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which is half a whole tone. ...
Glissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). ...
Flutes should have axles and pad-retaining screws of a compatible electronegative material, such as silver or phosphor bronze, rather than steel, in order to prevent bimetallic corrosion. Unfortunately, this is rare. As a result, most flutes' steel axles, screws and mechanisms need periodic cleaning and relubrication to clear out the corroded steel. It appears as a black or grey-blue powder mixed in the lubricant.
The pad return springs are roughly the shape of a pin. These tiny springs are made of phosphor-bronze, stainless steel, or a gold alloy, usually 10 karat. Phosphor bronze is by far the most common material (often mistaken for "gold" by players) because it is relatively inexpensive, makes a good spring, and is resistant to corrosion. Unfortunately, it is prone to metal fatigue. Stainless steel also makes a good spring and is resistant to corrosion. Ten karat gold is the best choice for spring material, but is found mostly in high-end flutes because of its cost.
In Jazz Flutes were rarely used in early jazz. Drummer and bandleader Chick Webb was among the first to use flutes in jazz, beginning in the late 1930s. Since then, a number of notable performers have used flutes in jazz; often saxophonists will use flute as a second instrument: Jump to: navigation, search Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ...
A drummer is a musician who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums. ...
A bandleader is the director of a band of musicians. ...
William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb (10 February 1909 - 16 June 1939) was a jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. ...
Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1930s were described as an an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ...
A saxophonist is a musician who plays the saxophone. ...
Phil Foglio (born 1956) is a cartoonist and comic book artist best known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy work. ...
Eric Allan Dolphy (June 20, 1928 - June 29, 1964) was a jazz musician who played alto saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. ...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (August 7th, 1935 - December 5th, 1977) was a blind American jazz saxophonist, perhaps best known for his ability to play more than one saxophone at once. ...
William B. Lawsha, better known as Prince Lasha, is an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and clarinetist. ...
Album cover of Eastern Sounds Dr. Yusef Lateef (born October 9, 1920) is an American jazz musician. ...
Hubert Laws is an American jazz flutist, who also studied classical music. ...
Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), better known as Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flutist and important practitioner of world music. ...
Reference - Theobald Boehm, The Flute and Flute-Playing (Dover Publications, 1964)
by Theobald Boehm Theobald Boehm (April 9, 1794- November 25, 1881) was a Bavarian inventor and musician, who perfected the modern flute and its improved fingering system, which has not changed since his time. ...
- James Phelan, The Complete Guide to the Flute and Piccolo (Burkart-Phelan, Inc., 2004)
By James Phelan There are several prominent people named James Phelan, including three American politicians: James Phelan, Sr. ...
- Nancy Toff, The Flute Book (Charles's Scribners Sons, 1985)
The Development of the Modern Flute By Nancy Toff
External links - Flutes.tk
- FluteInfo
- LarryKrantz.com
- Flute Acoustics
- The Virtual Boehm Flute gives an immense database of standard and alternative fingerings, including quarter-tones and multiphonics.
- FluteHistory.com
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