 |
The Amazing History of the Flute
by Beverly Rocca
http://www.flutefun.com
It~s easy to pick out the melodic notes of a flute in
many of the symphonies and even in trendy music that
youngsters listen to nowadays. As the flute has been in
existence for so long and comes in many shapes and sizes
you~ll find derivatives of the flute in many branches of
the musical tree. You can play melodies on a flute in lots
of different musical ranges and the range you play in
totally depends on which flute you are playing. The flute
has really branched out throughout time.
All flutes, no matter what type, actually belong to the
aerophone group, more commonly known as a wind instrument.
To make notes on a flute you have to blow air against the
edge of the mouthpiece. This makes half of the air you
blow go down inside the flute which vibrates to produce a
note. This is pretty much the same as when a kid blows
across the top of a glass bottle. The finger holes on the
flute help to make different musical notes as they either
elongate or restrict the vibrating air.
The flute has an amazingly long history as it was, in
fact, the first melodic instrument ever to be produced by
humans. One flute was found in Eastern Europe in the
1990~s. It was made from a bone and although it is thought
to be over 80,000 years old you can still play the high
end of the diatonic scale on it now.
Bone is just one of the materials that have been used in
the construction of flutes throughout the years. In
addition, materials such as stone, bamboo, reeds, baked
clay, porcelain, hard woods, glass and ivory have been
used, as well as the silver, hard rubber and plastics that
are utilized in modern society.
What categories of flute are there? Although there are
lots of different varieties of flute there really are only
two main groups. These are the transverse/ side-blown
group and the end-blown group. Both have cropped up
throughout the existence of human beings all over the
world. To illustrate this there is the Japanese Shakuhachi
(notched flute), Ocarina (globular duct flute), South
American Antara Panpipes (rim-blown flute), Soprano
Recorder (fipple or duct flute), Fife (transverse Flute)
and the Irish Tin Whistle(flageolet-type fipple flute).
Where did today~s flutes originally come from? The flutes
that we identify with are the ones that are played in
concerts and this design comes from Eastern Europe. It has
existed for over eight centuries and started off as a
keyless side-blown flute. It has evolved considerably
since then. Its part of the ~consort~ family of flutes,
the same as the end-blown recorder. This family of
instruments is categorized by how big or small they are;
you start with the soparino which is the smallest and then
move through the group to bigger instruments such as the
soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
Today, there are more varieties, among which are the
contralto, contrabass and double contrabass flutes, and
are typically constructed of gold or silver. Other
materials are also used, however, such as wood, brass,
platinum, nickel or plastic, and range in size from the
largest (bass flute in C) to the alto flute in G, tenor
flute, concert flute, soprano flute in Eb, treble flute in
G, to the smallest ~ the piccolo in C.
The sweet melody of a flute has been heard throughout the
passage of time, in its many shapes and guises. Today it
is recognized as one of the greatest sounds produced by an
instrument in the aerophone group and any other group it
falls into.
Submit An Article
|
|
|
