Flute

For other uses, see Flute (disambiguation).

Flute

Classification	Woodwind (Aerophone)
Playing range
Related instruments
Woodwind family (Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon) Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Piccolo
Musicians
List of Flautists

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge, instead of using a reed. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a flute player, a flautist, a flutist or even a fluter.

History

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Early flutes were made of carved bone.

The flute appeared in different forms and locations around the world. A three-hole flute made from a mammoth tusk, (from the Geißenklösterle cave in the German Swabian Alb and dated to 30,000 to 37,000 years ago), and two flutes made from swans' bones excavated a decade earlier (from the same cave in Germany, dated to circa 36,000 years ago) are among the oldest known musical instruments. The flute has been dated to prehistoric times. A fragment of the femur of a juvenile cave bear, with two to four holes, found at Divje Babe in Slovenia and dated to about 43,100 years ago, may also be an early flute. Some early flutes were made out of tibias (shin bones). Playable 9000-year-old Gudi (literally, "bone flute"), made from the wing bones of red-crowned cranes, with five to eight holes each, were excavated from a tomb in Jiahu in the Central Chinese province of Henan.

During the 16th and early 17th centuries in Europe, the transverse flute was available in several different sizes, in effect forming a consort much in the same way that recorders and other instrument families were used in consorts. At this stage, the transverse flute was usually made in one section (or two for the larger sizes) and had a cylindrical bore. As a result, the flute had a rather soft sound and limited range, and was used primarily in compositions for the "soft consort".

During the Baroque period, (17th and 18th centuries), the transverse flute was re-designed. Now often called the traverso (from the Italian), it was made in three or four sections, or joints, with a conical bore from the head joint down. The conical bore design gave the instrument a wider range and a more penetrating sound, without sacrificing the softer, expressive qualities of the instrument. In addition to chamber music, the traverso began to be used in orchestral music, eventually occupying an exalted status amongst the woodwinds. Many composers, such as Frenchmen Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Michel Corrette and Michel Blavet, Italians Antonio Vivaldi and Pietro Locatelli, and Germans Georg Phillipp Telemann and Johann Joachim Quantz, wrote significant collections of sonatas and chamber works for the traverso. Quantz also wrote an important treatise on the flute and its performance pratice. Johann Sebastian Bach also contributed to the literature of the flute with his Sonatas for Flute and Continuo BWV 1034-35 and the Partita BWV 1013.

The flute has been featured in many varying kinds of music. One short example from rock music is the ocarina solo featured in The Troggs' song "Wild Thing" in the mid-'60s; more recently, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame brought the flute to the world of rock and roll, playing a transverse flute as his instrument of choice for nearly forty years.

Flute acoustics

A flute produces sound when a stream of air directed across a hole in the instrument bounces in and out of the hole.

The air stream across this hole creates a Bernoulli or siphon effect leading to a von Karman vortex street. This excites the air contained in the usually cylindrical resonant cavity within the flute. The player changes the pitch of the sound produced by opening and closing holes in the body of the instrument, thus changing the effective length of the resonator and its corresponding resonant frequency. By varying the air pressure, a flute player can also change the pitch of a note by causing the air in the flute to resonate at a harmonic other than the fundamental frequency without opening or closing any holes.

To be louder, a flute must use a larger resonator, a larger air stream, or increased air stream velocity. A flute's volume can generally be increased by making its resonator and tone holes larger. This is why a police whistle, a form of flute, is very wide for its pitch, and why a pipe organ can be far louder than a concert flute: a large organ pipe can contain several cubic feet of air, and its tone hole may be several inches wide, while a concert flute's air stream measures a fraction of an inch across.

The air stream must be directed at the correct angle and velocity, or else the air in the flute will not vibrate. In fippledor ducted flutes, a precisely formed and placed windway channel extrudes the air. In the organ, this air is supplied by a regulated blower.

In non-fipple flutes, the air stream is shaped and directed by the player's lips, called the embouchure. This allows the player a wide range of expression in pitch, volume, and timbre, especially in comparison to fipple/ducted flutes. However, it also makes an end blown flute or transverse flute considerably more difficult for a beginner to produce a full sound than a ducted flute, such as the recorder. Transverse and end-blown flutes also take more air to play, which requires deeper breathing and makes circular breathing a considerably trickier proposition.

Generally, the quality called timbre or "tone colour" varies because the flute can produce harmonics in different proportions or intensities. The tone color can be modified by changing the internal shape of the bore, such as the conical taper, or the diameter-to-length ratio. An harmonic is a frequency that is a whole number multiple of a lower register, or "fundamental" note of the flute. Generally the air stream is thinner (vibrating in more modes), faster (providing more energy to excite the air's resonance), and aimed across the hole less deeply (permitting a more shallow deflection of the air stream) in the production of higher harmonics or upper partials. To quote acoustician Arthur H. Benade, "The fundamental frequency (scale) is determined by the internal cubic volume, but the upper registers (harmonics) are determind by shape alone."

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The timbre may also be affected by the material from which the instrument is made. For example, instruments made of wood are said to be less "bright" than metal instruments. Different metals are also thought to influence the tone. However, a study in which professional players were blindfolded could find no significant differences between instruments made from a variety of different metals. In two different sets of blind listening, no instrument was correctly identified in a first listening, and in a second, only the silver instrument was identified. The study concluded that there was "no evidence that the wall material has any appreciable effect on the sound color or dynamic range of the instrument". Some feel that relatively small differences in shape are more important than differences in material, because the waves in the air couple only weakly to vibrations in the body. Wooden flutes usually have different shapes from metal instruments. For example, the junctions between the tone hole risers and the bore are usually sharper in wooden instruments, and these sharper edges have an effect on the sound.

Categories of flute

Playing the zampoña, a Pre-Inca instrument and type of pan pipes.

In its most basic form, a flute can be an open tube which is blown like a bottle. Over time, the increasing demands of musical performance have led to the development of the Western concert flute, which has a complex array of holes and keys.

There are several broad classes of flutes. With most flutes, the musician blows directly across the edge of the mouthpiece. However, some flutes, such as the whistle, gemshorn, flageolet, recorder, tin whistle, tonette, fujara, and ocarina have a duct that directs the air onto the edge (an arrangement that is termed a "fipple"). This gives the instrument a distinct timbre which is different from non-fipple flutes and makes the instrument easier to play, but takes a degree of control away from the musician. Usually, fipple flutes are not referred to as flutes, even though the physics, technique and sound define them as being such.

Another division is between side-blown (or transverse) flutes, such as the Western concert flute, piccolo, fife, dizi, and bansuri; and end-blown flutes, such as the ney, xiao, kaval, danso, shakuhachi, and quena. The player of a side-blown flute uses a hole on the side of the tube to produce a tone, instead of blowing on an end of the tube. End-blown flutes should not be confused with fipple flutes such as the recorder, which are also played vertically but have internal ducts to direct the air flow across the edge of the tone hole. The earliest extant transverse flute is a chi (篪) flute discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at the Suizhou site, Hubei province, China. It dates from 433 BC, of the later Zhou Dynasty. It is fashioned of lacquered bamboo with closed ends and has five stops that are at the flute's side instead of the top. Chi flutes are mentioned in Shi Jing, compiled and edited by Confucius.

Flutes may be open at one or both ends. The ocarina, pan pipes, police whistle, and bosun's whistle are closed-ended. Open-ended flutes such as the concert flute and the recorder have more harmonics, and thus more flexibility for the player, and brighter timbres. An organ pipe may be either open or closed, depending on the sound desired.

Flutes can be played with several different air sources. Conventional flutes are blown with the mouth, although some cultures use nose flutes. Organs are blown by bellows or fans.

The Western concert flutes

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An illustration of a Western concert flute

The Western concert flute, a descendant of the 19th-Century "German Flute", is a transverse flute which is closed at the top. Near the top is the embouchure hole, across and into which the player blows. It has larger circular finger-holes than its baroque predecessors, designed to increase the instrument's dynamic range. Various combinations can be opened or closed by means of keys, to produce the different notes in its playing range. The note produced depends on which finger-holes are opened or closed and on how the flute is blown. There are two kinds of foot joints available for the concert flute: the standard C foot (shown above) or the longer B foot with an extra key extending the flute's range to B below middle C.There can also be a Bb below middle c foot joint added to the instrument. With the rare exception of the Kingma system, or custom-devised fingering systems, modern Western concert flutes conform to the Boehm system.

The standard concert flute is pitched in the key of C and has a range of 3 octaves starting from middle C (or one half-step lower with a B foot). This means that the concert flute is one of the highest common orchestral instruments, with the exception of the piccolo, which plays an octave higher. G alto and C bass flutes, pitched, respectively, a perfect fourth and an octave below the concert flute, are used occasionally. Parts are written for alto flute more frequently than for bass. Alto and bass flutes are considerably heavier than the normal C flute, making them more difficult to play for extended periods of time.

Other sizes of flute and piccolo are used from time to time. A rarer instrument of the modern pitching system is the treble G flute. Instruments made according to an older pitch standard, used principally in wind-band music, include Db piccolo, Eb soprano flute (the primary instrument, equivalent to today's concert C flute), F alto flute, and Bb bass flute (incidentally, the clarinet and brass families retain this orientation to a Bb, rather than C tonal centre).

The modern professional concert flute is generally made of silver, gold (both yellow and rose), or combinations of the two; a few of the most expensive flutes are fabricated from platinum. Student instruments are usually made of nickel-silver alloy, composed of nickel, copper, and zinc, (also known as "German silver") or nickel- or silver-plated brass. Curved head joints are also available for student flutes, enabling children as young as 3 years old, whose arms are not yet long enough to adapt to the standard horizontal playing position, to successfully hold and play the flute. Wooden flutes and head joints have a warmer, softer tone which is more desirable to some people than the brighter sound of metal-bodied flutes is obtainable from wooden flutes, whose somewhat less highly polished bores tend to darken the timbre. Wooden flutes were far more common before the early 20th century. The silver flute was introduced by Theobald Boehm in 1847 but did not become common until later in the twentieth century. Wm. S. Haynes, a flute manufacturer in Boston, told Georges Barrere, an eminent flutist, that in 1905 he made one silver flute to every 100 wooden flutes but in the 1930s, he made one wooden flute to every 100 silver flutes. Today the silver flute is still far more popular than the wooden flute and is accepted as the standard in most symphony orchestras.

The modern concert flute comes with various options. The Bb thumb key (invented and pioneered by Briccialdi) is practically standard. The B foot joint, however, is an option available on middle-to-upper end models. Other, more recent additions include a C#-trill key, and an increasingly popular roller between the Eb-key and the C#-key.

A closed hole "Take-down" flute in case

Open-hole "French model" flutes, whose central openings are covered by the fingertips when depressed, are frequently chosen by concert-level players, though in Germany, Italy, and Eastern Europe, professionals commonly select ones with closed-hole "plateau" keys. Students may use temporary plugs to cover the holes in the keys until they master the more precise finger placement needed to play open-hole keys. Some players state that open-hole keys permit louder and clearer sound projection in the flute's lower register.

Open-hole keys are also needed for traditional Celtic music and other ethnic styles, and certain modern "extended" avant garde pieces requiring the player to produce harmonic overtones, or to manipulate "breathy" sounds in addition to the traditional "pure" tones. Also, on an open-hole flute, "quarter tones", which fall halfway between the regular halftone steps of the chromatic scale, are achievable. Click here for a chart of quarter tone fingerings.

To play the Western concert flute, one holds the flute in a horizontal position, and blows transversely across the hole in the head joint. To play individual notes, one depresses the keys of the flute in distinct combinations fingerings. However, in addition to the standard finger patterns, there are a number of alternate "trill" fingerings, employing a combination of open and closed keys, and auxiliary "trill" keys (which are normally kept closed by springs until depressed), that can assist one in playing difficult passages, or in compensating for the perceived out-of-tuneness of certain notes of the equal-tempered scale in a given key. Click here for a trill fingering chart.

The standard range of the concert flute extends from B3 to D7, sometimes to F7. There is an additional octave above C7 known as the altissimo register, which reaches C8, but its usage is rare, required only in advanced musical pieces, as this upper range demands fine breath control and exacting embouchure technique to produce. For a fingering chart, click here.

Flute terms

• Flautist/Flutist - one who plays the flute.
• Crown - the cap at the end of the head joint that unscrews to expose the cork, and which helps keep the head joint cork positioned at the proper depth of insertion.
• Lip plate - the part of the head joint which contacts the player's lower lip, allowing precise positioning and direction of the air stream.
• Riser - a metal section shaped like a 'top hat with the top cut off', which raises the lip plate from the head joint tube.
• Head joint - the top section of the flute, has the tone hole/lip plate where the player initiates the sound by blowing air across the opening.
• Body - the middle section of the flute with the majority of the keys.
• Closed-hole - a finger key which is fully covered.
• Open-hole - a finger key with a perforated center, allowing the use of techniques such as pitch bending or glissando.
• Pointed arms - arms connecting the keys to the rods which are pointed and extend to the keys' centers; found on more expensive flutes.
• French model - a flute with pointed French-style arms and open-hole finger keys, as distinguished from the plateau style with closed holes.
• Inline G - the standard position of the left-hand G (third-finger) key - in line with the first and second keys.
• Offset G - a G key which is extended to the side of the other two left-hand finger keys (along with the G# key), thus requiring less bending of the wrist, rendering it easier to reach and cover effectively, and less uncomfortable and fatiguing to play.
• Split E mechanism - a system whereby the second G key (positioned below the G# key) is closed when the right middle-finger key is depressed, enabling a clearer third octave E; standard on most flutes, but omitted from many intermediate- and professional-grade flutes, as it can reduce the tonal quality of 3rd octave F#.
• Trill Keys - two small, teardrop shaped keys between the right-hand keys on the body; the first enables an easy C-D trill, and the second enables C-D#. A Bb lever or "trill" key is located in line directly above the right first-finger key. An optional C# trill key which facilitates the trill from B to C# is sometimes found on intermediate- and professional-quality flutes. The two trill keys are also used in playing the high Bb, and B. Although they can be played without them it speaks better with them.
• Foot joint - the last section of the flute (played farthest towards the right).
• C foot - a foot joint with a lowest note of middle C; typical on student model flutes.
• B foot - a foot joint with a lowest note of B below middle C, which is an option for intermediate - and professional-grade flutes.
• D# roller - an optional feature added to the Eb key on the foot joint, facilitating the transition between Eb/D# and Db/C#, and C.
• "Gizmo key" - an amusingly named optional key on the B foot joint which although cannot be used to play low B, due to the fact that it only puts down the B key and not the C and C# as needed to play the low B, It can help in assisting in playing C7, increasing the tone and ability to speak.

Playing a transverse flute.

Variation in materials used

• Leonardo de Lorenzo - My complete story of the Flute

Inexpensive Western concert flutes are normally made of brass, polished and then silver-plated and lacquered to prevent corrosion. They can also be made from a range of metals such as silver (Britannia or Sterling); gold (yellow, white, or rose); platinum ; and even alloys. Composites such as Carbon Fiber can be used as well. They can be either gold on the inside and silver on the outside, or vice versa. While silver flutes create a brighter sound, gold allows for a darker, more multilayered sound. Gold can be more difficult to play, because it requires more expertise in order to create a resonant sound. It is more flexible, but only if the flautist is capable of providing sufficient breath support.

Most metal flutes are made of alloys that contain significant amounts of copper or silver. These alloys are biostatic because of the oligodynamic effect, and thus suppress growth of unpleasant molds, fungi and bacteria.

Good instruments are designed to prevent or reduce galvanic corrosion between the tube and the key mechanism. For example, many quality concert flutes have bronze springs.

Members of the concert flute family

From high to low, the members of the concert flute family include:

• Piccolo in C or Db
• Treble flute in G
• Soprano flute in Eb
• Concert flute (also called C flute, Boehm flute, silver flute, or simply flute)
• Flûte d'amour (also called tenor flute) in Bb or A
• Alto flute in G
• Bass flute in C
• Contra-alto flute in G
• Contrabass flute in C (also called octobass flute)
• Subcontrabass flute in G (also called double contra-alto flute) or C (also called double contrabass flute)
• Double contrabass flute in C (also called octocontrabass flute or subcontrabass flute)
• Hyperbass flute in C (also spelled hyper-bass flute)

Click here for a picture of the flute family, including their alternate head joints and foot joints.

Each of the above instruments has its own range. The piccolo reads music in C like the concert flute but sounds one octave higher. The alto flute is in the key of G, and extends the low register range of the flute to the G below middle C. Its highest note is a high G (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff). The bass flute is an octave lower than the concert flute, and the contrabass flute is an octave lower than the bass flute.

Less commonly seen flutes include the treble flute in G, pitched one octave higher than the alto flute; the soprano flute, between the treble and concert; and the tenor flute or flûte d'amour in Bb or A, pitched between the concert and alto.

The lowest sizes (larger than the bass flute) have all been developed in the 20th century; these include the sub-bass flute, which is pitched in F, between the bass and contrabass; the subcontrabass flute (pitched in G or C), the contra-alto flute (pitched in G, one octave below the alto), and the double contrabass flute in C, one octave lower than the contrabass. The flute sizes other than the concert flute and piccolo are sometimes called harmony flutes.

The Indian Bamboo Flute

Photograph of an 8-holed bamboo flute

The Indian Bamboo Flute, one of the instruments of Indian classical music, developed independently of the Western flute. The Hindu god Krishna is traditionally considered a master of the instrument. The Indian flutes are very simple instruments when compared with their Western counterparts; they are made of bamboo and are keyless. The Indian concert flutes are available in standard pitches. In Carnatic Music, the pitches are referred by numbers such as 1(C), 1-1/2(C#), 2(D), 2-1/2(D#), 3(E), 4(F), 4-1/2(F#), 5(G), 5-1/2(G#), 6(A), 6-1/2(A#) & 7(B) (The above is assuming the tonic note is C). However, the pitch of a composition is itself not fixed and hence any of the flutes may be used for the concert (as long as the accompanying instruments, if any, are tuned appropriately) and is largely left to the personal preference of the artist.

Two main varieties of Indian flutes are currently used. The first is the Bansuri, which has six finger holes and one blowing hole, is used predominantly in Hindustani music, the music of Northern India. The second is Venu or Pullanguzhal, which has eight finger holes, and is played predominantly in Carnatic music, the music of Southern India. Presently, the 8-holed flute with cross-fingering technique, is common among many Carnatic flautists. This was introduced by the eminent flautist T. R. Mahalingam in the mid-20th Century. Prior to this, the South Indian flute had only seven finger holes, with the fingering standard developed by Sharaba Shastri of the Palladam school, at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The quality of the sound from the flute depends somewhat on the specific bamboo used to make it, and it is generally agreed that the best bamboo grows in the Nagarcoil area in South India.

Dvoyanka (Double Flute)

The dvoyanka is a double flute from the Balkans made of a single piece of wood, with six sound holes on one side. It is most frequently made of ash-wood, plum tree, pear tree, cornel or boxwood. The tune is played on the one pipe, which is accompanied by a drone from the other pipe. This kind of playing is similar by structure to music played on the kaval. It is also a favorite instrument of shepherds. Line-dances and lively melodies are frequently played on the dvoyanka. Shepherds directed their flocks by their playing, since sheep remember and recognize a melody in time. A shepherd could “teach” his flock to start from the pen towards the pasture at one melody, and to return to the village in the evening at another. The dvoyanka is similar to the dvojnica, an instrument typical for the regions of Central and Western Serbia and also Serbian regions across the river Drina, which are made and played somewhat differently from the dvoyanka.

Pinkillo

A pinkillo is a simple wind instrument found in Peru and Bolivia. It is a straight, end-blown flute, 30-40 cm in length, made from bamboo. It has a bright sound, recorder-like fingering, and can be played on a diatonic or chromatic scale.

External links

• Photo of a Pinkillo.

Playing Technique

When the Flute is correctly assembled, the embouchure-hole of the head-joint should be in-line with the keys. The rod of the foot-joint should also be in line with the keys. These alignments help the player maintain proper hand positions, where the Flute is held steadily, and the fingers may work efficiently.

The head-joint (of an A440-pitch Flute) should not normally be pushed all the way in, but should be kept pulled-out about 1/8th of an inch. This position should allow the player to play at A440 pitch at normal room-temperature (around 20oC). The spare 1/8th of an inch (approx.) gives the player a little leeway to ‘push in’ to cope with cold conditions where the Flute plays flat (or to cope with a Piano that is tuned sharp). On a very hot day, in direct sunshine, the head-joint may have be pulled very far out to get down to A440-pitch.

The Flute is held asymmetrically. To avoid possible strain on the spine, it is best not sit or stand 'square on' to the music-stand and conductor (as you would when playing Clarinet or Oboe), but to start facing slightly to the right, so that when you raise the Flute to play, you are reading the music (and looking at the conductor) along the line of your left thigh when seated (or left foot when standing). This minimizes strain on the spine.

Efficient breathing is facilitated by raising the elbows. It is also facilitated by breathing out before breathing in, because this prevents CO2 credit / oxygen deficit, and therefore prevents compensatory 'over-breathing' and the resultant avoidable strain. This is most efficient if you take particular care to relax in the middle of the abdomen, allowing maximum freedom of movement of the diaphragm muscle itself. Breathing out before breathing in also allows you to inhale involuntarily 'on the recoil', which is efficient, and prevents the avoidable strain likely to result from voluntary breathing. Strain in one part of the body tends to spread to other parts of the body, including the mind. The less strain you experience, the less strain is likely to be manifest in your playing.

In common with other Wind instruments, Flute requires ‘support’ from the diaphragm. The standard method of creating proper Diaphragmatic Support is to firm the stomach muscles as if expecting a punch in the stomach (or vomiting). This naturally results in a sensation of the muscles pulling inward and upward. Stronger is better than weaker. It is better to imagine expecting a strong punch than a weak one. The proper aim is to produce the minimum air per second, with the maximum air-pressure. The firmer the Diaphragmatic Support, the higher the air-pressure, the less air will be produced per second, and the steadier the air-stream will spontaneously be. Properly strong Diaphragmatic Support results in a controlled tone, devoid of the faults of ‘over-blowing’ and an ‘exploded’ or ‘pinched’ embouchure. It takes the ‘load’ off the embouchure, by taking the leading role in controlling the tone-production. By conserving air, it allows the playing of more phrases in the same breath. Its economical use of air prevents ‘over-breathing’, where the player packs the lungs unnecessarily full of air, causing strain, fatigue, and ‘wooziness’. The overall result of using properly strong Diaphragmatic Support is a gain in musicality (including tone-quality and phrasing). The near-universal standard fault is ‘under-support’, which may be caused by ignorance, laziness, negligence, complacency, or failure to listen to one’s own playing. It may be that the benefits to the tone-production of playing with Diaphragmatic Support are less obvious to the player than to the listener, due to lack of perspective. The manifold demands of playing, such as reading music, are liable to distract the mind of the player from maintaining proper Diaphragmatic Support. Support tends to be lost during difficult passages, because the distraction is greater. An athletically fit player will tend to provide Diaphragmatic Support spontaneously and unconsciously, while an unfit player is more dependent on producing Diaphragmatic Support consciously. Diaphragmatic Support is of the first importance. As the player’s Diaphragmatic Support nears perfection, the particular embouchure opted-for by the player becomes less relevant, until one embouchure sounds pretty much as good as another. The Flute should sound effortless, but the player should be putting a lot of effort into the Diaphragmatic Support. The Flautist can be likened to a swan, which is the epitome of calmness and grace above the water-line, while below the water-line, and out of sight, the feet are paddling away. Diaphragmatic Support should be the ‘rock’ on which you build your playing. Basic Support (and an Open Throat) may be established by pronouncing ‘HOOH’. The ‘H’ engages the muscles of support adequately, though not in the strongest way possible. The ‘OOH’ establishes a basically Open Throat (as is well-known to teachers of Singing). It is possible to 'work harder' than this, but there is no obligation to.

The standard method of breathing quickly between phrases relies on having properly strong Diaphragmatic Support before the breath. Then the stomach muscles are quickly and completely relaxed to inhale spontaneously, while opening the mouth wide enough to also open the throat, to permit the efficient, sudden inhalation of sufficient air, without a gasp. A half-open mouth, or a ‘catch in the throat’ producing a gasp, subverts the efficiency of this inhalation. Efficient inhalation is silent, without a gasp. After taking a quick breath between phrases, it is a simple matter to re-establish the same properly strong Diaphragmatic Support, because the ‘body memory’ is still very fresh from before the breath, making it easy to re-create that sensation. If the player feels obliged to inhale voluntarily, rather than involuntarily, it may be a ‘warning-sign’ of ‘under-support’. With strong support, involuntary inhalation is generally quite sufficient. (Various authorities recommend various Breathing techniques, including a technique where Diaphragmatic Support is maintained constantly, even during inhalation.)

Efficient breathing and blowing are promoted by the maintenace of a relaxed, open throat, as if saying ‘AH’ for the doctor. This involves (at the back of the mouth) raising the soft palate, and drawing apart the folds of membrane at the sides. It is easier to open the throat properly when inhaling, because the mouth is open wide. But when blowing, it is all-too-easy for the throat to partly close with increased tension. When blowing, the player should try to maintain the same feeling of a relaxed, open throat as during inhalation a moment previously. It is possible to ‘try too hard’ to produce an open throat, and produce unwanted tension.

The bottom register should be played with a firm air-stream, so that the point is almost reached where the tone ‘breaks’ upward into the octave above. The player should ‘live dangerously’ and play ‘on the cusp’. This produces a brighter tone with more power. This is necessary to counter the Flute’s natural tendency to be soft at the bottom, and loud at the top. A Flautist of the first-rank can produce a bottom C so powerful that a beginner would stand in awe.

'Embouchure' refers to the lips when in an attitude for playing. The first consideration is 'centering', so the player's lip-aperture corresponds accurately with the embouchure-hole of the Flute, producing the tone efficiently. The standard technique to establish proper 'centering' is to "kiss the hole, and roll it away". This neatly results in the correct height of the lip-plate on the lower-lip, as well as the correct placement laterally.

The second consideration is the degree of ‘turn-out’, which is the extent to which the Flute is rolled. The standard method is to roll the Flute to the point where the embouchure-hole of the Flute points vertically at the ceiling. For most players, this should achieve the correct degree of uncovering of the embouchure-hole of the Flute by the lower lip, for the purpose of producing true octave intervals and a true scale. ‘Turning-in’ 'compresses' octaves; ‘turning-out’ 'stretches' octaves. ‘Turning-in’ reduces the size of the tone; ‘turning-out’ reduces the focus of the tone, and makes it 'windy'. ‘Turning-in’, where the embouchure-hole of the Flute points slightly more towards the player, is generally regarded as a fault. ‘Turning-in’ is a ‘trap’ for self-taught players, because it sounds good to the player, but less good to the audience, because the tone does not ‘project’ in the proper manner. ‘Turning-in’ may be used as an expedient to counter sharpness of pitch, until there is an opportunity to pull out the head-joint. ‘Turning-out’, where the embouchure-hole of the Flute points slightly away from the player, is preferred by some players of the first rank, because it assists ‘projection’, and so sounds better to the audience, although it may make the tone slightly less pleasing to the player. ‘Turning-out’ is particularly useful in aiding the ‘projection' of bottom notes, which may otherwise be too soft, and which may be slightly flat if air-pressure is insufficient. ‘Turning-out’ may be used as an expedient to counter flatness of pitch, until there is an opportunity to push in the head-joint.

Problems may be created by the very use of the term 'embouchure', because it may 'cue' the student to use too much effort. It is sufficient to merely "put it to your lips and blow". By this particular method, at commencement of the tone, the lips should be fully closed but fully passive. There should be no attempt at all to "form an embouchure" and voluntarily create a lip-aperture, because this would create avoidable tension. The lip-aperture should be created involuntarily by the commencement of the air-slow. The rate of emission of air should be slow enough to maintain a very small involuntary lip-aperture, maintaining 'focus' of the tone. Too-fast emission of air will 'blow out' the lip-aperture, making it too large, and 'de-focusing' the tone. Less air creates a smaller lip-aperture, which creates a finer tone. 'Forcing' the airstream creates a larger lip-aperture, which makes the tone less fine. At cessation of the tone, the lip-aperture should slowly close by itself, involuntarily, until the original attitude is re-created, with the lips once more fully closed but fully passive. Loud dynamics should be achieved by increasing the vibrato, rather than by blowing harder. Blowing harder will increase the dynamic, but harm the tone. Increasing the vibrato should improve the tone. Voluntary effort in the embouchure should be reserved for the low register. The higher you go, the more important relaxation in the embouchure is. You need to tell yourself that top C is easy.

Established players of the first rank use a variety of embouchures, none of which are 'wrong' (see Trevor Wye's publication 'Proper Flute Playing'), but the above embouchure has the virtues of naturalness, simplicity and relaxation. It is possible to 'work harder' than that, but there is no obligation to.

Having first used the "put it to your lips and blow" method to train good basic habits of embouchure without strain, and breathing / blowing without strain, the student may safely progress to a superior type of embouchure (the ‘standard embouchure’), without much danger of straining.

The ‘standard embouchure’ involves:

1) Drawing the corners of the mouth down, as in a ‘sad face’ (having the effects of ‘bunching’ the lower lip until it forms the consistency of a cushion, and stretching the upper lip until it is quite firm)

2) Pushing the centre of the upper lip down quite strongly (having the effects of directing the air-stream downward at a steeper angle, and improving air-flow and its control by causing the jaw to slightly widen automatically)

3) Maintaining ‘EE’ and ‘OOH’ at all times, but shifting the emphasis towards ‘EE’ for the low register, and towards ‘OOH’ for the high register.

4) Maintaining a ‘pin-hole’ lip-aperture (having the effects of maintaining tonal ‘focus’, and assisting conservation of air). Fully-trained players may slightly relax and widen the ‘pin-hole’ without danger of losing tonal focus, but students should always aim for a ‘pin-hole’.

Inhalation provides an opportunity to improve the embouchure. When inhaling, raise the corners of the upper lip strongly in a momentary ‘snarl’, and then push the corners down again to re-commence the tone. A preparatory ‘snarl’ results in superior positioning of the upper lip. A significant improvement in tone-quality may be detected immediately.

The musical effect of tonguing is slightly marred by striking the tongue slightly too far back against the roof of the mouth, at the spoken 'T' position. The better position is slightly further forward, just touching the front teeth.

'Vibrato' is a controlled, musical 'wobble' in the tone caused by variation in pitch and volume. Flute vibrato is (primarily) Diaphragm vibrato (rather than Jaw vibrato, as on Saxophone). When air is pushed out faster, the dynamic is louder and pitch is slightly higher; when air is pushed out slower, the dynamic is softer and pitch is slightly lower. The 'ear' hears the top of the 'wave' on the graph as the prevailing pitch, so the player should 'vibrate' downwards from A440, rather than upwards to A440, or to either side of A440, or they will be perceived as being out-of-tune.

Vibrato can be learned in these stages:

1) Produce detached breath-articulated notes (HA...HA...HA)

2) Connect the notes, keeping the same intensity as before (HA-HA-HA)

3) Round-off the sharp 'spikes' in the 'graph' (HA-AH-AH)

An accompanying sympathetic vibrato movement in the throat is not wrong (see James Galway's book 'Flute'). The intensity of vibrato should be appropriate to the style of music being played. 'Vibrato' is almost synonymous with 'emotion' in music, so the more emotional the music, the more intense the vibrato should be. Vibrato should be at its most intense for Romantic music. Within a piece, vibrato should be at its most intense for the emotional climax. Judicious use of vibrato is perhaps the ultimate hallmark of a true musical artist. 'Jazz Flute' requires minimal vibrato, or virtually none, because an intense vibrato creates a 'Classical Flute' tone-character alien to the Jazz style. Crescendo should be achieved by progressively increasing the vibrato. Diminuendo should be achieved by progressively decreasing the vibrato.

Tuning-up should not be to just one note (the orchestral 'A'), because of the intonation compromises inherent in the design of the instrument. Instead, it is better to 'take an average' of these 4 notes, played in this order: D2, A1, A3, E3. Tuning only to the As may result in D2 being unpleasantly sharp.

Intonation needs to be monitored and ‘managed’ by the player. With an un-changing embouchure, a note will progressively flatten in diminuendo, and progressively sharpen in crescendo. Instead of A440, the player could be at A441 in f, but A439 in p. This must be compensated-for with the embouchure. Counteract sharpness in f by increasing the ‘EE’ element, which retracts the jaw, and directs the air-stream more steeply down. Counteract flatness in p by increasing the ‘OOH’ element, which allows the jaw to move forward, and directs the air-stream more straight out.

The identical technique applies to the pitch-range, as well as the dynamic-range. The lower the note (in the pitch-range), the more ‘EE’ is required (retracting the jaw, and directing the air-stream more steeply down). The higher the note (in the pitch-range), the more ‘OOH’ is required (allowing the jaw forward, and directing the air-stream straighter out). This maintains intonation between registers. A common fault to beware of is: being flat in the middle register. Adjustments within a register need not be as large as adjustments between registers.

Selection of Instrument

A model of Flute may be offered for sale in various versions, which may confuse the beginner. If in doubt, it is safest to opt for the standard version. The standard student instrument recommended by teachers has all the normally preferred features. ‘Offset G’ is generally preferred to ‘in-line’, because it produces a more natural position of the left wrist (but there is a fashion for ‘in-line’ in France). ‘Split E’ (= ‘E mec’) is generally preferred to non-‘Split E’, because it assists production of top E. Silver Plate (SP) is certainly preferable to Nickel Plate (NP), because it is less liable to tarnish badly, and so is worth the slightly higher price. There is a debate over whether ‘Closed-Hole’ is preferable to ‘Open Hole’, but the safe choice is ‘Closed-Hole’. ‘Open Hole’ is sometimes alleged to sound better, but possibly half of the world’s players of the first rank play ‘Closed-Hole’. ‘Open Hole’ is considered to have the advantage of training the fingers to assume more efficient positions, because with the wrong positions, the notes will not ‘speak’. ‘Open Hole’ student models may be supplied with plastic ‘corks’ to fill the holes, which the student may remove, one at a time, as they progress and learn how to cope with the open holes.

Physicists have claimed that choice of material cannot affect tone-character, but most Flautists disagree. Blindfolded, many could distinguish the tones of a solid silver Flute and a solid gold Flute. Solid gold may produce a 'creamier' sound. The standard student Flute is silver-plated (SP), the cheaper version being nickel-plated (NP). The standard material for professional Flutes is solid silver. Some players prefer solid gold, but many prefer solid silver, even though they could afford solid gold. Platinum is another option. Some players prefer a solid silver Flute with a gold-plated lip-plate. The specific part of the Flute where gold-plating has the greatest effect on the tone is on the inside wall of the 'chimney' or 'riser' of the embouchure-hole. Some Flutes are therefore offered for sale which are solid silver in appearance, including the lip-plate, but have, for example, a 9-carat gold-plated 'riser'. The standard material in earlier times was wood, which produces a 'darker', gentler tone closer to that of the Treble Recorder. Wooden Flutes are still used, but are now seen rarely. An 'authentic' 19th-century recreation orchestra would probably use wooden Flutes. The general supplanting of wood by metal may have something to do with the decibel-level of orchestras increasing over the decades.

It is no bad thing to play a Flute pitched in A442, because A440 pitch is easily achieved by pulling out the head-joint. This approach actually produces a superior tone to an A440 Flute with the head-joint further in. A side-benefit is its ability to cope with a Piano that has been tuned sharp, as may occasionally be encountered on the Continent. An A440 Flute simply lacks the scope for the head-joint to be pushed in far enough to cope with a Piano tuned to A442. The Piano is not going to immediately shift in pitch, so if the Flute cannot, there will be a serious problem at the concert. If a summer evening turns unexpectedly cold and you are in the open air, there is a lot of scope to ‘push in’ a long way, and avoid the ugliness of flatness.

Intonation characteristics are affected by using different head-joints, so selection of head-joints should be done with care. Tone quality is not the only consideration in the selection of a head-joint. A major monetary outlay on an expensive head-joint may prove disappointing in playing use.

Jazz Flute

'Jazz Flute' requires a very different approach to 'Classical Flute'. In many respects it is the diametric opposite. What is 'bad' on Classical Flute is good on Jazz Flute. Classical Flute is 'feminine', but Jazz Flute is 'masculine'. Where Classical Flute is played as a Flute, Jazz Flute is played as a Jazz Saxophone. Essentially, its sounds are those that a Jazz Saxophonist would make if he picked up a Flute for the first time, untaught, and played it without modifying his Jazz Saxophone habits. This is not to say that it sounds bad. To those with a taste for Jazz, it sounds wonderful. Classical Flute uses a very light tongue; on Jazz Flute, the heavier the tongue, the better. Classical Flute is like gossamer; Jazz Flute is elephantine. The more violently the notes are 'spat out', the better the tone, in Jazz terms. This hyper-accentuation creates a very bright, 'trebly' tone. The notes are dynamically 'front-loaded', with no attempt to sustain the intensity of tone in a long note. Jazz Saxophonists are used to 'growling' vocally, to create a 'dirty tone', and this 'special effect' evolved on Jazz Flute into simultaneously singing in unison with the note being played. Classical Flute values purity of tone; Jazz Flute values 'dirtiness' of tone.

There have been many notable Jazz Flautists, but the doyenne of Jazz Flute is widely acknowledged to be Herbie Mann. He was born on 16 April 1930, and sadly died of prostate cancer on 1 July 2003. At age 9 he took up Clarinet. At age 14 he was 'gigging' on Jazz Tenor Saxophone, playing in a style derived from Lester Young. Later he taught himself Flute in a few days, to prepare for a recording-session.

The first Jazz Flute solo ever recorded was by Alberto Socarrás (from Cuba) in 1929 on ‘Have You Ever Felt That Way’ (on the Clarence Williams label).

Bibliography

• Theobald Boehm, The Flute and Flute-Playing (Dover Publications, 1964)
• James Phelan, The Complete Guide to the Flute and Piccolo (Burkart-Phelan, Inc., 2004)
• Nancy Toff, The Flute Book (Charles's Scribners Sons, 1985). The Development of the Modern Flute.
• Nancy Toff, The Flute Book: A Complete Guide for Students and Performers (Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 1996). 520 pages.

See also

• Trill (music)
• Flute Players {it}
• List of All Ireland Flute champions
• Carnatic Music
• Diple
• Divje Babe
• Flute choir
• Flute concerto
• Flute quartet
• Flute repertory

• Irish flute
• Western concert flute
• Piccolo
• Alto flute
• Bass Flute
• Contra-alto flute
• Contrabass flute
• Subcontrabass flute
• Double contrabass flute
• Hyperbass flute

• Recorder
• Ocarina
• Suling
• Palendag
• Quena
• Tumpong
• Ney
• Duduk
• Kaval
• Bansuri
• Venu

External links

• FluteInfo Contains fingering charts, performance articles, free sheet music and other musical information.
• Vidly.net This video shows how a flute is manufactured.
• Extensive technical and historical information on flutes at Mcgee Flutes
• Laurel Zucker Contains excerpts from all major flute compositions and several major flutists.

• The Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection has many pictures of flutes through the ages, among other useful information.
• FluteHistory.com
• Portadown Defenders Flute Band - A marching flute band from County Armagh, Northern Ireland
• Flutes.tk
• The Galway Network, home page of the popular Sir James Galway
• Larry Krantz Flute Pages Wide range of flute related information contributed by many professional flute players. Access to information about FLUTE - email discussion group.
• Flautistico.com Flute related content in Spanish.
• Jennifer Cluff flute articles Extensive list of articles on hard-to-find flute topics.
• Cantilena Records A flute recording company featuring most of the major literature for flute, downloads of the free Kuhlau flute duos, information on how to find recordings of some major compositions for flute and flutists. (June 2007: This link currently redirects to Laurel Zucker.)
• The Woodwind Fingering Guide - A large, easy-to-navigate listing of flute fingerings
• The Virtual Flute An easy to search database of Boehm flute alternate fingering and multiphonic fingering - An extensive work by the School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia
• Indian Flutes
• Ron Korb World Music Instruments and Flute Gallery Profiles and sketches of Chinese flutes, Japanese flutes, Celtic flutes, and flutes from the Americas from world renowned flutist Ron Korb's collection of over 100 flutes and woodwind instruments.
• Bansuriflute.com