Flutes

Category: File - :Shinobue and other flutes.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A selection of flutes from around the world

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized as Edge-blown aerophones.

A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a flute player, a flautist, a flutist, or less commonly a fluter.

Flutes are the earliest known musical instruments. A number of flutes dating to about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Alb region of Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a developed musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe.

The Western concert flute or C flute (most flutes are tuned to the key of C) is a transverse (side-blown) woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, or flute player.

The C flute is used in many ensembles including concert bands, orchestras, flute ensembles, occasionally jazz bands and big bands. Other flutes in this family include the piccolo, alto flute, bass flute, contrabass flute and double contrabass flute.

The piccolo (Italian for small ) is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave rise to the name "ottavino," the name by which the instrument is referred to in the scores of Italian composers.

Now only manufactured in C, piccolos were once made in D, as well. It was for that instrument that John Philip Sousa wrote his famous march, "Stars and Stripes Forever."

In the orchestral setting, the piccolo player is often designated as Piccolo/Flute III or even Assistant Principal. The larger orchestras have designated this position as a Solo position due to the demands of the literature. Piccolos are often orchestrated to double (i.e. to play together with) the violins or the flutes, adding sparkle and brilliance to the overall sound because of the aforementioned one-octave transposition upwards. It is the highest-pitched instrument in an orchestra or band.

Concertos have been composed for piccolo, including those by Lowell Liebermann, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Todd Goodman, Martin Amlin,Martin Amlin page of Presser website. Will Gay Bottje,Will Gay Bottje Piccolo Concerto, American Composers' Alliance website. Bruce Broughton, Valentino Bucchi, Avner Dorman,Avner Dorman on the Cabrillo Music Festival website. Jean Doué, Michael Easton,Concerto for Piccolo, Percussion and Strings, Australian Music Centre page. Egil Hovland, Guus Janssen, Tilo Medek, Dexter Morrill, Raymond Niverd, Daniel Pinkham, Thomas Schudel, and Allan Stephenson. Graham Waterhouse composed a quintet for piccolo and string quartet.

The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the C flute after the flûte d'amour. It is characterized by its distinct, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range. It is a transposing instrument and, like the piccolo and bass flute, uses the same fingerings as the C flute.

The tube of the alto flute is considerably thicker and longer than a C flute and requires more breath from the player. Finding Your Flute (How to Choose, Rent, Buy a New or Used Flute) This gives it a greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range.

Said to be developed and popularized by Theobald Boehm, it is pitched in the key of G (sounding a 4th lower than written). MichlinMusic.com - Audio Archives Its range is from G3 (the G below middle C) to G6 (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to Db8. The headjoint may be straight or curved.

In the classical literature, the alto flute is particularly associated with the scores of Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel, both of whom used the instrument's distinctive tone color in a variety of scores. It is featured in Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Franco Alfano's opera Cyrano de Bergerac, and Sergei Prokofiev's Scythian Suite. Shostakovich used it in his operas The Gamblers (incomplete), Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (also known as Katerina Ismailova), as well as in his Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad). It also figures prominently in several movements of Gustav Holst's The Planets. It also appears in Howard Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings among many other contemporary film scores.

British music that uses this instrument often refers to it as a bass flute, which can be confusing since there is a distinct instrument known by that name. This naming confusion originated in the fact that the modern flute in C is pitched in the same range as the Renaissance tenor flute, therefore a lower pitched instrument would be called a bass. http://www.oldflutes.com/renai.htm

Depicted above is the 'curved head' version, frequently preferred by smaller players because it requires less of a stretch for the arms, and makes the instrument feel lighter by moving the center of gravity nearer to the player. The straight version is more commonly used for acoustical reasons.Phyllis Louke - Article: Getting Started Playing Alto, Bass and Contrabass Flutes

The embouchure for alto flute is similar to that for C flute, but in proportion to the size of the instrument. Hence the embouchure-hole sits lower on the lower lip, and the lip-aperture is wider.

The bass flute is the bass member of the flute family. It is in the key of C, pitched one octave below the concert flute. Because of the length of its tube (approximately 146 cm), it is usually made with a "J" shaped head joint, which brings the embouchure hole within reach of the player. It is usually only used in flute choirs, as it is easily drowned out by other instruments of comparable register, such as the clarinet.

A flautist, flutist, or flute player is a musician who plays the flute.

Category: File - :Maria doublecontra jpg.jpg|thumb|right|Maria Ramey playing a double contrabass flute

The double contrabass flute (sometimes also called the octobass flute or subcontrabass flute) is the largest and lowest pitched metal flute in the world (the hyperbass flute has an even lower range, though it is made out of PVC pipes and wood). It is pitched in the key of C, three octaves below the concert flute (two octaves below the bass flute and one octave below the contrabass flute). Its lowest note is C1, one octave below the cello's lowest C. This note is relatively easy to play in comparison to most other large flutes. Despite the tendency of the larger sizes of flute to be softer than their higher pitched relatives, the double contrabass flute has a relatively powerful tone, although it usually benefits from amplification in ensembles.

The Japanese firm of Kotato & Fukushima sell their double contrabass flutes for US$38,000.KOTATO FLUTE - Best Contra Bass in the World!

Their main use has been in large flute choirs and occasionally in film scores.

The contra-alto flute (also called contrabass flute in G or bass flute in F) is one of the largest instruments in the flute family.

It is in the key of G, pitched one octave below the alto flute, and a fourth below the bass flute. It is so large that the instrument's body is held vertically, with an adjustable floor peg similar to that of the bass clarinet.

The instrument maker Eva Kingma calls her contra-alto flute a "contr'alto flute in G," and Kotato & Fukushima call their instrument "bass flute in F." Kotato & Fukushima's instrument sells for US$17,500.

For an extensive list of repertoire for bass flute and contrabass flute see: Peter van Munster, Repertoire Catalogue for Piccolo, Alto Flute and Bass Flute, Roma: Riverberi Sonori, 2004.

Category: File - :Evakingmasubcontra jpg.jpg|thumb|right|195px|Maria Ramey playing an Eva Kingma subcontrabass flute in G

The subcontrabass flute is one of the largest instruments in the flute family, measuring over 15 feet long. The instrument is in the key of G, pitched a fourth below the contrabass flute in C and two octaves below the alto flute in G; it is sometimes also called double contra-alto flute.

The subcontrabass flute is almost never used outside of flute ensembles. It is sometimes called the "gentle giant" of the flute family because of its gentle sound. At present, the subcontrabass flute is an instrument that must be custom ordered. It may be made out of PVC or metal.

This instrument's unique sound quality, dark tone, and at times sluggish articulation make for excellent solo opportunities. A workable range of two and a half octaves the instrument has some projection issues, as stated above, though the Hogenhuis models designed from PVC can make a fine, vibrant and raucous tone when required. Due to the instrument's bore width (the diameter of the tube is approximately three inches), the sonic possibilities are almost endless, with excellent response to overtones, singing tones, and multiphonics (chord tones).

The hyperbass flute is the largest and lowest pitched instrument in the flute family, with tubing reaching over 8 metres in length. It is pitched in C, four octaves below the concert flute (three octaves below the bass flute, two octaves below the contrabass flute, and one octave below the double contrabass flute), with its lowest note being C0, one octave below the lowest C on a standard piano. At 16 Hz, this is below what is generally considered the range of human hearing (20 to 20,000 Hz).

The hyperbass flute is made of PVC and wood.Photographs on web site of Roberto Fabbriciani: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3. Retrieved on 15 March 2007 There appear to be wide tone holes, made from standard tee fittings, but without keys; these are covered with the palms of the hands.

The only known example of the instrument is a prototype built for Italian flautist Roberto Fabbriciani (born in Arezzo, 1949) by Francesco Romei, a Florentine craftsman. Fabbriciani is the inventor and primary performer of this unique instrument. He calls it flauto iperbasso in Italian.

== History ==

Category: Image - :Native American Flute Busker by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|A busker in New York City's Broadway-Lafayette subway station playing a Native American flute.

There are many stories about how different peoples discovered the flute. A common character in these stories is the woodpecker, who put holes in hollow branches while searching for termites. The wind would blow around these branches, creating sounds that the people noticed and sought to recreate. The actual development of the flute most likely did not follow this pattern. The theory that it was developed by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples based on Mesoamerican designs is the most common solution.History of Native American Flute, Zadjik Productions

The late 1960s saw a roots revival centered around the flute, with a new wave of flutists and artisans like Doc Tate Nevaquaya and Carl Running Deer. Of special importance is R. Carlos Nakai (Changes, 1983), who has achieved some mainstream renown for his mixture of the flute with New Age and ambient sounds. Mary Youngblood is the only Native American flautist to win two Grammy awards, although several others have been noted as Grammy nominees.

Notable and award winning Native American flautists include: Timothy Archambault, Charles Littleleaf, Jeff Ball, Douglas Blue Feather, Joseph Firecrow, Kevin Locke, Robert Mirabal, Jay Red Eagle, Robert Tree Cody, and David Atlas.

A few classical composers have written for the Native American flute, including James DeMars, David Yeagley, Brent Michael Davids, and Philip Glass.

File AuthenticNativeFlute.jpg

The pan flute or pan pipe (also known as panflute or panpipes) is an ancient musical instrument based on the principle of the Closed tube, consisting usually of five or more pipes of gradually increasing length (and, at times, girth). The pan flute has long been popular as a folk instrument, and is considered the first mouth organ, ancestor of both the pipe organ and the harmonica. The pan flute is named for its association with the rustic Greek god Pan. The pipes of the pan flute are typically made from bamboo or giant cane; other materials used include wood, plastic, and metal.

Another term for the pan flute is syrinx, from Greek mythology, the story of Pan. The plural of syrinx is syringes, from which the modern word syringe is derived. (Pan pipes is both singular and plural.) Other names for the instrument are mouth organ, Pandean pipe, and the Latin fistula panis.