Flute - Categories of flutes - Encyclopedia II

The flute has appeared in many different forms in many different locations around the world. A flute made from a mammoth tusk, found in the Swabian Alb and dated to 30,000 to 37,000 years ago [1]; one seven-hole flute made from a swan's bone in the Geissenklosterle Cave in Germany to circa 36,000 years ago [2]; and another made from the bone of a juvenile cave bear found in Slovenia and dated to about 50,000 years ago [3], are among the oldest known musical instruments.

At its most basic, 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 what many people consider the flute, the Western concert flute, which has a complex array of keys and holes.

There are several broad classes of flutes. With most flutes, the musician blows directly onto the edge of the flute. However, some flutes, such as the recorder, tin whistle, whistle, fujara, and ocarina have a duct that directs the air onto the edge (an arrangement that is termed a "fipple"). This 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 are similar.

Another division is between side-blown (or transverse) flutes, such as the Western concert flute, piccolo, fife, di zi, and bansuri; and end-blown flutes, such as the recorder, ney, kaval, quena, shakuhachi and tonette. 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. The earliest transverse flute is a chi 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 of lacquered bamboo with closed ends. It has five stops that are at the flute's side instead of top. Chi flutes are mentioned in Shi Jing, compiled and edited by Confucius.

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

• Piccolo in C or D-flat
• Treble flute in G
• Soprano flute in Eb
• Concert flute (also called C flute, boehm flute, silver flute, or simply flute)
• Flute d'amour (also called tenor flute) in B-flat or A
• Alto flute in G
• Bass flute in C
• Contrabass flute in C (also called octobass flute)
• Contra-alto flute in G
• Subcontrabass flute in G or C
• Double contrabass flute in C (also called octobass flute)

Each of the above instruments has its own range. The piccolo is an octave higher in pitch than the concert flute. Like the concert flute, it reads music in C, 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, the treble and concert; and the tenor flute or flute d'amour in B flat 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 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.

Flutes may be open on one or both of their ends. The ocarina, pan pipes, concert whistle, jug, 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, more pleasing 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Categories of flutes", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page