Difficulty Rating:7/10 |
 |
  |
 |
About the Flute:
Equipment costs:
High end Flute: £1.200
Accessories:
- Case/bags
- Tuners
Genres played on the Flute:
- Classical
- Latin
- Bossa nova
- Jazz
- Rock
- Pop
- Ensembles
- March orchestras
Famous players:
- Dave Liebman
- Herbie Mann
- James Moody
- Benjamin Britten
- Francesco Barsanti
- Severino Gazzelloni
- Ivano Fossati
Famous songs & albums:
- La disciplina della Terra - Ivano Fossati
- Sei solo per flauto con accompagnamento di basso, primo libro
History:
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. The Bible, in Genesis 4:21, cites Jubal as being the inventor of the 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.
Type of Flute:
