The flute is the oldest musical instrument

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The flute is a woodwind musical instrument, considered one of the most ancient on earth. And indeed, the first flutes, not at all similar to modern ones, appeared a very, very long time ago. Until now, in the villages you can meet people who in a few minutes can make a primitive flute from dried wood, as was done thousands of years ago. Flutes were distributed all over the world and went by many different names.

What's different?

As a rule, the sound in wind instruments is extracted with a reed or reed, but not in the case of a flute. In it, music is born from the fact that the air flow is cut in two. Some types of flutes have whistles designed in the same way as a regular sports whistle, and then the flutist simply needs to blow air and play. If there is no whistle, the musician himself must direct the stream of air so that it cuts through the edge. This mechanism is implemented in the orchestral transverse flute, as well as some folk, for example, Japanese (shakuhachi).

Types of flutes

As a rule, folk varieties of flutes were longitudinal, that is, when played, they were located vertically. Most often there was also a whistle (hence the name of the whistle family). This can include Irish whistles, Slavic sopilkas,pipes and ocarinas. All of them have their own characteristics, but the recorder is the most difficult in terms of execution technique. It has a large range compared to the others, and is not tied to a specific key (for example, whistles can only play in one key, and musicians have to change several whistles from song to song).

The recorder has seven holes on the front and one on the back. In turn, there are varieties of recorders associated with the range: bass, tenor, alto, soprano and sopranino. The technique of playing them is identical, only the system differs and the size of the instrument increases with decreasing range. Until the 18th century, the bluffkleite was used in the orchestra, but was supplanted by the transverse flute, which has a loud, bright sound and a large range.

For orchestra

In orchestral playing, as a rule, a transverse flute is used, if the piece being performed does not require another (for example, a piece for a recorder). Its range is more than three octaves, starting from B in the small octave and ending with the note F-sharp in the fourth octave. Flute notes are written in treble clef. The timbre is different: somewhat muffled, whispering in the lower, clear and transparent in the middle, loud, harsh in the upper… The transverse flute is a musical instrument that is used in both symphony and brass bands, and often in various chamber ensembles. The oldest transverse flute was discovered in the fifth century BC, in one of the tombs in China.

The first major design changes were made in the Baroque era. In the 18th century, transverse flutes of a new design began to compete with the recorders used in orchestras, and then completely replaced them. However, it was not until the twentieth century that tools made of metal became widespread.

The melody of the flute can be very complex: orchestral solos are often entrusted to it, and many works require serious performing technique from the flutist. There are several varieties that are also associated with lowering or raising the register: bass flute, alto, piccolo flute and some others, less common. Fun fact: one of Mozart's most difficult operas is called The Magic Flute.

Straight from Greece

There is another species that bears the beautiful name "syringa". Siringa (flute) is a musical instrument of the ancient Greeks, closely related to the modern longitudinal flute. She is even mentioned in the Iliad. There were single-barreled and multi-barreled sirings (the latter were later called "Pan flutes"). As a rule, this word is translated into Russian as "pipe". Ancient shepherds and peasants brightened up their leisure time by playing the syringa, but it was also used for musical accompaniment of various stage actions.

Pan flute is one of the most unusual folk wind instruments. It is a system of tubes of different lengths, open on one side and closed on the other. This instrument only plays in one key, but the sound is familiar.almost everyone: the famous flute melody “The Lonely Shepherd” is played on the Pan flute.

Other nations

Wind instruments were ubiquitous. In China, there was a transverse flute di, which was made not only from traditional reeds and bamboo, but sometimes even from stone, mainly jade.

There is a transverse flute in Ireland, it bears the corresponding name - the Irish flute - and is mainly represented in the "simple system", when the holes (there are six in total) are not closed with valves.

In Latin America, the longitudinal kena flute is common, in most cases it has a G (G) system.

Russian woodwind flutes are represented by the svirel, which can be single-barreled and double-barreled, the snort and its variety from the Kursk region - the pyzhatka.

A simpler instrument is the ocarina. It was made mainly from clay and played a big role in the music of ancient China and some other cultures. The oldest specimens of ocarina found by archaeologists are 12,000 years old.