Flute History and Development
The flute is not merely a product of modern acoustic engineering, it is in fact an instrument dating back to the Stone Age and the one that many historians believe to be one of the oldest in the world. the first musical instruments ever made.
In this article, we will explore the origins of the flute we know and love today. We'll trace its evolution from perforated bone fragments, found some 40,000 years ago, to well-honed flutes, uniformly tuned and responsive in modern times. The flute tree has undergone a unique development journey, however, today's flute tree is not the final destination, let's find out!
Like much of ancient history, the exact origin of music is uncertain, but it is thought that the earliest sounds were created by the human voice and possibly by sound effects. 'accidental' as sounds are naturally generated in the environment or from everyday tasks, such as cooking, using tools, etc.
The first flute
Divje babe is Slovenia's oldest archaeological site. It is also where Dr. Ivan Turk discovered the first flute made from the femur of a cave bear in 1998. This flute has two complete holes and two incomplete holes. People call this 'flute Divje babe'. Since the area where the flute was found and other artifacts were discovered in the same excavation, experts believe it is definitely at least 40,000 years old, perhaps even 60,000 years old. .
After performing the analysis, the experts found that the bone used to make the flute was Neanderthal and the only musical instrument discovered so far that could have been played by our Neanderthal ancestors. However, to this day, the exact history of this flute is still a subject of controversy. Some historians have tried to explain that the holes in the star tree were in fact random bites, but this theory does not match the tooth size of the animals believed to have existed in the area at the time. there. In contrast, if created intentionally, the flute tree would display a surprising level of skill for Neanderthals.
To date, debates continue to be fierce, but Slovenia rightly declared that flute Divje babe is a national treasure and tourist attraction, and placed it in the national museum. under the banner of being the oldest musical instrument in the world. Modern copies of the instrument have been created and are played regularly in Slovenia, most notably by musician Ljuben Dimkaroski.
Divje Babe Flute
From paintings from the Roman period in the early 10th century, one can see that the flutes of this period were played in the left hand, instead of the right hand as it is today. Bronze statues and murals from this period also show traces, evidence of the existence of horizontal flute. Flutes of this period were more of a pepper flute than today's professional flutes.
Further discoveries
Although the Divje babe flute is believed to be the oldest musical instrument, it is likely that the flute was invented several times around the world at different times in history. When charting its development, we can rely only on documented evidence found by historians and archaeologists. And in that history there have been numerous records of other flutes found in Egypt, Israel, China, India and Greece.
From the fall of the Roman Empire around 400 AD until around 1100 AD, little was heard of the flute, and many scholars suggest that the flute had disappeared for several centuries. It was not until the 11th and 12th centuries that the flute began to reappear, perhaps starting in Germany. In the early 15th century, flute was represented in various paintings throughout Western Europe and beyond. At this stage, flute was still made from bone but was more complex than the ancient examples described above.
Ancient Flute
Flute in the Renaissance
During the Renaissance in the 16th century, the flute was one of the most popular instruments in the very lively Italian music scene. The instrument was highly regarded, even being collected by Henry VIII, who was a performer of flute, harp, trumpet, lute and lyre. An inventory of his Renaissance musical instrument collection after his death in 1547 shows that he owned more than 70 transmitters, 40 flutes, and other musical instruments including bagpipes and flutes. , the pixie and the shawl (forerunner of the modern oboe).
Flute at that time was very simple, consisting of a wooden, cylindrical tube, a cork end, a blow hole and six small holes. Due to the lack of complex frets, these flutes can only produce a limited number of notes, so they are made with different sizes, pitches at different keys.
In the middle of 1320, a single-piece wooden flute with a length of about 60cm, with a "D" voice, in 1511 Zwerchpfeiff gave birth to a flute with 6 holes, and in 1529, a high-pitched, mid-voiced flute. low and low was born.
Baroque period to present day
From Tudor times to the present day, the popularity and development of flute is growing. Many changes have been made to the original design impacting the flute's intonation, versatility, and sound quality. However, basically, the flute of this period still had a long tube design with simple small holes.
Baroque Flute
The main changes, implemented by a relatively small number of influential flute manufacturers, are outlined below:
Flute Hotteterre: 1670s
Flute design is divided into three parts: head joint, body and foot joint.
The body and foot joints are conical, the flute body narrows in diameter towards the base, while the basal joint widens to form a small bell. This design is still followed in some modern piccolos.
The first key was added at the bottom to allow the instrument to be used with complex fingering, playing all the colored notes although the tuning is still a bit different. The holes in the flute body have been made much smaller.
By 1720 the flute had been further subdivided with the body now divided into two parts with appendages of varying lengths known as 'corps de Recharge'. This allows the performer to change the pitch of the instrument to suit different orchestras. These flutes are called baroque flutes.
Quantz and Tromlitz: 1750 – 1790
Both of these performers wrote lengthy treatises on the development of the flute, including developing new fingering patterns for each note on the instrument to improve pitch and intonation. In particular, Quantz studied the intonation issues of the instrument in detail and introduced a tuning slider and extra keys.
However, despite this, the flute makers were still unhappy with the tuning of the instrument and the complexity of the fingering required, so they added other keys to improve the F key's production. , B is flat and G is sharp.
Later, two keys were added to the bottom joint to form the key C and C sharp, and by the end of the 18th century, two more keys were introduced, which can be considered the ancestor of the 8-key flute.
Theobald Boehm: 1794 – 1881
Theobald Boehm
Boehm was a professional jeweler with a strong musical aptitude, known as the "father of the concert flute". It was his innovations, based on the addition of keys described above, that truly created the instrument we know today.
Boehm's first design dates back to 1832, involving the creation of a new mechanism that functioned as an extension of the fingers, linking the keys by means of a series of movable shafts.
This means that for the first time, holes can be spaced according to the sonic characteristics of the flute, and specifically to produce strong intonation, rather than being conveniently sized for the player's fingers. . This has made a huge difference to the intonation of the instrument.
By 1847, Boehm had studied acoustics and came up with another redesign, this time with a cylindrical body, parabolic leg and head joint. The stoma is no longer round or oval but rectangular with rounded corners.
The holes in the instrument were even larger than the previous design (an improvement introduced in an attempt to make the instrument louder) and could not be easily covered by fingers, so he Design cushion cups for each hole to make sure the air can't escape.
Latch springs and metal ring keys were later added to facilitate key opening and closing and, perhaps most importantly, the instrument was made from high-quality German silver, which Boehm believed. that has the best sound quality available. The instrument was immediately hailed as a huge improvement, and its design earned Boehm several awards, including one at the World's Exposition in Paris in 1855.
In 1860, the Boehm flute was recognized as the official instrument of the Paris Conservatory.
The year 1877 was a historic milestone when Boehm perfected the "modern silver flute". The Macauley flute is made of silver with a gold blowhole. The flute also has gold springs and adds a "Si" note at the end of the flute.
In the late 19th century, the flute appeared in the music and orchestras of Brahms, Strauss and Tchaikovsky, with extensive technical possibilities. Many musicians creating polished ornate solos and virtuosic performances became fashionable. The flute was now able to play music that pre-Boehm instruments considered too technically demanding. The wide range that composers of the Romantic period required the flute to be able to play in 3 octaves.
However, this cult of the instrument was not popular with some performers and composers (notably Richard Wagner), especially in Germany, Italy, and Russia. In these countries, artists reluctantly accepted the use of stars with the new key system.
Flute Modern Era
Surprisingly some revisions were made during the latter part of the 19th century and throughout the 20th, but there are a number of influential figures who made some important modifications:
Albert Cooper (1960s) – Cooper modified Boehm's mechanics to make the modern flute easier to play. The Flute has been retuned to the A440 and the air hole has been cut in a new way to improve sound quality. Flute became extremely popular with both professionals and amateurs.
Johann Brogger (1980s) – Brogger further modified the Boehm flute by fixing two major problems that have existed for nearly 150 years; poor tuning between certain keys and problems between the flat keys G and B. He did this by introducing non-rotating axes, resulting in a quieter sound and less friction with the moving parts. motion. In addition, the modifications allow individual spring adjustment and the flute is enhanced. However, flute Brogger is not really popular and is only used by a handful of major manufacturers.
Conclude
Today, in addition to improvements, the flute has reached a point of complete development, but it still seems to be insufficient. Along with the development of society in general, music always goes hand in hand and there is always a need to express the flow of life, the flute is also an integral part.
Along with the development trend of modernization, classical music always has to have fierce competition with new young music genres such as Pop, Rock... The need to express the human ego is always forming, shaping and changing. new in music. That's why today continues to develop a new music genre called Contemporary. However, the value of classical music remains an eternal value that cannot be changed.
And to represent contemporary music, the flute expression techniques also have slight changes. There have been many new performing techniques on the flute and it can be said: The musical expression of the flute is limitless.
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