Flute is the oldest musical instrument

The flute is a woodwind musical instrument, considered one of the most ancient on earth. And indeed, the first flutes, completely unlike modern ones, appeared 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 a sushch, as it was done thousands of years ago. Flutes were distributed around the world and wore many different names.

What's unusual?

As a rule, the sound in the wind instruments is extracted with a tongue or a cane, but not in the case of a flute. In it, music is born from the fact that the flow of air is dissected in two. In some types of flutes, there are whistles arranged in the same way as a normal sports whistle, and then it is enough for the flute player to simply air and play. If the whistle is not present, the musician himself must direct the stream of air so that it dissects into the face. 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 versions of flutes were longitudinal, that is, they played vertically in the game. Most often there was a whistle (hence the name of the whistle family). Here you can include Irish whistles, Slavic sopilka, flute and ocarina. All of them have their own characteristics, but the most difficult technique is the recorder. It has a large, in comparison with the rest, range, 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).

Recorder has seven holes from the front and one from the back. In turn, there are varieties of recorder related to the range: bass, tenor, viola, soprano and sopranino. The technique of playing in them is identical, only the system differs and the size of the instrument increases with a decrease in the range. Up until the 18th century, blokkleit was used in the orchestra, but was superseded by a transverse flute, which has a loud bright sound and a large range.

For orchestra

In an orchestral game, as a rule, a transverse flute is used, if the performed piece does not require another (for example, recorder pieces). Its range is more than three octaves, starting from the small octave to the F-sharp note in the fourth octave. Notes for the flute are recorded in the violin key. The timbre is different: somewhat deaf, whispering in the lower, clear and transparent in the middle, loud, sharp in the upper ... The transverse flute is a musical instrument that is used both in symphonic and in 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 structural changes were made in the Baroque era. In the 18th century transverse flutes of a new design began to compete with the recorder, used in orchestras, and then completely superseded them. However, it was only in the twentieth century that tools made of metal were distributed.

The melody of the flute can be very complicated: it often entrusts orchestral solos, and many works require the flautist to perform serious techniques. There are several varieties, also associated with a decrease or increase in the register: bass flute, viola, flute-piccolo and some other less common. An interesting fact: one of the most difficult operas of Mozart is called "The Magic Flute".

Straight from Greece

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

The 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 plays only one key, but the sound is familiar to almost everyone: the famous melody of the flute "The Lonely Shepherd" is performed exactly on the flute of Pan.

Other peoples

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

There is a transverse flute in Ireland, it has the corresponding name - the Irish flute - and is mainly represented in the "simple system", when the holes (six in all) are not covered by valves.

In Latin America, a longitudinal flute of the ken is distributed, in most cases having a G (salt) structure.

Russian woodwind flutes are represented by a pipe, which can be single-barreled and double-barreled, with a sopelyu and its variety from the Kursk region - a puffer.

A more simple tool is the ocarina. It was made mainly of clay and played a big role in the music of Ancient China and some other cultures. The most ancient specimens of the ocarina, found by archaeologists, are 12,000 years old.