1.
Flute
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The flute is a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening, according to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a player, flautist, flutist or, less commonly. Flutes are the earliest extant musical instruments, as paleolithic instruments with hand-bored holes have been found, a number of flutes dating to about 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe. Flutes, including the famous Bansuri, have been a part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC. A major deity of Hinduism, Krishna, has been associated with the flute, the English verb flout has the same linguistic root, and the modern Dutch verb fluiten still shares the two meanings. Attempts to trace the word back to the Latin flare have been pronounced phonologically impossible or inadmissable, the first known use of the word flute was in the 14th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this was in Geoffrey Chaucers The Hous of Fame, today, a musician who plays any instrument in the flute family can be called a flutist, or flautist, or simply a flute player. Flutist dates back to at least 1603, the earliest quote cited by the Oxford English Dictionary, flautist was used in 1860 by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Marble Faun, after being adopted during the 18th century from Italy, like many musical terms in England since the Italian Renaissance. Other English terms, now obsolete, are fluter and flutenist. The oldest flute ever discovered may be a fragment of the femur of a cave bear. In 2008 another flute dated back to at least 35,000 years ago was discovered in Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, the five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. The researchers involved in the officially published their findings in the journal Nature. The flute, one of several found, was found in the Hohle Fels cavern next to the Venus of Hohle Fels, on announcing the discovery, scientists suggested that the finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe. Scientists have also suggested that the discovery of the flute may help to explain the probable behavioural and cognitive gulf between Neanderthals and early modern human. A three-holed flute,18.7 cm long, made from a mammoth tusk was discovered in 2004, the earliest extant Chinese 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 and it is fashioned of lacquered bamboo with closed ends and has five stops that are at the flutes side instead of the top
2.
Embouchure
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The embouchure is the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments or the mouthpiece of the brass instruments. The word is of French origin and is related to the root bouche, the proper embouchure allows the instrumentalist to play the instrument at its full range with a full, clear tone and without strain or damage to ones muscles. While performing on an instrument, the sound is produced by the player buzzing his or her lips into a mouthpiece. Pitches are changed in part through altering the amount of muscular contraction in the lip formation, the performers use of the air, tightening of cheek and jaw muscles, as well as tongue manipulation can affect how the embouchure works. Even today, many brass pedagogues take an approach to teaching how a brass players embouchure should function. Many of these authors also disagree with each other regarding which technique is correct, research suggests efficient brass embouchures depend on the player using the method that suits that players particular anatomy. In 1962, Philip Farkas hypothesized that the air stream traveling through the lip aperture should be directed straight down the shank of the mouthpiece and he believed that it would be illogical to violently deflect the air stream downward at the point of where the air moves past the lips. In this text, Farkas also recommends that the lower jaw be protruded so that the upper and lower teeth are aligned, in 1970, Farkas published a second text which contradicted his earlier writing. Out of 40 subjects, Farkas showed that 39 subjects directed the air downward to varying degrees, the lower jaw position seen in these photographs show more variation from his earlier text as well. This supports what was written by trombonist and brass pedagogue Donald S. Reinhardt in 1942. According to this text, players who place the mouthpiece higher on the lips, so that more upper lip is inside the mouthpiece. Performers who place the lower, so that more lower lip is inside the mouthpiece. In order for the performer to be successful, the air stream direction, lloyd Leno confirmed the existence of both upstream and downstream embouchures. More controversial was Reinhardts description and recommendations regarding a phenomenon he termed a pivot, whether the player uses one general pivot direction or the other, and the degree to which the motion is performed, depends on the performers anatomical features and stage of development. The placement of the mouthpiece upon the lips doesnt change, but rather the relationship of the rim, later research supports Reinhardts claim that this motion exists and might be advisable for brass performers to adopt. Froelich noted that the symphonic trombonists used the least amount of direct and shear forces and recommends this model be followed. Other research notes that virtually all brass performers rely upon the upward and downward embouchure motion, other authors and pedagogues remain skeptical about the necessity of this motion, but scientific evidence supporting this view has not been sufficiently developed at this time to support this view. Some noted brass pedagogues prefer to instruct the use of the embouchure from an analytical point of view
3.
Perpendicular
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In elementary geometry, the property of being perpendicular is the relationship between two lines which meet at a right angle. The property extends to other related geometric objects, a line is said to be perpendicular to another line if the two lines intersect at a right angle. Perpendicularity can be shown to be symmetric, meaning if a first line is perpendicular to a second line, for this reason, we may speak of two lines as being perpendicular without specifying an order. Perpendicularity easily extends to segments and rays, in symbols, A B ¯ ⊥ C D ¯ means line segment AB is perpendicular to line segment CD. A line is said to be perpendicular to an if it is perpendicular to every line in the plane that it intersects. This definition depends on the definition of perpendicularity between lines, two planes in space are said to be perpendicular if the dihedral angle at which they meet is a right angle. Perpendicularity is one instance of the more general mathematical concept of orthogonality, perpendicularity is the orthogonality of classical geometric objects. Thus, in advanced mathematics, the perpendicular is sometimes used to describe much more complicated geometric orthogonality conditions. The word foot is used in connection with perpendiculars. This usage is exemplified in the top diagram, above, the diagram can be in any orientation. The foot is not necessarily at the bottom, step 2, construct circles centered at A and B having equal radius. Let Q and R be the points of intersection of two circles. Step 3, connect Q and R to construct the desired perpendicular PQ, to prove that the PQ is perpendicular to AB, use the SSS congruence theorem for and QPB to conclude that angles OPA and OPB are equal. Then use the SAS congruence theorem for triangles OPA and OPB to conclude that angles POA, to make the perpendicular to the line g at or through the point P using Thales theorem, see the animation at right. The Pythagorean Theorem can be used as the basis of methods of constructing right angles, for example, by counting links, three pieces of chain can be made with lengths in the ratio 3,4,5. These can be out to form a triangle, which will have a right angle opposite its longest side. This method is useful for laying out gardens and fields, where the dimensions are large, the chains can be used repeatedly whenever required. If two lines are perpendicular to a third line, all of the angles formed along the third line are right angles
4.
Western concert flute
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The Western concert flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute, a musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, flute player, or fluter. This type of flute is used in ensembles including concert bands, military bands, marching bands, orchestras, flute ensembles. Other flutes in this include the piccolo, alto flute. A large repertory of works has been composed for flute, the flute is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. The precursors of the concert flute were keyless wooden transverse flutes. These were later modified to include one and eight keys for chromatic notes. The most common pitch for keyless wooden traverse flutes is six-finger D, keyless traverse flutes continue to be used in folk music and in historically informed performances of Baroque music. Throughout the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, transverse flutes were very uncommon in Europe, the transverse flute arrived in Europe from Asia, via the Byzantine Empire, where it migrated to Germany and France. These flutes became known as German flutes, to them from others. The flute became used in music, along with the viol. It would not spread to the rest of Europe for nearly a century, the first literary appearance of the transverse flute was made in 1285, by Adenet le Roi in a list of instruments he played. After this, a period of 70 years ensues, where there are few references to the flute, beginning in the 1470s, a military revival in Europe led to a revival in the flute. The Swiss army used flutes for signaling, and this helped the spread to all of Europe. In the late 16th century, flutes began to appear in court and theatre music, following the 16th century court music, flutes began appearing in chamber ensembles. These flutes were used as the tenor voice. However, flutes varied greatly in size and range and this made transposition necessary, which led flutists to use Guidonian hexachords to transpose music more easily. At this stage, the flute was usually made in one section and had a cylindrical bore
5.
Bansuri
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A bansuri is a side blown flute found in many parts of India and Nepal, and a musical instrument that is common in the North Indian or Hindustani classical music. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo, and a flute is called Venu in the South Indian or Carnatic classical music. The bansuri flute is an ancient musical instrument of the Indian subcontinent and it is called nadi and tunava in the Rigveda and other Vedic texts of Hinduism. Its importance and operation is discussed in the Sanskrit text Natya Shastra, a bansuri is traditionally made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or eight finger holes, but modern designs come in ivory, fiberglass and various metals. The six hole instrument covers two and a half octaves of music, the bansuri is typically between 30 centimetres and 75 centimetres in length, and the thickness of a human thumb. One end is closed, and few centimeters from the end is its blow hole. Longer bansuris feature deeper tones and lower pitches, the traditional design features no mechanical keys, and the musician creates the notes she wants by tapping the various finger holes. The bansuri-like flute is depicted in ancient Buddhist, Hindu and Jaina temple paintings and reliefs and it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha. The bansuri is revered as Lord Krishnas divine instrument and is associated with Krishnas Rasa lila dance. These legends sometimes use alternate names for this instrument, such as the murali. However, the instrument is common among other traditions such as Shaivism. The word bansuri originates in the bans + sur, a phonetically similar same for the same instrument, in early medieval texts, is the Sanskrit word vamsi which is derived from root vamsa meaning bamboo. A flute player in these texts is called vamsika. According to Ardal Powell, flute is an instrument found in numerous ancient cultures. There are three legendary and archeologically verifiable birthplace sites of flutes, Egypt, Greece and India, of these, the transverse flute appeared only in ancient India, while the fipple flutes are found in all three. It is likely, states Powell, that the modern Indian bansuri has not changed much since the medieval era. The early medieval Indian bansuri was, however, influential, the flute is discussed as an important musical instrument in the Natya Shastra, the classic Sanskrit text on music and performance arts. The flute is mentioned in many Hindu texts on music and singing, as complementary to the human sound and Veena
6.
Venu
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The venu is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the South Indian Carnatic music tradition, in Northern Indian music, a similar flute is called bansuri. In the South, it is called by various other names such as pullankuzhal in Tamil, പുല്ലാങ്കുഴല് in Malayalam. It is known as pillana grōvi or Vēṇuvu in Telugu, the venu is discussed as an important musical instrument in the Natya Shastra, the classic Hindu text on music and performance arts. The ancient Sanskrit texts of India describe other side blown flutes such as the murali and vamsika, a venu has six holes, is about the thickness of a thumb, and twelve fingers long. A longer murali has four holes and two hands longs, the vamsika has eight holes, between twelve and seventeen fingers long. A venu is a part of the iconography of Hindu god Krishna, one of the oldest musical instruments of India, the instrument is a key-less transverse flute made of bamboo. The fingers of hands are used to close and open the holes. It has a hole near one end, and eight closely placed finger holes. The instrument comes in various sizes, the venu is also a highly respected instrument and those who play it are expected to appreciate it, for it is considered a gift to be able to play it. The venu is capable of producing two and half octaves with the help of over-blowing and cross fingering, the flute is like the human voice in that it is monophonous and also has a typical two and half octave sound reproduction. Sliding the fingers on and off the holes allows for a degree of ornamentation. The flute finds great mention in Indian mythology and folklore having been listed as among the 3 original instruments meant for music along with the human sound, however it is strange that there is no name mentioned for the typical flute that the Lord plays. The venu is associated with the Hindu god Krishna, who is depicted playing it. This kind of flute is used in South India. The Lord Vishnu is portrayed as Sri Venugopala - playing the flute of Creation. In the Hindustani style, it is known as Bansuri, in the Carnatic style, it is known as flute. Palladam Sanjiva Rao, a disciple of Sharaba Shastri, H. Ramachandra Shastry, a disciple of Palladam Sanjiva Rao
7.
Dizi (instrument)
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The dizi, is a Chinese transverse flute. It is also known as the di or héngdi, and has varieties including the qǔdi and bāngdi. These names are likely to have multiple spellings, too, depending on the used to convert from Chinese names. Nonetheless, dizi seems to be the most common used in the West. The dizi is a major Chinese musical instrument, and is used in many genres of Chinese folk music, as well as Chinese opera. Traditionally, the dizi has also been popular among the Chinese common people, most dizi are made of bamboo, which explains why dizi are sometimes known by simple names such as Chinese bamboo flute. However, bamboo is perhaps more of a Chinese instrument classification like woodwind in the West, Northern Chinese dizi are made from purple or violet bamboo, while dizi made in Suzhou and Hangzhou are made from white bamboo. Dizi produced in southern Chinese regions such as Chaozhou are often made of slender, lightweight. Although bamboo is the material for the dizi, it is also possible to find dizi made from other kinds of wood. The dizi is not the only bamboo flute of China, although it is certainly distinctive, other Chinese bamboo wind instruments include the vertical end-blown xiao and the koudi. There are many suggestions for the source of dizi, while legend suggest it was the invention of the Yellow Emperor, who wanted to make the bamboo a musical instrument, others suggest that dizi was imported into China during the Han Dynasty. Recently, archaeologists have discovered evidence suggesting that the simple transverse flutes have been present in China for over 9,000 years, fragments of bone flutes from this period are still playable today, and are remarkably similar to modern versions in terms of hole placement, etc. The Jiahu neolithic site in central Henan province of China has yielded flutes dating back to 7,000 BC -5,000 BC that could represent the earliest playable instruments ever found. These flutes were carved with five to eight holes, and is capable of producing varied sounds in a nearly accurate octave. The dizi as we know it today dates to the 5th century BC. There are examples of bamboo dizi that date back to 2nd century BC that has been found and these flutes share common features of other simple flutes from cultures all around the world, including the ney, an end-blown cane flute which was depicted in Egyptian paintings and stone carvings. In fact, recent archeological discoveries in Africa suggest that the history of such flutes may date back a long way in human history indeed. Traditionally dizi is made by using a piece of bamboo
8.
Fife (instrument)
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A fife /ˈfaɪf/ is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute, that is similar to the piccolo, but louder and shriller due to its narrower bore. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is used in military. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer, the word fife comes from the German Pfeife, or pipe, which comes from the Latin word pipare. The fife is an instrument usually consisting of a tube with 6 finger holes. Some have 10 or 11 holes for added chromatics, the fife also has an embouchure hole, across which the player blows, and a cork or plug inside the tube just above the embouchure hole. Some nineteenth-century fifes had a key pressed by the finger of the right hand in place of a seventh finger hole. Fifes are made mostly of wood, grenadilla, rosewood, mopane, pink ivory, cocobolo, boxwood and other woods are superior, maple and persimmon are inferior. Some Caribbean music makes use of bamboo fifes, Military and marching fifes have metal reinforcing bands around the ends to protect them from damage. Fifes used in strenuous conditions sometimes have a lathe-turned, knob-like decoration at the ends for similar reasons. Some fifes are entirely made of metal or plastic, some modern fifes are of two-piece construction with a sliding tuning joint similar to some recorders. The standard fife is an A-flat transposing instrument, meaning that prevailing scoring conventions dictate that the C position on a fife-part staff should correspond to a concert A-flat, the standard fife sounds a minor sixth above written. Fifes pitched in the keys of D and of C are also common, fifes in various other keys are sometimes played in musical ensembles. A common convention specific to fife music and contradictory to those above is for music to be written in the key of D regardless of the key in which the fife in question sounds. Like the Irish flute and the tinwhistle, the fife is a simple system flute. These flutes are unable to play all chromatic pitches, while many of the pitches they can play are grossly out of tune. This tuning irregularity is part of the sound of the fife. An experienced fife player can play 3 full octaves although the fingering patterns necessary for playing in the octave can be daunting to a beginner. Marching bands typically play only in the second and third octave since these are the loudest and most penetrating, in medieval Europe, the fife was used in some folk music traditions to accompany dancing by all social classes
9.
Fue
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Fue is the Japanese word for flute, and refers to a class of flutes native to Japan. Fue come in varieties, but are generally high-pitched and made of a bamboo called shinobue. The most popular of the fue is the shakuhachi, fue are traditionally broken up into two basic categories – the transverse flute and the end-blown flute. Transverse flutes are held to the side, with the musician blowing across a hole near one end, end-blown flutes are held vertically, the earliest fue may have developed from pitch pipes called paixiao in Chinese. The gabachi instruments eventually made its way over to Japan from China in the fifth century, soon after the introduction of fue instruments, members of the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhism made normal use of the shakuhachi. These priests of nothingness viewed the instruments as spiritual tools, using them for suizen, modern fue performance may feature a soloist or involve either a chamber or large ensemble of the instruments. Japanese fue include many different varieties of Japanese flute, including the following
10.
Daegeum
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The daegeum is a large bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a membrane that gives it a special timbre. It is used in court, aristocratic, and folk music, as well as in classical music, popular music. Smaller flutes in the family include the junggeum and sogeum. The three together are known as samjuk, as the three primary flutes of the Silla period, the solo performance called daegeum sanjo was pronounced an Important Intangible Cultural Properties of Korea by the Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea in 1971. The king ordered his caretaker of the sun to test whether this was good luck. The caretaker replied that a king who turned into a sea dragon. The king soon sent a person to look for the gift, the person replied that a bamboo tree on the top of the island becomes two in the morning and one in the night. On the next day, the world shook and it rained and wind blew, and the world was thrown into darkness for a week. When the king went to the island himself, a dragon appeared and told him if the bamboo on the top of the island was cut down, made into a flute, and blown. The king cut down the tree, and the flute made from the bamboo was called Man Pa Sik Juk, junggeum Sogeum Music of Korea Traditional Korean musical instruments Dizi Di mo Bamboo musical instruments Daegeum page Daegeum video and audio
