Flute

This article is about the whole family of instruments. For the flute commonly used in orchestras and bands, see Western concert flute. For other uses, see Flute (disambiguation).

Picture of a collection of flutes. Contains Shinobue and other flutes spread out on a violet velveteen cloth.
Shinobue and other flutes
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The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, flutes are edge-blown aerophones.[1] A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist or flutist.

Paleolithic flutes with hand-bored holes are the earliest known identifiable musical instruments. A number of flutes dating to about 53,000 to 45,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany, indicating a developed musical tradition from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe.[2][3] While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia also has a long history with the instrument. A playable bone flute discovered in China is dated to about 9,000 years ago.[4] The Americas also had an ancient flute culture, with instruments found in Caral, Peru, dating back 5,000 years [5] and in Labrador dating back about 7,500 years.[6]

The bamboo flute has a long history, especially in China and India. Flutes have been discovered in historical records and artworks starting in the Zhou dynasty (c.1046–256 BC). The oldest written sources reveal the Chinese were using the kuan (a reed instrument) and hsio (or xiao, an end-blown flute, often of bamboo) in the 12th–11th centuries BC, followed by the chi (or ch'ih) in the 9th century BC and the yüeh in the 8th century BC.[7] Of these, the bamboo chi is the oldest documented transverse flute.[7][8]

Musicologist Curt Sachs called the cross flute (Sanskrit: vāṃśī) "the outstanding wind instrument of ancient India", and said that religious artwork depicting "celestial music" instruments was linked to music with an "aristocratic character".[9] The Indian bamboo cross flute, Bansuri, was sacred to Krishna, who is depicted with the instrument in Hindu art.[9] In India, the cross flute appeared in reliefs from the 1st century AD at Sanchi and Amaravati from the 2nd–4th centuries AD.[9][10]

According to historian Alexander Buchner, there were flutes in Europe in prehistoric times, but they disappeared from the continent until flutes arrived from Asia by way of "North Africa, Hungary, and Bohemia".[11] The end-blown flute began to be seen in illustration in the 11th century.[11] Transverse flutes entered Europe through Byzantium and were depicted in Greek art about 800 AD.[12] The transverse flute had spread into Europe by way of Germany, and was known as the German flute.[12]

  1. ^ von Hornbostel, Erich M.; Sachs, Curt (March 1961). "Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann". The Galpin Society Journal. 14: 24–25. doi:10.2307/842168. JSTOR 842168. 4 Aerophones The air itself is the vibrator in the primary sense ... 421 Edge instruments or flutes a narrow stream of air is directed against an edge
  2. ^ Wilford, John N. (24 June 2009). "Flutes Offer Clues to Stone-Age Music". Nature. 459 (7244): 248–52. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..248C. doi:10.1038/nature07995. PMID 19444215. S2CID 205216692.. Citation on p. 248.
  3. ^ Higham, Thomas; Basell, Laura; Jacobi, Roger; Wood, Rachel; Ramsey, Christopher Bronk; Conard, Nicholas J. (2012). "Τesting models for the beginnings of the Aurignacian and the advent of figurative art and music: The radiocarbon chronology of Geißenklösterle". Journal of Human Evolution. 62 (6): 664–76. Bibcode:2012JHumE..62..664H. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.03.003. PMID 22575323.
  4. ^ "Brookhaven Lab Expert Helps Date Flute Thought to be Oldest Playable Musical Instrument, Bone flute found in China at 9,000-year-old Neolithic site". Brookhaven National Laboratory.
  5. ^ "Music in the Ancient Andes". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 10 December 2020. Thirty-two tubular horizontal flutes were discovered in Caral ... made with pelican and condor bones could produce seven different sounds ... the discoveries at Caral proved that music was an integral part of the ritual life of the Andean people 5000 years ago.
  6. ^ Goss, Clint (22 November 2019). "The Development of Flutes in North America". Flutopedia. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  7. ^ a b Sachs, Kurt (1940). The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 178–179.
  8. ^ "Ancient Chinese Musical Instrument's Depicted On Some Of The Early Monuments In The Museum". University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The Erh Ya (c. 400 B.C.) says the ch'ih was made of bamboo, its length was 16 inches, one hole opened upwards, and it was blown transversely.
  9. ^ a b c Sachs, Kurt (1940). The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 158–159, 180.
  10. ^ Kadel, Ram Prasad (2007). Musical Instruments of Nepal. Katmandu, Nepal: Nepali Folk Instrument Museum. p. 45. ISBN 978-99946-883-0-2. Banshi ... \transverse flute ... made from bamboo with six finger holes ... known as Lord Krishna's instrument.
  11. ^ a b Buchner, Alexander (1980). Colour Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments. New York: Hamlyn. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-600-36421-6.
  12. ^ a b Sachs, Kurt (1940). The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 287–288.