The Flute
What is a flute:
The flute is a family of musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is anaerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening.
History:
The oldest flute ever discovered may be a fragment of the femur of a juvenile cave bear, with two to four holes, found at Divje Babe inSlovenia and dated to about 43,000 years ago. However, this has been disputed.In 2008 another flute dated back to at least 35,000 years ago was discovered in Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, Germany.The five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. The researchers involved in the discovery officially published their findings in the journal Nature, in August 2009.The discovery was also the oldest confirmed find of any musical instrument in history.
How you position the flute:
The flute rests on the lowest section of your left hand’s
index finger. This part of the finger meets the flute
body between the two topmost keys (C and C#) and
supports from below.
If you are guiding the end of the flute forward with
your right hand, the left hand feels like it can support
from beneathe the flute, and does not have to push the
flute toward your chin. Elbows are comfortably down.
Picture the flute as pivoting on the left index finger, so
that it acts as a hinge
How does the flute make sound?
when you breath into the flute, your air stream travels down the piping. The air stream hits against the side of the flute, moving it and creating a sound. To change the pitch of the flute, you simply lift up fingers or cover more finger holes. This changes the resonate frequency creating a different pitch. To make the tone louder you need a larger resonator, or larger air flow, and to make the tone softer it is the opposite.
index finger. This part of the finger meets the flute
body between the two topmost keys (C and C#) and
supports from below.
If you are guiding the end of the flute forward with
your right hand, the left hand feels like it can support
from beneathe the flute, and does not have to push the
flute toward your chin. Elbows are comfortably down.
Picture the flute as pivoting on the left index finger, so
that it acts as a hinge
How does the flute make sound?
when you breath into the flute, your air stream travels down the piping. The air stream hits against the side of the flute, moving it and creating a sound. To change the pitch of the flute, you simply lift up fingers or cover more finger holes. This changes the resonate frequency creating a different pitch. To make the tone louder you need a larger resonator, or larger air flow, and to make the tone softer it is the opposite.
Was the etymology of flute necessary, when this was a musical exercise? Still, very interesting though. You have not explained how the flute makes & changes its sound/pitch. Again, a picture would be great.
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