A flute is a woodwind instrument made from a tube with a series of holes. Unlike the clarinet or the oboe, it’s a reedless instrument, which produces sound from the flow of air across an opening.
With its smooth, bright sound, it’s a key member of the woodwind section in a symphony orchestra, where it is either used to play the melody or to blend in with the harmony. But it is also frequently used in both chamber music and as a solo instrument, and has a wealth of solo repertoire written for it.
How do you play the flute?
You play the flute by holding it out to one side and blowing across the mouthpiece (watch out, it might make you dizzy at first!). To make different notes, you cover and uncover holes by pressing down on various keys with your fingers.
Although it might take a little while to get the hang of the blowing technique, flute fingerings are surprisingly simple to learn, meaning that you can make progress fairly quickly. Plus, the flute uses the same positions as the soprano recorder, that many of us learnt at school.
When was the flute invented?
Some of the earliest known flutes date back to around 40,000 years ago. They were made of animal bones, perforated with finger holes, and were found in a cave in Germany.
In the 16th century something more sophisticated began to emerge. At this time the term ‘flute’ was applied both to pipe instruments held sideways and pipe instruments held vertically - therefore also encompassing what we would now think of as a recorder. Consisting of a cylindrical body and seven finger holes, they were capable of producing only certain notes.
In the second half of the seventeenth century, a single key began to appear on the bodies of some of these pipes, providing players with a greater range of notes.
But it wasn’t until 1847, when a German wind instrument manufacturer called Theobald Boehm demonstrated a revolutionary new type of flute at the Paris Exhibition, that the modern-day version of the flute was born. This flute had a metal tube with several keys attached, allowing players to produce an even greater variety of notes, and with greater ease, than their single-keyed predecessors.
What is it made of?
Flutes have been known to be made out of almost every type of material including, bone, wood, ivory, tortoiseshell, bamboo and glass.
But most modern flutes - of the type you’re likely to encounter in a classical symphony orchestra - are made of metal such as copper-nickel, silver and gold.
What is the range?
Officially it’s about three octaves, starting from middle C to a C way up in the stratosphere. Some flautists can push up to D, but they need some pretty serious breath control to manage it.
How much does it cost?
For a serviceable student flute, you would probably pay anything between £200 ($255 USD) and £1,000 ($1,260 USD). Advanced players, however, can expect to pay at least £2,000 ($3,220 USD) for a professional flute, and that can easily extend up to £10,000 ($12,600 USD).
What are the best works for the flute?
A central pillar of the flute repertoire is Debussy’s Syrinx, an impressionistic three-minute piece, composed in 1913, that leaves the performer with generous room for interpretation. Indeed, I challenge you to find two Syrinxes that sound even vaguely similar.
With its late Romantic melodies, enlivened by 20th century harmony, Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano is a pretty key player too. The Cantilena, in particular, is beautiful.
There’s also the Ibert Flute Concerto, which, for young flautists, is something like the musical equivalent to a debutante’s ball. No flute piece says ‘Look at me, I’m grown up now!’ quite like the Ibert, which is frequently heard at conservatoire graduation concerts.
And how about good old Bach? He wrote many flute sonatas, and they’re all as brilliant as you would expect. But the most profound, complex and epic among them is probably the Flute Sonata in B minor.
As for famous orchestral works with meaty flute parts, there are just so many of them. If I had to single out one, however, it would be Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, whose opening, with that lazy, chromatically-descending flute line, is about as iconic as classical music gets.
Who are the most famous flautists?
Happily, this field is rapidly expanding, with various up-and-comers such as the 27-year-old Italian flautist Alberto Navarra.
But some of the best known names include French virtuoso Emmanuel Pahud, the Irish flautist Sir James Galway (check him out below, delivering some suitably frenetic magic to Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee) and the Israeli player Sharon Bezaly.
And let’s take a moment to remember Jean-Pierre Rampal, who was perhaps the most famous flautist of the 20th century, and did a huge amount to popularise the flute as a solo instrument in the post–World War II years.
