My blog post is about using the flute in ways you don’t usually hear it.
A common theme throughout the history of music is the way the flute is used in new and innovative ways that you don’t usually hear it. From the transformation of wood to metal, from vertical flutes to horizontal flutes, from 1 key to 20+ keys, etc., the flute has become very versatile and composers are using this to their advantage to create new sound effects to add to their works. This is especially true in the last 50 years, but it can even be dated back to Tchaikovsky being the first prominent composer to use the flute for new sound effects such as flutter-tonguing in his ballet The Nutcracker. There have been so many composers and flutists experimenting with what the flute can do and pushing its boundaries that today, it can sound completely unfamiliar to non-flutist in contemporary pieces.
One of the most influential people in contemporary flute composing is Robert Dick. Robert Dick was a classically trained flutist who started experimenting with what the flute can do. Today, he is known as the father of the contemporary flute. He made the flute more known for extended flute techniques. Some examples include: Singing and playing, Circular breaking, Breath tones, Alternate fingerings, multiphonic, flutter-tonguing, key slaps, whistle tones, and jet whistle effects.
I want to share an example of several of these extended techniques demonstrated in a short piece by Ian Clarke. Ian Clarke was another very influential classically trained flutist who started experimenting with the flute and he wrote some of the coolest pieces in our repertoire. One of the pieces I included as a media link is his piece called “The Great Train Race,” subtitled “The Flute as You don’t Usually Hear It!” Ian Clarke uses the flute’s extended techniques to make the flute sound like a train. He starts off telling the performer to use a residual tone while tonging very fast. (This makes the flute sound like a train “chugging” along). This is achieved by the breathy noise of the flute that is left over when a proper tone is purposefully not formed. Also found in this piece are explosive harmonics, multi-phonics (two notes at once, achieved by new fingerings that Ian Clarke discovered), circular breathing, and singing while playing. The piece is highly entertaining. I also included another highly entertaining piece by Ian Clarke called “Zoom Tube.” This uses the flute in even more ways that I haven’t discussed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJUMsRic2U4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-_J0sJ2ZjI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObUREzucuW8
I think that the flute is one of the most experimented-with instruments because it’s different from other wind instruments because you don’t blow directly in it, but across it so there is a lot of manipulation with the lips you can do to achieve different results. And another reason the flute is so experimented with is because of the large open-hole keys. There are so many odd fingerings and sounds you can achieve by only covering the holes a little bit, such as glissandos.
In conclusion, When you think of the flute, you probably think of a very pretty, melodic, bright instrument (or perhaps a harsh, shrieking, annoying instrument) but nowadays, the flute is becoming increasingly known as one of the most experimented with and versatile instruments. There are a tremendous amount of cool things you can do with the flute that you don’t normally hear and I think that we will continue to see new composers and flutists pushing the instrument past it’s normal realms.
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https://helenbledsoe.com/?cat=18
http://www.helenbledsoe.com/ETWorkshop.pdf
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Clarke_(flautist)