"Pre-Boehm" or Early Flutes
The development of the flute; 80,000 BC to 1878 AD
Oldest musical instrument known ?
An ancient bone flute segment, estimated at about 43,ooo up to 82,ooo years old, was found recently at a Neanderthal campsite by Dr. Ivan Turk, a paleontologist at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences in Ljubljana.
The flute is made from a length of bone. The remaining fragment is about four inches long and is side blown in the normal flute manner. As well as the blow hole it has two finger holes for altering the note produced. Oldest Musical Instrument's 4 Notes Matches 4 of Do, Re, Mi Scale. These three notes on the Neanderthal bone flute are inescapably diatonic and will sound like a near-perfect fit within ANY kind of standard diatonic scale, modern or antique. This is the most powerful practical evidence ever in support of there being a natural foundation to the diatonic scale. It is in line with University of California's (Berkeley) Prof. Anne D. Kilmer's deciphering of the clay tablets, 4,000 years old, from Ur, indicating, in this world's oldest known song, the use of harmony and of the diatonic scale.
The flute was found by Dr. Ivan Turk of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences, Ljubljana. Its date was established by Dr. Bonnie Blackwell of Queens College, The City University of New York, with other New York City colleagues, and Dr. Henry P. Schwarcz of McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
In 2004, a 35,000-year-old flute made from a woolly mammoth's ivory tusk was unearthed in a German cave by archaeologists, the University of Tuebingen.
The flute, one of the oldest musical instruments discovered, was pieced together from 31 fragments found in a cave in the Swabian mountains in southwestern Germany, the university said.
The mountains have yielded rich pickings in recent years, including ivory figurines, ornaments and other musical instruments. Archaeologists believe humans camped in the area in winter and spring. Mammoths, now extinct, were large elephant-like creatures with hairy coats and long, upcurved tusks. They lived during the Pleistocene period from 2 million to 11,000 years ago.
The Aztecs used their flutes to honor the god Tescatlipoca, specifically in human sacrifice. The chosen sacrifice had to learn to play the flute in order to accompany the other players while they awaited their death. As his time came near he ascended the temple while breaking a flute on every step. Before he was offered to the god he spoke out "God! I am thy flute, reveal to me thy will, breathe into me thy breath as flute, as thou hast done to my predecessors on this throne. As thou hast opened their eyes, their ears, and their mouths to utter what is good, so likewise do unto me. I resign myself entirely to thy guidance."
Middle Ages and the Renaissance
c. 1320 - One-piece wooden flute, 2' long, key of "D"
1511 - Zwerchpfeiff, narrower, 6 finger-holes
1529 - Descant, alto, tenor and bass versions appear
Turn of century - "fifes" very popular!
1619-20 - Praetorius' SYNTAGMA MUSICUM portrays three Querflotten, with 2-octave ranges
1636 - Flutes Allemands appear, keys of "D" and "G", with new cylindrical bore, made of wood
17th and 18th Centuries
1670 - Three-piece, 1-keyed flute in "D" appears in Jean-Baptiste Lully's famous orchestra in France. More changes: conical bore (tapers down to middle, placing the holes closer together) and smaller finger-holes
1720 - Middle joint is divided in half, called corps de recharge, and 2 keys added
1722 - Famous flutist (and writer) Quantz adds tuning cork in headjoint and C# key on footjoint
1726 - E-flat key added on footjoint
1760 - G#, B-flat, and F keys added by London makers Florio, Gedney, and Potter
1774 - Florio, Gedney, and Potter remove C# from footjoint
c. 1780 - 4 and 6-keyed flutes appearing in the symphonic music of Mozart and Haydn, Meyer-system flute with 8 keys appears
1782 - Maker J.H. Ribock adds closed C key
19th Century
1800 - B-flat lever and left-hand lever added
1806-44 - Claude Laurent makes 3, 4, and 7-keyed GLASS flutes
1808 - Rev. Frederick Nolan invents open holes (rim only, finger-pad covers hole) and links the keys to one another
1810 - George Miller in London, starts making metal bores
1812 - Tebaldo Monzani puts knobs on the mouth-hole
1814 - James Wood in London makes three tuning slides
1822 - The Nicholsons (father and son) make a thinner flute and adjust keys
1824 - Maker Pottgiessen invents the ring and crescent key
1827 - Rudall & Rose start making 8-keyed flutes.
The Development of the Boehm Flute: (All Jinyin flutes are based on the evolved Boehm system.)
A man of exceptional industry, Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) exemplified the character of his times in which ingenuity and industrial pricess magnified or even supplanted human skill and strength in many areas of life. The son of a Munich goldsmith, he learned his manual dexterity in youth, developing his knowledge of mechanics as a young man by studying the building of musical boxes in Switzerland. After beginning in childhood to teach himself to play a one-key flute by Proser (London 1777-95), Boehm built himself a copy of a four-keyed instrument by August Grenser in 1810, before taking lessons with Johann Capeller, flutist of the Bavarian Court Orchestra.
He created for his teacher a new flute that had several new features. After completing his studies, he became a full time musician in the Isartor Theatre in Munich at the age of 24. He also worked with two instrument makers and made several flutes with more improvements.
Five years later in 1929, Boehm collected at great expense samples of flutes made by all the current recognized masters of flutemaking. He found all to be lacking. It was then that he established his own shop. He applied on May 8, 1929 for a Royal License to manufacture flutes of an improved nature.
Flutes by Theobald Beohm, Boehm & Greve, and Boehm & Mendler: Boehm & Greve 1928-32, Boehm 1932-47, 2 Brass Flutes by Beohm 1847, Cylinder flute by Boehm 1848, Boehm 1847, Boehm & Mendler 1877.
In 1831, Boehm went to England to show off and explore the state of English flute manufacture. Boehm met Charles Nicholson, whose power of tone was far better than Boelm. This was due to the large-hole flutes Nicolson played and marketed. Boehm told his English friend, WS Broadwood, "I did as well as any continental flautist could have done in London in 1831, but I could not match Nicholson in power of town, wherefore I se to work to remodel my flute. Had I not heard him, probably the Boehm flute would never have been made."
Before he left London, Boehm had already built an instrument of new design in the workshop of Gerock & Wolf, where he also developed overstrung pianos that the American piano manufacturers of Steinway and Chickering brought to fruition a quarter century later. The London firm rushed to market the new design of Boehm.
Boehm's new 1831 model made dramatic advances in mechanics and changes in fingering. The new design introduced the ring-key to flute construction. Boehm employed these ring-keys to change the fingerings for F and F sharp. He assigned the right hand index finger to play F and the third finger of the right hand to play F sharp, therby giving F sharp its own hole.
Boehm returned to Bavaria to follow up the 1831 flute advances in a new model. For the first time the 1832 flute's keys with the exception of the D sharp key and special thrill keys stood open in their default positions. It also incorporated large tone holes. In Germany as well as in France the new Boehm flute found success with popular flautists.
In 1837-38 there was a scandal where another competing flute design that was more traditional was a set back for Boehm. Despite this political scam, the Boehm flute continued to be manufactured and copied in Germany, France and England.
Due to Boehm's involvement in iron and steel manufacturing, he did not have time to pursue more improvement in flute design. He sold his share in the business to Greve for about the price of 5 flutes.
Slowly, by 1896 Boehm's flute becomes recognized as superior to other designs. Though it is still altered slightly by different manufacturers, the basic discoveries are still present in modern flutes. Not only that, by 1839 the Boehm discoveries had been translated to clarinets. In 1843 the clarinet system was patented by Klose and Buffet. By the 1850s, the Boehm flute started making headway in the United States as well.
Due to ill health by being in the iron industry, Boehm returned to the profession of musician in 1847. It was then that Boehm worked on the idea of a conical flute.
With the aid of Prof. Dr. von Schafhautl. Boehm's new flute featured a cylindrical bore with a so-called "parabolic" headjoint made of metal instead of wood. Toneholes of maximum possible size closed by padded keys, and a mechanism that was built on the innovations of his 1832 pattern.
Boehm experimented making flutes out of brass, silver, and German silver (nickel, copper, zinc). He felt using metal transmitted the sound from the air column faster than thick wood flutes. In these experiments with metal he determined the bore of 19mm to be the best. 20mm had a richer sound but was not as good in the high tones. Boehm even made a flute with moveable tone holes in order to find the ideal location based on experiment and not just on theory.
Boehm sued his old partner in 1846 to win the use of his name back. A new Royal Bavarian License in 1847 allowed Boehm to start manufacture of his new model. Although he wanted to make the tone holes decrease in size from the bottom to the top of the flute, he found manufacturing difficulties made this impractical. The size of any hole was too large for any finger to cover so all were now sealed with padded cups. To couple the pads to the mechanism he held them with a washer and screw.
Quickly grabbed by the French, the new flute with some alterations was manufactured. Not until 1854 did the English really take on the new version, but again experimentation continued on tube size and tone hole sizes. Between 1847 and 1858 a total of 130 cylinder flutes were made.
During those years slight changes and experiments continued. The revolutionary nature of the Boehm flute caused or intensified sharp divisions among flutist, composers and conductors for over 100 years.
Boehm's Developments
c. 1810 - Boehm builds his first model and tinkers with keys, springs (to control key tension), and pads
c. 1829 - Finger-holes are still too far apart, so Boehm develops completely new fingering system, even building his own machine for boring holes, pillars, posts, and flat gold springs (new system uses rods to connect all of the keys, thus the need for posts, springs, etc.)
1830 - Boehm's new model finished
1831 - Boehm presents new model, in performance, in Paris and London
1832 - Boehm is inspired by hearing flute virtuoso Charles Nicholson's clear and brilliant tone; changes from standard covered holes to ring keys or "open holes", producing clearer tone and better intonation. He also aids finger action by adding a thumb crutch for the left hand.
Boehm and Others
1833 - Gordon's Diatonic Flute comes out with crescent-shaped touchpieces
1834 - The Boehm Flute gains popularity with French and German professional flutists, as well as being widely adopted in many other areas
1837 - Auguste Buffet (Paris instrument maker) improves on Boehm - changing axles, hole placements, lugs, rods, and sleeves (the latter hold the rods and axles together)
1838 - Buffet and collaborator Coche, add D# trill key and "Dorus" G# key (Paris Conservatory influence)
1839 - Flutemaker Ward manufactures the Boehm flute in London
c. 1841 - Rudall & Rose begin manufacturing Boehm flutes (also in London) along with Clair Godfroy in Paris
1846-47 - Boehm experiments with cylindrical bore based on a "parabolic curve" (17 mm. in diameter at top of instrument to 19 mm. in the middle of the body). Also, enlarges embouchre to a quadrangular shape, producing a fuller, clearer tone, compiles his Schema for fingering. Pads - starts covering inside of closed keys with felt and the rims of open keys with skins, held together with screws and washers.
1846 - Boehm experiments with use of metals. Decides on silver - best tone quality and least fatiguing to play
1847 - Boehm sells rights of manufacture to Rudall & Rose in England and also to Clair Godfroy/Louis Lot in Paris. Publishes famous book; The Flute and Flute Playing: In Acoustical, Technical and Artistic Aspects.
1847 - Boehm Flutes imported to New York City and adopted as official instrument of the Paris Conservatory
1849 - Composer Briccialdi adds the thumb B-flat key
1855 - Boehm Flute wins gold medal at Paris Exhibition
1878 - Boehm perfects his "modern silver flute"
There have been many additions made to Boehm's flute since it was created in the mid 1800s. One of the earliest was the invention of Louis Lot, a well known French flutemaker. He liked Boehm's innovation, but was dissatisfied with one aspect: the closed keys. Closed holes made some trills and glissandos very difficult to play, so Lot created flutes with perforated keys, which today are known as "open-hole flutes." They are very popular, especially with French and American flute players, and many argue that their tone is superior to the closed hole flute. However, there are also many players who remain loyal to the closed hole flute, saying that it is easier on the hands, and when it is made properly that it can sound superior to an open-hole model. Most children learn to play on closed hole flutes because their fingers are too small to cover the open holes, and as they grow and develop musically and physically, they move to an open hole flute.
Materials used for
Flutes
Flute making materials have always been a subject of debate among instrument makers. No doubt the arguments started at the beginning of flute making, when one person was certain that human bones made better flutes than bird bones. By the time that flutes had begun to be fitted with keys, almost all flutists used wooden flutes. Early flutes were made out of a variety of materials. Marble, horns, bones, terra cotta, tortoise-shell, porcelain, paper-maché, leather, glass, and wax. Then reeds, ivory, boxwood, crystal, and agate were used. 19th and 20th century materials include glass, ebony, grenadilla, ebonite, silver, gold, nickel, brass, platinum, titanium, and cocoa nut wood. Cannibalistic tribes in various places in the world seem to have taken a fancy to making flutes out of their enemies' bones. Some human bone flutes have been found in New Zealand and also among the Surinam tribe in Guyana. In other areas of the world, the leg bones of large animals or birds like the eagle, kite, and vulture have been used to create flutes. Although boxwood has continually been the most popular wood for flute making, many other woods have been used. Laurel, pinewood, lotus, elder, beech, and palm wood have all been used for flute making. The materials used in flute making can vastly change both the tone and playability of an instrument. There are several main points to take into consideration when choosing a flute material. In his treatise on the flute, Rockstro outlined the necessities of a good flute material. According to his treatise, the material chosen should last long, retain or improve its caliber even when exposed to moderate abuse, and have consistent or improved tone over the years. It should also provide proper resisting power to contain the air column in its proper dimensions, be a bad conductor of heat, and be fairly easy to maintain. He also warns that it should not be so rigid that air is wasted or sound vibrations are deadened.
Flutes have been crafted from wood far longer than they have been of metal. The one, two, six, and eight keyed flutes were all made from wood, though the mechanisms that were added were made out of metal. Wooden flutes remained popular well into the 20th century, and were especially prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries. As previously mentioned, boxwood was one of the most common woods for flute making. It has a sweet tone, but absorbs moisture easily and is therefore prone to warping. It polishes up nicely, but also stains badly. Jamaican Cocus-wood has the advantage of a brilliant and powerful tone. It is a very resinous, hard wood which retains its shape well even in heat and moisture. Unfortunately, its hardness makes it prone to cracking, and it is difficult to maintain a nice polish on it. The Cuban or South American Cocus wood also known as Grenadilla, is also a resinous wood. Its tone is also brilliant, but not as powerful as the Jamaican cocus, and it mellows with time, becoming sweeter. Unfortunately some people are quite allergic to Grenadilla and must have gold or silver lip plates added to such flutes to avoid reactions. Ebony wood has lovely tone at first, but it carries many bad characteristics. It cracks easily, warps with time and exposure to the elements, and is only beautiful in its early life as an instrument.
Ivory has been used for flute making, both for the entire body of the instrument, though more often for a head joint only. Ivory is good in that it is not subject to decay, but it has a hard, thin tone that nothing can be done about. Often ivory head joints were used in conjunction with wooden bores, when ivory was used at all. Ebonite (vulcanite) is an odd combination of lead, sulfur, India-rubber and black pigment that has been used for flute making. It withstands virtually any kind of abuse, never absorbs moisture, and its tone improves with use. Also, ebonite is a terrible conductor of heat, so fluctuating pitch is not much of an issue. However, getting lead poisoning from an instrument is hardly to the player's advantage. Many wooden flutes have been lined with metal. It helps retain the shape of the instrument, but the individual tone that wood has is lost when it is metal lined. Also, since metal conducts heat, metal lined flutes are nearly as prone to temperature as solid metal ones.
......A list of flutes by pitch.
Over the years Flutes have been built on all the following pitches.
The pitches are shown in piano pitch which at C4 [ middle C ] is equal to the lowest C on the modern concert flute. For general purposes all flutes can be assumed to have a range of three octaves.
The pitch shown is the lowest sounding note with a standard foot joint; except on the piccolo type instruments. Here the lowest note is normally a tone above the keynote listed. Some piccolos have been built with the standard downward extension of pitch to C3, but these are not common.
Extended foot joints usually take the compass downward by a further semitone, although exceptionally it may be more. A concert flute in C4 is known which has an extension down to G3.
Flute types marked * and printed in red are those commonly found in modern music.