Musical instrument flute. What is a flute?

There are a lot of musical instruments in the world. A person who is far from this art can be interested in: "Flute - what is this?" This instrument belongs to a group of woodwinds. Such an unusual classification has already ruined many students of music schools in the control schools. Despite the fact that this tool is most often found today from metal, it was originally made from wood.

What became the progenitor of the flute

The first flutes were longitudinal. They arose from ordinary reed pipe. Unlike their ancestor, the flutes stream the air dissecting the faces that replaced the traditional tongue, which is used in other wind instruments. The range of the flute is traditionally from the first to the fourth octave. The lower register is slightly deaf.

In ancient times people used a flute. What is this instrument is known in Egypt and Greece. The most ancient flutes in these countries were discovered during excavations. Scientists believe that they were used even before our era. Then the musicians kept them upright, and the main material for the production was reed and wood.

Unusual versions of the instrument

Now it's easy to understand how the flute looks, what it is (photo below) and where it is used. In modern music bands it is held horizontally, since this instrument is most often transverse. Since the nineteenth century, when the German master Bem perfected the flute. Gradually, in orchestras, everyone switched to the use of an updated instrument.

In addition to changing the location of the wind hole, Bem managed to modernize the system of finger holes (they began to settle according to acoustic principles), put the valve system, improved intonation and sound, first used metal. The orchestra uses a very different flute. What is the classification it represents, you can find out only after a close examination. Most often in the orchestras is used the classical version and piccolo, which has the highest sound and smaller dimensions.

Use in music

In classical music, the flute is most often used. What this instrument is, many famous composers knew. Sergei Prokofiev in his symphonic fairy tale "Petya and the Wolf" gave the flute a batch of birds. It is this hero, according to the composer, is most suitable for the sound of the instrument. Rimsky-Korsakov registered the games for this instrument in the opera The Snow Maiden. There flute passages were used to convey the frosty mood. In his same opera, "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" uses a flute-piccolo, which plays a batch of squirrels gnawing golden nuts.

Modern musicians also use a flute. What is it is, most often know rock musicians. For some time the flutist Jan Nikolenko performed with the band "Bi-2". Vladimir Kuzmin, who can be attributed to multi-instrumental musicians, often uses a flute in his concerts. He independently writes music and gives solo parts to a flute. Folk group "Mill" also has a flutist - Sergei Zaslavsky.