Flute Puzzle July 2011

Jun

2011

Written by Owen Auger

Flute Fingering Puzzle

For each note printed along the top of the grid below, work out its standard flute fingering and follow the flute key list on the left to circle the correct letters underneath the note (the first column has been shaded for you). Once you have finished, read the circled letters from left to right, top to bottom to read a quote from Leonard Bernstein....

Click here for the Fingering Puzzle answer

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.”

Four New Musicians

Four new musicians have joined the orchestra and are talking among the other musicians. Each musician has hidden the name of his or her instrument as consecutive letters in their phrases. Which four instruments do they play? (Clue: Each is a percussion or keyboard instrument.)

•Apart from Bach, I’m especially fond of Vivaldi.

•Don’t chomp, Ian, or you’ll break your reed!

•Have you ever seen a bantam? Tamed, they make great pets.

•Now’s not the time to lecture me on grammar! I’m battling to take my instrument out of its case!

Click here for the Four Missing Musicians answer

Solution:

•Chimes

•Piano

•Tam-tam

•Marimba

Counting Puzzle

My flute club meets for dinner once every two months. We sit at a circular table, and it takes us a year to go through every possibly circular seating order.

If another member joins the club, how many years will it take us to try every possible seating arrangement?

Click here for the puzzle answer

Four years.

The number of circular seating orders for n people is (n-1)x(n-2)…x2x1. (To see why, draw a diagram on pen and paper with one person considered fixed and the others arranged around him.)

In one year, with one dinner every two months, it means there must be six possible orders. 3 x 2 x1 = 6. With the above formula, that means there are 3+1 = 4 people in the club now.

Adding one makes five people, and 4x3x2x1 gives 24 orders, which at one meeting every 2 months is 48 months, i.e. it would take four years.

Owen lives in Wellington, NZ and is working in the energy industry. He has played in a number of concert bands and has conducted the North Shore Youth Symphonic Wind Band. He is also a keen advocate and player of jazz flute.