This issue: April 2007 (Issue 10)

Shepherds, Monks, and Soldiers


Ardal Powell, abridged by Maurice O’Brien

All we know of the medieval flute comes from a handful of images and a few fragments of poetry and other writing, material that can present us at best with ‘scarcely more than a damaged mosaic’, in the memorable words of Christopher Page (1986). No transverse flutes at all survive from the Middle Ages, so the only practical insight we can gain into what the medieval flute may have sounded like or how it may have been played comes from parallels with traditional cultures in parts of the world most of us will never visit. Only a fraction of medieval music was written down, but even that small collection comes without instructions for instrumentation, still less for performance. None of it indicates that it should be played by a flute, though scattered hints suggest that some of it could have been so performed. We might easily conclude that much of the flute’s repertoire was different in nature from the written music we know in that it was improvised or played by ear… Subscribe to read the full article

Of Gemshorns and Russpfeifs


Leo Cappèl

To be perfectly honest, very little is known about the original gemshorns. A few not very detailed illustrations, the name, and that is about all. No authentic instruments have survived, nor were they mentioned in tutors or descriptions after the middle of the 16th century. The gemshorn was a medieval flute, that much we do know. The name - surprisingly - has survived in the gemshorn stop of modern organs.

The almost complete absence of the instrument in the hundreds of paintings, miniatures and sculptures of the Middle Ages seems to indicate that gemshorns were not played by professional musicians. Why? I can’t even begin to guess, as the sound of modern reconstructions is most attractive and balances perfectly with the human voice. By using cow and goat horns of different sizes, a full consort ranging from a bass instrument to a high sopranino may be built. However the gemshorn was most likely a shepherd instrument, which would make the modern practice of building them in consorts an anachronism… Subscribe to read the full article


An Introduction to Body Mapping


Heather J. Buchanan

Musical sound is governed by the movement that produces it; and the quality of that movement is determined by the accuracy of the ‘body map’, the neuronal representation of our movement developed in the brain. Therefore, musicians who have mapped their movement accurately will always be free to play expressively.

‘Body mapping’ is a self-enquiry method that teaches clear and accurate information about the body in movement, and advocates freedom of movement through accurate mind-body connections. This results in a poised and balanced body usage, the prevention of injury and promotion of facility. The ultimate goal is complete freedom of expression through poised, dynamic, musical movement… Subscribe to read the full article


Making a Medieval Style Flageolet


Leo Cappèl

Some 700 years ago, give or take a few centuries, most of the flutes played in Europe were of the flageolet family, simple, cylindrical bore instruments with only 3 or 6 finger holes. They were made of wood - for instance of the pith-filled branches of the elder tree - of cane, or bamboo.

With just a few simple tools, almost anybody can make a good replica of one of these bamboo flutes… Subscribe to read the full article

Creating Jazz Styles with the Flute


Robert Dick

The question of whether or not the flute is an appropriate jazz instrument has a lot of facets to it: musical, societal and music business. While I'm not a jazz musician in the commonly understood sense of someone steeped in the bebop tradition, most of the music I perform is improvised and is strongly influenced by the blues, among other things. And almost all of the musicians I work with come from the jazz tradition. On a routine basis I encounter preconceptions and prejudices against the flute when dealing with listeners, promoters and critics. It’s a pity that Eric Dolphy, the greatest jazz voice of the flute to date, is not alive to still be playing his music and to voice his philosophy on this question. Subscribe to read the full article

Six of the Best


Rosamund Plummer

Being an orchestral player rather than a soloist, I don’t need to worry about having a large repertoire of solo piccolo music. Fortunately I do get asked to perform occasionally and very much enjoy playing some old favourites and trying out new pieces. As the repertoire for piccolo is small, it’s not difficult for me to compile a representative list of what I consider to be some of the most successful pieces for piccolo with and without accompaniment. Transcriptions also have an extremely important role in my performing repertoire. Why play second-class music just because it’s original when most composers (dead or alive) just want their music played…on any instrument! More about transcriptions later… Subscribe to read the full article

Other features & columns


Interest articles:
Heavenly Flute Players No. 2 - Trevor Wye
Unravelling the Mysteries of Bach's 'Flute Allemande' Part 3 and more... - Betty Bang Mather
Christopher Blake: Little dancings, Interlude I&II – Alexa Still
Flute & Guitar Composition Competition
And more…

Columns:
Teaching notes - Helen M Colthart
Jim on Jazz - Jim Langabeer
Irish flute - Brendyn Montgomery
Maori Flutes - Richard Nunns
Dear Ingrid - Ingrid Culliford
Piccolo notes - Rosamund Plummer
Suzuki Flute – Pandora Bryce

Recent CD & Book reviews
Happenings in the World
Junior section

And more....

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