The Earliest Flute
On the 24th of June, 2009, the very first flute in the world was found by a team of archaeologists led by Professor Nicolas Conard. The first flute created was in southern Germany approximately 35,000 years ago, according to the archaeologists. It is named the Hohle Fels Griffon Vulture flute.
The instrument at that time was about eight-and-a-half inches long and less than a half of an inch wide. It was made out of the bones of a vulture (hence the name of the flute), a large bird that feeds on dead animals' meat. At one end of the flute, one can see a V-shaped notch. Conard predicts that the notch was used to blow into the instrument to make the sound. Five holes are also seen carved into the instrument, and one can predict (if they know of modern flutes) that these holes are used to cover or open to produce different tones. Conard believes that this "is [clearly] the oldest instrument in the world."
The instrument at that time was about eight-and-a-half inches long and less than a half of an inch wide. It was made out of the bones of a vulture (hence the name of the flute), a large bird that feeds on dead animals' meat. At one end of the flute, one can see a V-shaped notch. Conard predicts that the notch was used to blow into the instrument to make the sound. Five holes are also seen carved into the instrument, and one can predict (if they know of modern flutes) that these holes are used to cover or open to produce different tones. Conard believes that this "is [clearly] the oldest instrument in the world."
Development
After discovering the Hohle Fels flute, scientists took interest in the instrument. From then, they were creating new flutes. The flutes were constantly improving over the years. After being made from a bird's bone, the flute developed into:
The Renaissance flutes. This is a flute from the Middle Ages. It is a wooden one-piece flute that is two feet long. It is in the key of D, meaning that in order to tune the instrument properly the player must play the key of D. As one can clearly tell, the Hohle Fels flute and this flute are much different in appearance. The Renaissance flute is more cylinder-shaped than the other flute and also has 2 more holes carved into it. The Renaissance flute has 7 holes: 6 holes on one end and the 7th hole alone on the other end. It can be predicted that the 7th hole is used to blow into to create sounds since the V-shaped notch found on the Hohle Fels flute has disappeared on this one.
Next, came the:
Next, came the:
Baroque flutes. This type of flute was introduced by French instrument makers in 1670 and remained the popular flute until 1782. This flute started off as a three-piece but eventually the middle joint was divided in half (as shown by the white part on the flute above) making it a four-piece flute. This was about the same length as the previous flute. It is still in the key of D. Over the years, instrument makers made several key additions along with feature additions that would lead up to the following flutes. In 1722, flutist Quantz adds a C# key along with adding a tuning cork on the mouth piece meaning the flute can now be tuned by twisting, pushing in, or pulling out the mouth piece. In the years between 1726 and 1760 the keys of E-flat, G#, B-flat, and F are added. Later, instrument makers figure out that C# is not a good addition so they remove it. This was also the first flute ever to be played in Mozart and Hayden pieces! There were basically many new changes happening to the flute during this era; it encountered a huge change from the flute in the previous era.
Then, the:
Then, the:
Classical flutes. The reason behind the name of this flute is the time period it was created in. It was during the "Classical Period" and it was when composers including Beethoven, Mozart, and Hayden became musically active and started composing many new pieces. After composers noticed the Baroque flute being played in some symphonic concerts, the new flute became required to be played in many orchestras. These types of flutes usually were made up of three to four pieces. They varied in colors and appearances so much that people would never think they were created by the same person. The creator of the flutes above is George Catlin, an American flute maker, who spent his entire career producing these new designs (the flute at the very top is one of the newest flutes as one can tell by looking at the plate around the mouthpiece).
After these flutes, came:
After these flutes, came:
The Boehm flutes. Named after their creator, Theobald Boehm (1794-1881), this era was when the biggest flute evolution occurred. Comparing the first picture above to the last, flute makers did not only go from changing wood into metal (commonly silver) but also changing the appearance of the keys! Boehm adds springs and pads to the instrument for better key tension to create a stronger, clearer sound. Then the flute slowly went from having carved holes as keys into metal ring keys (1832). Also, the mouthpiece gets a small plate surrounding the hole present there. Starting at only sixteen years of age, Boehm is making all of these changes. However, Boehm does not do this alone. Composer Gordon creates the crescent-shaped touch pieces in 1833. A Paris instrument maker named Auguste Buffet improves the Boehm in 1837 by moving around the holes and improving other features in order to create better tone. In the following year Buffet and his collaborator Coche add a D# and G# keys. All of these changes resulted in the sixth picture above which is extremely similar to our current flutes.
Currently, we have:
Currently, we have:
The modern Western Concert flutes. These are also known as the post-Boehm flutes. If one would look at the last flute picture in the Boehm flute collection and compare it with the flute on the left, they would see that they almost have the same appearance. The only difference is that the silver on the previous Boehm flute is much dirtier than the silver on the modern flute. All that was happening at this point is improving the sounds and keys of the instrument. In 1948, well-known flutist and teacher Alexander Murray collaborates with Albert Cooper and Elmer Cole in order to correct the C# key. Murray gained a lot of popularity during those few years. He named a flute after himself in the mid-1940s then created a new model and named it "Mark I" in 1961-62. Later in 1967 he collaborates with Jack Moore and produces more models up until 1972. Other changes included adding another G# key to stabilize intonation.
Evolution of Reading Music
The music notes that musicians read today have also evolved over the centuries.
In the early years, this is how music notations looked like. The creation of the notations began in European churches with words underneath the notes in order to sing. Eventually, music notations found its way out of the church and into other organizations for more additions. There was some confusion on what pitches to hit due to having all of the notes floating on the papers, thus the four horizontal lines were invented by an Italian Benedictine Monk called Guido of Arezzo (991-1033) for clarification of the pitches. He also created the musical pitch names ("do, re, mi, fa, sol, la ti, do"). Even when the creators of these inventions had little to no knowledge about music, they used their imagination and their inventions expanded and improved until the modern music notations evolved.
Today, music notations look like this. In the picture on the far left, the notes are handwritten. This was when technology was little and creators did not know how to print notes until soon after they created the new musical notations. Also, creators from the past experimented with 5 horizontal lines for the music and finally switched to that later. Today, thanks to the new and improved technology, composers could work on electronics to write music and could use staccatos, legatos, marcatos, etc. to add some "color" to the music. Everything was altered due to technology and better understanding of this form of art.
As the flutes evolved, the notes they played developed gradually as well.
As the flutes evolved, the notes they played developed gradually as well.