flute

flute,

in music, generic term for such wind instruments as the fife, the flageolet, the panpipes, the piccolo, and the recorder. The tone of all flutes is produced by an airstream directed against an edge, producing eddies that set up vibrations in the air enclosed in the attached tube. In the transverse flute, the principal orchestral flute today, the edge is on the mouth hole on the side of the instrument, over which the player blows. The oldest known archaeological remains of any musical instrument are those of flutes carved of bone and ivory that were found in SW Germany and are at least 42,000 years old. The oldest complete, playable flute is a nearly 9,000-year-old bone flute that was found in E central China. The transverse flute is also an extremely old instrument, universal in ancient and primitive cultures; it was known in Europe by the 9th cent. During the baroque period both the recorder and the transverse flute were used in the orchestra, the latter by Lully in 1672. In the classical period the transverse flute displaced the less-powerful recorder, which could not match its dynamic range. In the 19th cent. the transverse flute assumed substantially its present form after the improvements of Theobald Boehm (1794–1881), who ascertained the acoustically correct size and placement of the holes and devised an ingenious system of keys to cover them. The flute was originally made of wood but is now most often of silver. It is the most brilliant and agile of the orchestral woodwinds, and it also has a considerable solo and chamber-music literature. The transverse flute has been made in several keys, but the C flute has long been standard. The alto flute in G, a fourth below the regular flute, is notated as a transposing instrument.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2013, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

Flute

A groove or channel that is usually semicircular or semielliptical in section; especially one of many such parallel grooves that is used decoratively, as along the shaft of a column.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Flute

 

a wind instrument. Flutes are classified according to the way in which they are held when played. End-blown flutes, like the oboe and clarinet, are held in a vertical position; transverse flutes are held horizontally.

The flute has been known since ancient times. The early flute had a conical tube and eight keys. The modern, transverse flute dates from the work of the flutist Theobald Boehm, who completely reconstructed the ancient instrument and perfected the key system. The modern flute is a straight cylindrical tube closed at one end. It consists of an upper part (the head) with a movable stopper for adjusting the tuning and an opening for blowing in air, a middle part with all the main keys, and a lower part with three or four additional keys. The material used may be a special kind of wood, metal, or plastic. The range is from B below middle C or from middle C to C three octaves above middle C. The sound produced is clear, limpid, and cool,. The instrument has great technical and artistic capabilities. The notation is in the G clef, and the notes are played as written.

The flute is used in orchestral music (in symphonic scores there may be up to four flute parts), chamber music, and solos. The different types of flutes are the piccolo (with a range from D in the second octave above middle C to B in the fourth octave above middle C), the alto flute (from F sharp or G below middle C to B in the second octave or C two octaves above middle C), and the bass flute (from B in the second octave below middle C to F in the second octave above middle C).

REFERENCES

Trizno, B. Fleita. Moscow, 1964.
Chulaki, M. Instrwnenty simfonicheskogo orkestra, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1972.
Levin, S. Dukhovye instrumenty v istorii muzukal’noi kul’tury. Leningrad, 1973.

S. YA. LEVIN

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

flute

[flüt]

(design engineering)

A groove having a curved section, especially when parallel to the main axis, as on columns, drills, and other cylindrical or conical shaped pieces.

(geology)

A natural groove running vertically down the face of a rock.

A groove in a sedimentary structure formed by the scouring action of a turbulent, sediment-laden water current, and having a steep upcurrent end.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

flute

A groove or channel, esp. one of many such parallel grooves, usually semicircular or semielliptical in section; used decoratively, as along the shaft of a column.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

flute

1. a wind instrument consisting of an open cylindrical tube of wood or metal having holes in the side stopped either by the fingers or by pads controlled by keys. The breath is directed across a mouth hole cut in the side, causing the air in the tube to vibrate. Range: about three octaves upwards from middle C

2. any pipe blown directly on the principle of a flue pipe, either by means of a mouth hole or through a fipple

3. Architect a rounded shallow concave groove on the shaft of a column, pilaster, etc.

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005