Instruments

I mentioned yesterday that by the mid-1700's the modern flute, technically called the transverse flute, had to a great extent replaced the recorder. The replacement wasn’t complete, though: both Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel had continued to write for both instruments.

I mentioned yesterday that by the mid-1700's the modern flute, technically called the transverse flute, had to a great extent replaced the recorder. The replacement wasn’t complete, though: both Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel had continued to write for both instruments.

The flute is one of mankind’s oldest instruments, and in one form or another it’s been known to virtually every culture around the world.

The flute is one of mankind’s oldest instruments, and in one form or another it’s been known to virtually every culture around the world.

A wind instrument is any instrument whose sound is produced by a column of air vibrating inside some sort of tube, or pipe. But I’d like to clear up a common misconception: Wind players aren’t blowing away to try to fill up their instruments with air —the air inside a wind instrument is already there.

A wind instrument is any instrument whose sound is produced by a column of air vibrating inside some sort of tube, or pipe. But I’d like to clear up a common misconception: Wind players aren’t blowing away to try to fill up their instruments with air —the air inside a wind instrument is already there.

Claude Debussy once referred to Bach’s music as “pure musical arabesque.”

Claude Debussy once referred to Bach’s music as “pure musical arabesque.”

It was in the 1830's and 40's that a German flutist and flute maker named Theobald Boehm revolutionized flute playing.

It was in the 1830's and 40's that a German flutist and flute maker named Theobald Boehm revolutionized flute playing.