Post by Walden on Nov 13, 2011 2:40:22 GMT -5
Organology, the study of musical instruments, is not an exact science. Traditionally the three main groups of instruments are percussion, strings, and winds. The winds are divided into brass and woodwind. The names are generalizations, for example, the saxophone and concert flute are woodwinds that are often made of metal, while the alphorn is a member of the brasses that is made of wood.
There are two families within the woodwinds: the reeds and the flutes. The reed instruments make their sound by thin reeds vibrating. The flute family make their sounds by wind breaking on a sharp edge. Typical woodwinds are perforated. That is, different pitches are made by covering and uncovering finger holes on the instrument. The ocarina is such an instrument. Woodwinds that are not perforated include the pandean pipes (panflute), the slide whistle, and various free reed instruments (harmonica, accordion, Melodica, pump organ, etc.).
Flutes have a whistling or bird-like sound, whereas reed instruments have a more voice-like sound. The Chinese put a membrane like on a kazoo on a hole on some of their flutes to give it a reed sound.
The term flute, by itself, tends to mean the concert flute, however, it originally referred specifically to the fipple (or whistle) flutes. In common usage they are all called flutes. It's not wrong if someone refers to your ocarina or your recorder or your pennywhistle as a flute. If it's a member of the flute family it can legitimately be called a flute, informally.
The concert flute, the picolo, the fife, the shakuhachi, the quena, and the xun, are non-fipple flutes. Their sounds are produced by the player directing his own breath across the edge. A fipple flute has a whistle for a mouthpiece. Fipple means a plug that blocks the wind in a flue, and directs it across the edge of the window above it. The love flute (commonly called the Native American flute) is an unusual example of this. Other examples include the ocarina, recorder, tinwhistle, flageolet, Flutophone, Tonette, gemshorn, Songflute, etc.
The ocarina and xun are globe flutes. Instead of being a open-ended tube, their bodies are hollow enclosures. The ocarina differs from the xun (an ancient Chinese instrument) primarily in the fact that the ocarina is a fipple flute and the xun is not.
There are two families within the woodwinds: the reeds and the flutes. The reed instruments make their sound by thin reeds vibrating. The flute family make their sounds by wind breaking on a sharp edge. Typical woodwinds are perforated. That is, different pitches are made by covering and uncovering finger holes on the instrument. The ocarina is such an instrument. Woodwinds that are not perforated include the pandean pipes (panflute), the slide whistle, and various free reed instruments (harmonica, accordion, Melodica, pump organ, etc.).
Flutes have a whistling or bird-like sound, whereas reed instruments have a more voice-like sound. The Chinese put a membrane like on a kazoo on a hole on some of their flutes to give it a reed sound.
The term flute, by itself, tends to mean the concert flute, however, it originally referred specifically to the fipple (or whistle) flutes. In common usage they are all called flutes. It's not wrong if someone refers to your ocarina or your recorder or your pennywhistle as a flute. If it's a member of the flute family it can legitimately be called a flute, informally.
The concert flute, the picolo, the fife, the shakuhachi, the quena, and the xun, are non-fipple flutes. Their sounds are produced by the player directing his own breath across the edge. A fipple flute has a whistle for a mouthpiece. Fipple means a plug that blocks the wind in a flue, and directs it across the edge of the window above it. The love flute (commonly called the Native American flute) is an unusual example of this. Other examples include the ocarina, recorder, tinwhistle, flageolet, Flutophone, Tonette, gemshorn, Songflute, etc.
The ocarina and xun are globe flutes. Instead of being a open-ended tube, their bodies are hollow enclosures. The ocarina differs from the xun (an ancient Chinese instrument) primarily in the fact that the ocarina is a fipple flute and the xun is not.