Chords for Instrument: Flute

[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ Hi, I'm Sam Coles, I'm the [F] principal flute in the Philharmonia.
The flute is a member of the woodwind family [G] _
and [Ab] it differs from [G] the other woodwind instruments
in that it doesn't have [Gb] a reed and you make the sound by blowing across this little hole
here _ [A] and lengthening [Gb] or shortening the tube with your fingers.
[C] _
_ This is basically a [F] 19th century _ invention, the flute.
_ [A] Throughout _ the [Gb] 18th century and up until about 1850, the flute was a conical _ instrument made of wood.
But [Bbm] as _ [Ab] composers started writing [G] bigger and bigger symphonies and _ concert [Ab] halls got bigger
and bigger, _ there was a [A] need for more volume and more dexterity in the [G] instrument.
_ Theobald Boehm came [Gb] up with this idea in the middle of the [G] 19th century of _ making a cylindrical
flute _ out of [Ab] metal, which gave you much [G] more dexterity, you could whiz around much quicker
[Bb] _ and it was a much more [E] powerful instrument.
_ [A] So that's what he did _ and that's [Ab] what he came up with [Bb] and that's what we're still playing today.
_ [Db] _
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_ _ [Bbm] Well there is an [G] interesting story about how he came to invent _ [Eb] this flute.
[G] _ _
[Bbm] He was not just a flute maker, he was also a very fine flute player [G] and composer and
he came over to England in the early 19th century _ _ [Am] and he had the opportunity of hearing
a [A] great English flute player [Bb] who was called Nicholson.
[G] _ And Nicholson [Ab] was playing [Gm] on a wooden [N] flute but he'd done [G] some strange things to his flute,
[Bbm] he'd made all the holes a _ [A] bit bigger _ and he made this absolutely huge sound _ and he played
with great, [Ab] great virtuosity and so [G] Boehm, who had never heard anything like it, said
he's got to do something [Gb] about that, he's got to be able to combat [A] this [G] extraordinary flute player.
[Abm] So [Db] he went all the way home _ and started working on the new patent [Ab] which was going to be a [E] metal [N] flute,
[Ab] which was going to [A] be cylindrical, _ _ much bigger [G] holes [Gb] than the [G] wooden flutes of the time.
_ [A] And so he [F] actually invented this [N] flute _ [A] with the sole [N] purpose of _ _ [Abm]
playing faster and louder
than this [A] great English flute player [Ab] _
[C] and well he [Bbm] did, [Gb] he succeeded.
[Bb] Well [G] the baroque flute was [C] a [E] conical [Ab] _ wooden [G] flute, meaning the body _ _ [Gb] _ gets thinner as it goes down.
And the baroque flute had just [E] one key here [N] _ [C] and you have to get all the notes [N] _
[Bb] just through
holes in the tube, [Ab] you've got [Bb] to get all the notes [Gb] just by [Db] combinations [Gb] of your [N] fingers.
[G] _ _
_ [D] It's a very simple, [E] simple instrument and you get these [A] _ wonderful notes which are called
forked [G] notes where you have to [Abm] have [E]
holes, it doesn't go just [G] straight down like this,
you have to have holes [E] in between, [N] _ _ [Gm] in between your fingers which [Ab] make very,
very [Gb] strange [Bb] and [Gb] weak notes and weak [E] colours on notes.
[F] _ _ _ [Am]
And these actually give [C] the baroque flute a [Gb] very, very [C] _
unequal [Gm] and expressive quality.
[G] _ _
Often modern flute [Gb] players when they talk about the baroque flute they _ [Ab] talk about the
inequality of the notes [Abm] and the inequality of the sound on a baroque flute as some kind
of fault in this instrument but in fact it's _ _ extremely expressive and it's actually one
of the qualities of a baroque flute, [Gb] these [G] strange notes and the [Bb] composers always use
these strange [Gb] forked notes for [Ab] a particular _ poignancy in a phrase [G] or a particularly expressive
note, [Gb] you'll always find it comes on [N] a _ forked note.
_ Anyway throughout the baroque [Abm] period [N] _ [Abm]
and into the classical period, the end of the 18th
century, _ _ _ you get [Gm] more and more keys added to the flute, you start [A] with one key, _ [G] the
Mozart flute's got about four or five or six keys _ and they continue adding keys until
you get to about twelve [A] keys but [Ab] it's still a conical flute but these keys are just making
it slightly easier to play [A] in tune and slightly easier to [G] _ go around the flute at great speed
[A] and then as I [Gb] said the great change comes in the middle of the 19th century where _ [Bb] they
change the, the oboe [B] changes the _ [E] material that we're playing the flute with, [Bb] makes it
in metal and makes it a cylindrical flute and that is, _ [G] that was the end of _ [Gm] the conical
flute [F] and the beginning of the modern flute.
_ There are differences between the [E] gold and the silver flute [Bbm] but I don't really want to
make a value judgment about which one's better, I think it's more about [Ab]
just [Gb] preference [G] and context maybe.
_ _ [Ab] I think a silver [N] flute _ _ [Gb] has a slightly brighter sound, I think they carry very nicely across the orchestra.
_ I think a gold flute has a [N] slightly, _ _ it's [G] heavier, it's a heavier instrument and I feel
_ _ it's got a slightly darker, richer, [Gb] more _ complex _ [F]
sound than a silver [B] flute but I still like
silver flutes, I've got [Bb] _
a [Ab] silver flute at home [G] _ but this is what I'm enjoying playing
the most at the [N] moment.
_ [Gm] _ _
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[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
Of [D] all the instruments.
[Eb] Available for download in the App Store on iTunes. _ _ _ _
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