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46-512: Prior to the mid-20th century, the term "bass flute" was sometimes used, especially in Great Britain, to refer to the alto flute ; for example, the part for "bass flute in G" in Holst 's The Planets , and many works by Britten . In 1910, Abelardo Albisi invented a bass flute known as the albisiphone which was used in scores by Mascagni and Zandonai among other composers during the first half of

92-515: A bass flute, which can be confusing since there is a distinct instrument known by that name . This naming confusion originated in the fact that the modern flute in C is pitched in the same range as the Renaissance tenor flute; therefore, a lower pitched instrument would be called a bass. While there is no exact date that the alto flute was created, large flutes have existed for several hundred years. Some problems with early alto flute design included

138-850: A bass flute. Morton Feldman 's composition "Crippled Symmetry" has a part for the bass flute, as does John Cage 's late work "Seven2". Hans Pfitzner 's 1917 opera Palestrina features an early (true) C bass flute part. Another piece featuring the bass flute is John Mackey's "The Frozen Cathedral" (2013) in two separate sections of the piece. For an extensive list of repertoire for bass flute and contrabass flute see Repertoire Catalogue for Piccolo , Alto Flute and Bass Flute (2004) by Peter van Munster (Roma: Riverberi Sonori). Selected repertoire graded into ability levels with short descriptions and information about basses can be found in The Alto and Bass Flute Resource Guide published by Falls House Press, and specialist low flutes publishing company Tetractys has

184-401: A convention three years later, Long had the opportunity to purchase the first alto flute in all of North and South America. Paige Long spent many years and much money to try and incorporate the low flute into many ensembles, and is one of the biggest advocates of the low flute in music. Piccolo The piccolo ( / ˈ p ɪ k ə l oʊ / PIH -kə-loh ; Italian for 'small') is

230-436: A greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range. Its range is from G 3 (the G below middle C) to G 6 (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to D♭ 7 . It uses the same fingerings as the C flute and piccolo, but is a transposing instrument in G (sounding a perfect fourth lower than written). British music that uses this instrument often refers to it as

276-442: A growing catalogue of works for bass flute. A handful of jazz musicians have used the bass flute, including flutist Jeremy Steig , beginning with his 1975 album Temple of Birth , saxophonists Henry Threadgill , Brian Landrus , and James Carter , and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson who occasionally played bass flute as a second instrument. Hubert Laws features the bass flute on his recording of "Amazing Grace," in which he plays

322-561: A half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute , the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the standard transverse flute , but the sound it produces is an octave higher. This has given rise to the name ottavino ( Italian pronunciation: [ottaˈviːno] ), by which the instrument is called in Italian and thus also in scores of Italian composers. Piccolos are often orchestrated to double

368-424: A low solo instrument. This was received very well and Potter was invited to perform with different concertos around the country. At a 2012 Las Vegas Convention, Potter performed the world premiere of a low flute ensemble that she had been working on with other low flute specialists. The performance garnered excellent feedback from the audience, inspiring Potter to reach out to other performers and music composers around

414-993: A number of pieces for piccolo alone by such composers as Samuel Adler , Miguel del Aguila , Robert Dick , Michael Isaacson , David Loeb , Stephen Hough , Polly Moller , Vincent Persichetti , Karlheinz Stockhausen , and Brian Ferneyhough . Repertoire for piccolo and piano, many of which are sonatas , has been composed by Miguel del Águila , Robert Baksa , Robert Beaser , Rob du Bois , Howard J. Buss , Eugène Damaré  [ fr ] , Pierre Max Dubois , Raymond Guiot , Lowell Liebermann , Peter Schickele , Michael Daugherty , and Gary Schocker . Concertos have been composed for piccolo, including those by Lowell Liebermann , Sir Peter Maxwell Davies , Todd Goodman, Martin Amlin, Will Gay Bottje , Bruce Broughton , Valentino Bucchi , Avner Dorman , Jean Doué, Michael Easton, Egil Hovland , Guus Janssen , Daniel Pinkham , Jeff Manookian and Levente Gyöngyösi . Additionally, there

460-471: A repertoire that she wanted to make sure that her findings were available online to people who were also interested in playing the instrument. In doing so, she was connected with other flute players like Carla Rees, and the two specialists put their information together and created a compiled list of music. Potter had the opportunity to perform at a convention in Chicago showing how the alto flute could be considered

506-409: A representative sampling of the most commonly played and well-known works in the genre. The lists also do not generally include works originally written for other instruments and subsequently transcribed, adapted, or arranged for alto flute, unless such piece is very common in the repertory, in which case it is listed with its original instrumentation noted. In the classical literature, the alto flute

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552-499: A variety of hardwoods, most commonly grenadilla . Finely made piccolos are often available with a variety of options similar to the flute , such as the split-E mechanism. Most piccolos have a conical body with a cylindrical head, like the Baroque flute and later flutes before the popularization of the Boehm bore used in modern flutes. Unlike other woodwind instruments, in most wooden piccolos,

598-542: A vertical design for the bass flute which allows the weight of the instrument to be supported by the floor. Many composers are beginning to write more pieces for the bass flute. These include Katherine Hoover 's Two for Two , Bill Douglas 's Karuna , Sophie Lacaze 's Archelogos II , Mike Mower's Obstinato and Scareso , Gary Schocker 's A Small Sonata for a Large Flute , Lorenzo Ferrero 's Ellipse and Shadow Lines , Sonny Burnett's Stone Suite , Catherine McMichael's Baikal Journey and Ennio Morricone 's Secrets of

644-412: Is about 1 inch in diameter and 34 inches in length. This compared to the concert flute makes it ¼ of an inch wider in diameter and almost 8 inches longer in length (these measurements may vary depending on the type of head-joint---curved or straight---and whether or not a person is measuring the overall length of the flute or the sounding length of the flute, which is the length measured from the middle of

690-501: Is not possible with a curved head-joint. However, the curved head-joint could be a better option for those flutists who have smaller arms and/or smaller hands; it is frequently preferred by smaller players because it requires less of a stretch for the arms, and makes the instrument feel lighter by moving the center of gravity nearer to the player. The head joint is slightly tapered (conical bore) to accomplish precise tonal quality and it includes an embouchure hole. The body and foot joint of

736-442: Is now a selection of chamber music that uses the piccolo. One example is Stockhausen's Zungenspitzentanz , for piccolo and two euphoniums (or one synthesizer), with an optional percussionist and dancer. Another is George Crumb 's Madrigals, Book II for soprano, flute (doubling piccolo/alto flute), and percussion. Other examples include a trio for piccolo, contrabassoon, and piano, 'Was mit den Tränen geschieht' by Stephen Hough ,

782-583: Is particularly associated with the scores of Igor Stravinsky , Maurice Ravel , and Gustav Holst , namely in The Rite of Spring , Daphnis et Chloé , and The Planets respectively. The alto flute is also called for in Franco Alfano 's opera Cyrano de Bergerac , Sergei Prokofiev 's Scythian Suite and the original version of Webern 's Six Pieces for Orchestra . Shostakovich used it in his operas The Gamblers (left unfinished), Lady Macbeth of

828-408: Is some research that shows this happened in the mid 1850’s, around 1854-55, when he was 60 years old. The creation of this alto flute was to rid other lower pitch flutes of their current problems. The new flute design by Boehm had rational key systems and levers that were created in order to shorten the length that fingers needed to stretch. New changes were also made in modification to the bore size of

874-409: Is tapered through the curve. Because manufacturers do not taper the flute body through the curve, intonation of all notes beginning with written D 6 and higher tends to be sharp. The player can bend them in tune with the embouchure, or use alternative fingerings. Bass flutes often have a C foot rather than the B foot common to other flutes. The shorter tube reduces acoustic resistance, which quickens

920-418: Is the case of the concertos that Antonio Vivaldi wrote for flautino . Until the end of the 19th century, the piccolo maintained the same construction. Historically, the piccolo had the same keys of the baroque flute (one key) and then of the classical and romantic simple system flute. At the end of the century, the piccolo began to be built with the Boehm mechanism, which would become the standard during

966-448: The 1900s. However, it cannot wholly transition to the Boehm system since the bore has remained conical, as in the old system flute, and the first bottom note is D, like in the baroque flute. The piccolo should not be confused with the fife , which is traditionally one-piece, has a smaller, cylindrical bore, and produces a more strident sound. It is a myth that one of the earliest pieces to use

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1012-408: The 20th century. The instrument's sounding range is from C 3 (or B 2 if a B Foot Joint), one octave below middle C, to C 6 , two octaves above middle C. Bass flute music sounds an octave lower than it is written, which is the typical concert flute range (C 4 to C 7 ). Notes written above A 6 are not often used as they are difficult to produce and have inferior tone unless the instrument

1058-508: The German Electronic Group, Kraftwerk , played an alto flute in the first few years of the band's tenure. Christine Potter established a connection with the alto flute while she was studying at the university of New Mexico. As she became more experienced with the flute and fell more in love with the instrument, she began to compile a repertoire of music and publishers that included parts for the alto flute. At this point, she had such

1104-732: The Mtsensk District (also known as Katerina Ismailova ), as well as in his Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) . Olivier Messiaen used it in his only opera, Saint François d'Assise , as well as some of his later concert works, such as Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà... and Des Canyons aux étoiles... . It also appears in Howard Shore 's music for The Lord of the Rings among many other contemporary film scores. Even before 1940 it had been used occasionally in Hollywood; early Broadway pit orchestrations using

1150-589: The Sahara . Other important works include Tristan Murail 's Ethers for solo bass flute and small ensemble, Brian Ferneyhough 's Mnemosyne for bass flute and tape, Mario Lavista 's Lamento a la muerte de Raúl Lavista for solo bass flute, Michael Oliva 's Moss Garden also for bass flute and tape, John Palmer 's Inwards for bass flute and live-electronics, She Cried by Shiva Feshareki , and Marc Tweedie's Zoli , written for renowned flautist Carla Rees. Studies and concert etudes are beginning to appear that address

1196-469: The alto flute are composed of either closed hole or open hole keys. Most alto flutes are made with closed hole keys; the Kingma system alto flutes are available with open holes. Open holed alto flutes have more possibilities for extended techniques. The alto flute along with the other low flutes are constructed at a longer length than the concert flute; the larger the flute, the lower its pitch. The alto flute

1242-406: The alto flute is constructed of three main parts: the head-joint, the body joint, and the foot joint. Those pieces include an embouchure hole, tone holes, keys, and the mechanism that operates the keys. The head-joint may be straight or curved; curved head-joints are often made in two parts. The straight head-joint is easier to play in tune in the high register due to its true conical bore shape, which

1288-471: The best-known work to feature the bass flute is the album Wave by Antônio Carlos Jobim . The soundtrack of Guerrilla Games ' Horizon Forbidden West features bass flute prominently, such as in "By The Cold Light of Stars", "As Certain as Stone" and "These Stones Unturned". Alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family , pitched below the standard C flute and

1334-634: The c-flute”. The arrangement of the holes can differ depending on the maker of the flute. The embouchure-hole for alto flute is similar to that for C flute, but in proportion to the size of the instrument. Hence the embouchure-hole sits lower on the lower lip, and the lip-aperture is wider. Music written for alto flute includes but is not limited to music for alto flute alone, for alto flute and piano, for alto flute and mixed ensembles of many different instruments, and flute choir music. It also appears in orchestral music and film soundtracks. The following lists are not intended to be complete, but rather to present

1380-547: The embouchure hole to the end of the flute). The tone holes on the alto flute are slightly smaller than those of the modern concert flute, relative to its size. According to page 26 of The extended alto flute: The history and development of the alto flute, with a study of modern alto flute design and its effect on extended techniques in alto flute repertoire and pedagogical materials, a dissertation by graduate student John Edward Davis, “the averaged and converted alto flutes show that their tone holes are relatively smaller compared to

1426-453: The first piccolos were used in some of Jean Philippe Rameau 's works in the first half of the 18th century. Still, the instrument began to spread, and therefore to have a stable place in the orchestra, only at the beginning of 1800 A.D. During the Baroque period, the indication "flautino" or also "flauto piccolo" usually denoted a recorder of small size (soprano or sopranino). In particular, this

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1472-561: The first verse on bass flute, the second on alto, and the third on soprano. Steig later took up the Kotato & Fukushima bass flute in F. In electronic music, Jack Dangers has sometimes used bass flute as the leader of the Meat Beat Manifesto . A bass flute is heard throughout George Bruns ' score for The Jungle Book and the original Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Perhaps

1518-491: The flute in order to support the low register of G. Along with the bore size, the placement and sizes of the keys were changed to complement the new, larger bore. The first widely produced alto flute was created by Rudall Carte & Co. in London, 1891. They took many of Boehm’s ideas and adjustments to create their alto flute. This alto flute was the lowest flute in the family just under “Bass Flute G”. Like other Western flutes,

1564-905: The instrument include Jerome Kern's Music in the Air (1932) and Very Warm for May (1939), both scored by Robert Russell Bennett (the manuscript orchestrations are in the Jerome Kern Collection, Music Division, The Library of Congress). A number of specialist alto flute players emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries. These include French improvisor/composer Christian Le Delezir, American Christine Potter, American Paige Long, British Kingma System alto flute player Carla Rees, jazz players Ali Ryerson and Brian Landrus , American Peter Sheridan who currently resides in Australia, Swiss composers/performers Matthias Ziegler and Stefan Keller and Dutch composer/performer Anne La Berge . Florian Schneider-Esleben of

1610-400: The instrument's many challenges (physical balance, finger technique, air stream, overblowing, etc.). Low flute specialist Peter Sheridan has commissioned and arranged new compositions in this area, including a set of 'Etudes for Low Flutes' by Hilary Taggart. The sixth movement of Claude Bolling 's Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio , 'Versatile' has the soloist playing the opening melody on

1656-405: The long length of the tube, troublesome cross fingerings, inconsistent intonation, finger holes that were too wide across, and how far one’s arm had to be stretched in order to reach the finger holes, particularly in the left hand. The greatest innovations to the alto flute were developed by Theobald Boehm in the 1850’s when he made the alto flute in G, and it was said to be his favorite flute. There

1702-441: The low flute center stage of their performances. This along with conducting many competitions, Potter has been an important performer and pioneer in the generation of usage of the alto flute as well as the study of the alto and other low flutes. Paige Long initially played violin in a faculty orchestra in her place of employment. She was offered a position to play piccolo and took the position to open up new opportunities for her. She

1748-556: The octave as early as 1735 as existing scores by Jean-Philippe Rameau show. Piccolos are now mainly manufactured in the key of C. In the early 20th century, piccolos were manufactured in D ♭ as they were an earlier model of the modern piccolo. For this D ♭ piccolo, John Philip Sousa wrote the famous solo in the final repeat of the closing section (trio) of his march " The Stars and Stripes Forever ". Although once made of wood, glass, or ivory, piccolos today are made from plastic, resin, brass, nickel silver, silver, and

1794-540: The piccolo was Ludwig van Beethoven 's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor , which premiered in December 1808 . Although neither Joseph Haydn nor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used it in their symphonies, some of their contemporaries did, including Franz Anton Hoffmeister , Franz Xaver Süssmayr , and Michael Haydn . Also, Mozart used the piccolo in his opera Idomeneo . Opera orchestras in Paris sometimes included small transverse flutes at

1840-447: The response and makes the tone brighter, livelier, and more resonant. The shorter tube also makes the instrument somewhat lighter and less fatiguing for the player to hold. Bass flutes are most often made with silver-plated bodies and head joints. Most basses come with trill keys which allow the player to stabilize some otherwise unstable middle register notes as well as trill between otherwise impossible notes. Kotato basses have addressed

1886-654: The tenon joint that connects the head to the body has two interference fit points surrounding the cork and metal side of the piccolo body joint. The piccolo is used alongside marching drums in traditional formations at the Carnival of Basel , Switzerland. In 2014, a festival was born entirely dedicated to the piccolo, the International Piccolo Festival , which takes place annually in July in Grado , Italy . There are

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1932-425: The uncommon flûte d'amour . It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo . It is characterized by its rich, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range. The bore of the alto flute is considerably larger in diameter and longer than the C flute and requires a larger column of air (volume of air) from the player, though it also requires a slower airspeed. This gives it

1978-472: The violins or the flutes, adding sparkle and brilliance to the overall sound because of the aforementioned one-octave transposition upwards. The piccolo is a standard member in orchestras , marching bands , and wind ensembles . Since the Middle Ages, evidence indicates the use of octave transverse flutes as military instruments, as their penetrating sound was audible above battles. In cultured music, however,

2024-408: The weight problem of bass flutes by designing a graphite rod that screws onto the underside of the instrument and then rests on the chair seat between the player's legs. Adjustable rods have also been developed by Jeff Amos. Other manufacturers have added a left hand thumb support called a crutch , which helps some players with physical control of the instrument. Dutch flute maker Eva Kingma has created

2070-690: The world to perform her own and other peoples pieces. Potter has commissioned thirteen pieces since then that feature the low flute as well as produced a number of her own arrangements and compositions. She holds the distinction of being the initial individual to chair the National Flute Association Low Flutes Committee and pioneered what is called the International Low Flutes Festival in Washington D.C, bringing flutists of all skill levels and age together to give

2116-443: Was offered a flute teaching position a year later. Whilst in this position, Long started a flute choir to attract more people and was allowed to purchase an alto flute and a bass flute. The choir became very popular, but she knew she needed to improve the quality of the lower sound. She attended a convention where she heard a low flute ensemble, and becoming more interested, she intended to gather more low flutes for her own ensembles. At

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