Powell, H. (2004b) ‘A Dream Wedding: From Community Music to Music Therapy with a Community.’ In M. Pavlicevic and G. Ansdell (eds) Community Music Therapy. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Powell, H. (2009) Personal communication, February 25, 2009.
Ruud, E. (2004) ‘Foreword.’ In M. Pavlicevic, and G. Ansdell (eds) Community Music Therapy. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Santilly, B. (2009) Personal communication, February 17, 2009.
Wade-Matthews, M. and Thompson, W. (2002) The Encyclopedia of Music: Instruments of the Orchestra and the Great Composers. New York, NY: Anness Publishing.
Ward-Bergeman, M. (2009) Personal communication, February 17, 2009.
1See for example, Accordions Worldwide at www.accordionlinks.com.
CHAPTER 3
The Flute
Contributors: Caroline Anderson, Veronica Austin
(introduction and case vignettes), Emily Corke,
Mary-Clare Fearn (within Veronica Austin’s
contribution), Esther Mitchell and Jo Tomlinson
Introduction
The flute is the oldest of all instruments that produce pitched sounds, and its evocative tones have been associated with healing and lifting the spirits from before the Middle Ages. The scientific journal ScienceDaily reported the discovery of what is thought to be the oldest flute, made from bird bones and mammoth ivory with two holes in it, and approximately 40,000 years old (University of Oxford 2012). Although no one can be sure of the precise function of these flutes it is generally thought they would have been used for rituals, ceremonies, pleasure and perhaps, even then, for healing.
When taking into account the history of the flute worldwide, we find there are many versions of primitive flutes and their flute families remaining in the sounds, music and traditions of different world cultures and healing practices today. It is worth considering that some of the ideas raised in the use of the orchestral flute in music therapy are applicable to the use of these other types of flute, such as the Irish tin whistle, the panpipes of Ecuador and Peru, the Japanese shakuhachi, the Indian bansuri flutes, the Indonesian suling, the Chinese bamboo flute or the wooden dual-chamber North American flute (one side plays a drone and the other pitched notes). There is much to inform and draw on from these world flutes for the benefit of music therapists. In order to appreciate the modern orchestral flute it is useful to understand a little of its history.
The primitive flutes of hollowed-out bone or horn and later clay, bamboo or wood of the medieval and Renaissance periods were a one-piece design with up to six holes and a mouthpiece. They were either played straight down, using a block to direct the air at the edge of the mouth hole (like the recorder), or played to one side (transverse), requiring the player to direct the air across the mouthpiece. Fingers covered and uncovered the holes to create different pitches. Intervals of the pentatonic scale and later diatonic scale of one and then two octaves evolved.
The quality of timbre, expansion of pitch range and capacity for the flute to convey expression developed over time as flautists increased their skills, composers wrote more complex music, and technology advanced. The second half of the 17th century saw a revolution in flute making (Wilson 2013) with the new flexibility of the three-piece transverse flute (mouthpiece, centre and foot piece) of the Baroque era, with its three-octave range, brighter tone and ability to effect more dynamic contrast. The one-keyed flute was developed into the six-keyed flute in the latter half of the 17th century and the tone became more even. Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto of 1778 was intended for such a flute. Throughout the 19th century the flute continued to undergo more changes, evolving to the modern Boehm system metal flute predominantly in use today.
Figure 3.1 Range of the modern concert flute
The wider implementation of instrumental lessons in schools, as well as the internationally acclaimed flute virtuoso James Galway (b.1939) did much to popularise the flute in the 1970s and 1980s. Galway’s flute version of John Denver’s ‘Annie’s Song’ in 1978 reached number three in the UK pop charts, and a surge of new young flautists followed. He became a household name and is still successful today as a cross-over artist, bringing classical, folk and popular music to different generations of flute players and a diverse range of music lovers. New careers in flute playing have expanded to provide opportunities for flautists to work as therapists, performers, teachers, composers, recording artists and flute specialists in manufacture and industry. Among music therapists the flute is the orchestral instrumental most frequently used.
Of course invention has not stopped, and since the advent of the 21st century, developments of the quarter-tone flute by Robert Dick and Eva Kingma2 have been established in a new kind of flute called the Kingma System flute. With the help of additional keywork, players no longer have to use alternative fingerings for correcting intonation, playing trills or effecting extended or contemporary techniques, as they are sometimes called (Clarke 2012; Dick 1986). Players at all levels are now becoming acquainted with extended techniques. Clarke (2012) described this development: ‘They are becoming a natural augmentation of core technique both with respect to the requirements of new repertoire and learning approaches.’
Many techniques are still possible on the ordinary concert flute, though the open-holed flute with a low B footjoint is favoured. Techniques include the development of new tonal colours and sonorities as well as note bending, jet whistles, harmonics, flutter tonguing, percussive articulations (mouthsounds), multiphonics and quarter tones.
Music therapists will be able to expand their range of available responses to their clients by employing some of these additional methods on their flute. In imitating sounds of the early flutes using non-standard fingerings, therapists might connect with clients by creating more primitive or other-worldly sounds. Special effects with multiphonics and jet whistles may bring surprise and novelty. Singing into the flute and percussive articulation lend themselves to popular or avant-garde styles, where it might be important for the therapist to sound contemporary or even cool! While critics have called these ideas gimmicky and a generation of flute playing therapists may feel challenged by learning new ways of playing, our clients may motivate us to explore these options. When feeling, imagination and technique come together, the therapist is best equipped to use the flute to its full potential.
The flute in music therapy literature
Music therapist Juliette Alvin (1966) wrote about Greek mythology where the flute was ‘Athena’s gift’ from the gods, and went on to describe the attitudes of the Greek philosophers towards the flute and healing. Alvin quotes Aristotle’s opinion that the flute is not an instrument that has a good moral effect – Aristotle considered it ‘too exciting’ and his belief was that it should consequently be employed only on occasion when the object of the music is the purging of the emotions rather than the improvement of the mind.
From a practical perspective Alvin also discusses the positive impact of blowing into flutes for people with malformation of the mouth, and the possibility of developing muscle strength through playing (Alvin 1966).
Music therapists Sweeney-Brown and Wilkinson have written about their work with children in hospices, using the flute to calm, soothe or stimulate children who were approaching the end of life. Wilkinson (2005) observed the range of responses to the flute from a group of children: some listening quietly whilst another vocalised in imitation of the flute sound. Even when children were too unwell to engage with active playing, the sound of the flute provided reassurance and allowed the child to feel that they were not alone. This in turn supports the families of the children and created positive memories during times of severe stress (Sweeney-Brown 2005).
Tomlinson