Music For Wooden Flute

 

Professional Wooden flute music can be found throughout history, from classical, Renaissance, Baroque and folk to popular. Their distinctive sound and feel makes them a favorite instrument among players of many stripes.

Wooden flutes have become increasingly popular, particularly among young flute students. These instruments tend to be less expensive than metal ones and produce unique sounds.

Scales

Music composed for wooden flute employs various scales to produce beautiful melodies and harmonies. Scales are collections of notes written and played first ascending stepwise in pitch before returning back down again as descending orders.

Major scales are among the most widely employed in Western music. They can begin on any note and even incorporate chromaticism.

Minor scales resemble major ones but contain different intervals. There are three variations of minor scales: Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor.

Music written for wooden flute often employs major and minor scales in combination to produce melodies with harmonious tones, creating distinct textures and moods – not to mention playing an integral part in its overall composition.

Keys

The flute can be found in various keys to suit various genres of music. Flutes in higher keys tend to vibrate more rapidly and produce richer tonality; lower key flutes often possess a more soothing quality.

Some flutes offer the option of an eight-key keywork system. With fully chromatic keys, playing in multiple musical keys becomes simpler.

Other flutes feature a simpler system with just three or four keys, providing access to a wider range of semitones but no accidentals like F natural are possible, making it harder to create the sound of a flute in higher keys.

Some flutes feature a U-shaped headjoint to bring the keys closer to the player and reduce muscle strain while lengthening playing time. These headjoints are also known as ‘curved” or “bendy”.

Embouchure

Music performed on wooden flutes often requires using an embouchure. There are various styles available depending on which flute is being played.

No matter the style you favor, it’s essential that you are familiar with basic embouchure and its function – it plays an essential part in shaping the tone and quality of your performances.

Embouchure is also key in honing musical skills and should not be neglected when learning flute. A bad embouchure will make playing challenging and slow your progress to reaching full potential as a flute player.

An effective embouchure will enable you to maintain a consistent and precise sound when playing, making long melodic lines easier, as well as being more creative with air support and creating percussive effects that interact with musical structures.

Mouthpiece

Mouthpieces for most flutes use reeds made of thin wood that vibrate when you blow across it; clarinet uses one reed while oboe and bassoon use double reeds.

A mouthpiece may be constructed out of various materials such as metal, glass, plastic, crystal or wood; however, its material has minimal effect on sound output.

Air pressure inside a flute affects its shape, as does sound hole size and plug shape, both of which in turn impact how turbulent airflow in its flue is, thus having an impactful influence on tone of instrument.

Your choice of mouthpiece for your wooden flute can not only impact its sound quality, but can also determine how much effort is required to play it – and can make maintaining notes more challenging as well as lead to fatigue in your body.