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The Flute (Yale Musical Instrument Series) Paperback – September 1, 2003

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

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This book tells the story of the flute in the musical life of Europe and North America from the twelfth century to the present day. It is the first history to illustrate the relationship that has bound the instrument, its music, and performance technique together through eight centuries of shifting musical tastes and practices.

In a comprehensive and authoritative account of the flute’s development, Ardal Powell takes full account of recent research: on military flutes and fifes of the fifteenth century, the renaissance consort flute, baroque and classical instruments, mechanically advanced nineteenth-century designs by Theobald Boehm and others, and further innovations that led to the modern flute.

All these transformations are related to revolutions in playing style and repertoire, in the lives of flute players and makers, and in the uses of the instrument to play military, religious, consort, solo, chamber, opera, symphony, jazz, popular, and flute band music. For the first time the role of amateur flutists receives due consideration alongside the influence of famous players and teachers. The ultimate guide to the heritage of the flute, this volume will delight both those who play the flute and those who love its music.
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Editorial Reviews

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"Nobody but the renowned Ardal Powell could write such a comprehensive, engaging history of the flute.... His writing is clear and scholarly, but also active and fluent. This important resource is an achievement that ought to find its way to a wide audience."

From the Publisher

Yale Musical Instrument Series

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; First Edition (September 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300094981
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300094985
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 0.81 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

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4.8 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book's information on the flute well-researched and interesting. They describe it as a great and quality book, even though it only covers music history.

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4 customers mention "Information quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's well-researched and documented information on the flute. They find it informative with interesting facts about the instrument and references to works from early French flute music through period performance. The book is a must for those interested in period performance.

"This is a great book with lots of history on the flute. I am mainly interested in period instruments and focus on baroque woodwinds...." Read more

"Well-researched and documented with lots of references to works from early french flute music through present day...." Read more

"I really enjoyed this book. The rich history of the world's oldest instrument is brought to life...." Read more

"The book was full of great history and information ! Reading it was like a mini lecture series. Thanks, A. Powell !" Read more

4 customers mention "Readability"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and of good quality. It covers music history in a narrow focus.

"This is a great book with lots of history on the flute. I am mainly interested in period instruments and focus on baroque woodwinds...." Read more

"...Excellent publication, more for an advanced player or college student rather than for younger readers." Read more

"...He tells me it has been valuable and useful to him. Nice quality book." Read more

"I really enjoyed this book. The rich history of the world's oldest instrument is brought to life...." Read more

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  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars A broad, rich, and open-minded study of the transverse flute's history in the West
    Reviewed in Japan on December 13, 2018
    Arda Powell's erudite overview of the flute's history in the West, from about the Middle-Ages up to modern times (about the late 20th century) is a thorough and broad-ranging piece of scholarship.
    Powell has left no source of information or documentation featuring this refined and elegant instrument (the instrument in question in this study being the western transverse flute) unexplored in his quest to draw a nuanced and rich chart of its origins, various and oftentimes parallel paths of change in its designs, roles in musical ensembles or as a solo instrument as well as in society and the latter's perceptions of it, playing styles, and the nature of music that was written for it. What's more, Powell firmly places discussions on these issues within the historical, technical, and social contexts that attended them.
    In this process, he has consulted myth, medieval illuminated manuscripts written by monks and priests, poetry featuring flutes, writings by performers, composers, and flute-makers (oftentimes such roles being assumed by one and the same person), paintings depicting flutes, as well as more recent articles in scholarly journals, and even early recordings. It is also important to add that such sources he has studied came in many languages - in most cases English, French, Italian, and German.
    The story of the flute that emerges from this I have called nuanced and rich because Powell's careful reading of these documents dispenses with the idea that the history of this instrument is one of a one-sided arrow of cumulative developments all culminating in the modern Boehm-inspired flute, whereas various older or interrupted branches of development were discarded because of their imperfections and limitations. Rather, armed with healthy degree of cultural sensitivity that former models of flute and playing styles now abandoned had evolved to help express certain contemporary musical aesthetics (variously favoring brilliance in sound, perfect tuning in the orchestra, soft as opposed to sharp tone etc...), as well as to assume differing roles in playing arrangements (musical scores which emphasize virtuosos, orchestras that favor varying sound-ideals, recording etc...). In addition, oftentimes, these models and playing-styles had come to be associated with national styles and traditions of playing (as in the French School Flute's - in its broader definition - focus on tone development, use of continuous vibrato, as opposed to the traditional British dislike of continuous vibrato and preference for a solid sound that merges well with the other woodwinds, etc...), styles and traditions which themselves had changed through sometimes in contradiction to former ways of playing in the same country (here one could recall Devienne's conservatism in matters of tone and articulation, and attachment to his own one-keyed flute).

    There are only two very slight criticisms I could come up with regarding this book. One is that it contains a more than usual incidence of spelling errors, and the images reproduced are somehow blurred and details are hard to make out. The other issue is that chapter contents were not divided into subsections that would have made the discussion a slightly bit more structured. For it did sometimes feel that the flow of the exposition was not very fluid, so to speak, and often interrupted by small digressions. I hasten to say though that this is not the author who is at fault. For as regards the first issue, it is oftentimes the case that budget and time limitations prevent ideal editing. Whereas regarding the second point, this feeling of losing the line of discussion was probably occasioned by my limited intellect, and in particular my far from ideal knowledge of social history in Europe, as well as music theory and the flute's mechanical structure and operation.
    Indeed regarding the topics of music theory and flute mechanics, prior knowledge of them both is almost a necessary condition for a full understanding and appreciation of the author's research (this includes some understanding of older systems of tuning, scales and modes, non-equal temperament systems, and the flute's technical lexicon).
    Otherwise, in the reference and notes section, the author has generously provided a list of the sources upon which he wrote each chapter, alongside brief commentary on their merits and weaknesses or points of inexactitude in them, and has even pointed out yet unexplored issues that would be worthy of deeper research. These resources will surely be of great help to any student contemplating the study of anything related to the flute.
    As a concluding note, it was refreshing and inspiriting to see that, despite rising nationalisms in Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the mosaic of christian doctrines (or secular ones) and cultures that defined the continent then (and still do), composers, players, and flute-makers mostly kept an open-mind and were receptive of developments in flute-making, playing styles, and composition made in other nations or by other cultures, and oftentimes national styles themselves were a product of mutual learning and blending. It was also heartening to see this process being continued in the latter part of the 20th century, as the flute found expression in other musical styles and old flutes were revived.
  • spyros
    5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2016
    Very analytical book, too much useful detail.
  • Mogens Friis
    4.0 out of 5 stars Very importen book considering the Flute
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2020
    The content is very competently handled with a large overview and a high level of information. The pictures and the inserted text elements were of exceptionally poor quality in the copy I received.