Concert flute
A flute held transversely.
What it means
The concert flute (German Querflöte, transverse flute) is held horizontally and blown across a side embouchure hole in the headjoint. The airstream breaks against the opposite edge and sets the air column in the tube vibrating; there is no reed. Modern instruments are usually made of metal but belong, because of their manner of tone production, among the woodwinds. They are non-transposing and span about three octaves from middle C. Today's usual key system goes back to the work of Theobald Böhm in the nineteenth century and arranges the tone holes according to acoustic rather than anatomical requirements.
Musical use
In the orchestra, the concert flute leads melodies in the high register, supplies figuration, and brightens the wind texture; in the low register it sounds soft and restrained, in the high register bright and sustaining. It has a large solo and chamber-music repertoire from the Baroque to the present. The instruments of the eighteenth century, the traverso flutes, are built of wood, have few keys, and sound unequal depending on the key — a property that is factored in as colour in the music of that time. With the Böhm system the sound became more even and more powerful, but also more uniform.
Performance practice
The tone arises from lip opening, air direction, and air speed; practise long notes and octave changes without a fingering change, to gain control over the air angle. Air consumption is high, especially in the low register — plan breathing places musically and write them into the music. Intonation shifts with dynamics: soft playing sinks, loud playing rises; compensate through the lips, not by pulling out the headjoint. Warm the instrument up before tuning. Wipe it dry inside after playing and watch the delicate mechanism when assembling.
Bear in mind that double and flutter tonguing belong to the extended craft and are demanded in many orchestral passages: practise them regularly and not only when a passage forces it. Watch the headjoint position, because it influences embouchure and intonation over the whole range. With doublings with oboe or clarinet, coordination of vibrato and articulation is necessary, otherwise the mixture sounds restless. Check the mechanism after transport and have pads maintained regularly.