Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with flute

ID this album of solo flute music

No-sword — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:41:41 -0800

Identify this album: A two-CD album of contemporary music for solo flute, released after 2000. One composer, one performer, pretty sure both were female. Cover is text on plain white, a sort of ECM/Hat Hut aesthetic (but I don't think it was either of these). One or more of the pieces had a title referencing stillness or silence or something like that.

Champagne from a coupe or flute? Or how about a handy mug?

spec80 — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:12:05 -0800

When did the champagne flute become the norm over the champagne coupe? After watching a bunch of old MGM movies, I noticed the actors were drinking champagne out of coupes as opposed to flutes. When did flutes become de rigeur?

Searching old AskMes, I found this comment by chrismear: As an aside, the reason for the traditional coupe was that it was used to serve the sweeter, almost dessert champagne that they drank back then. As everyone says, it's not right for the dry style of champagne we have today.

Was the switch to the flute due to dry champagne production? Were there always dry and dessert types of champagne and dry became more trendy at some point between the early 1900s and now? Or did dry bust on the scene in 19xx and it became popular?

I would like to know the historical context, if there is any, as well as the, uh, wine science reason.

(I have a beginner level knowledge of wine and glassware.)

funk my flute

mattoxic — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:38:18 -0800

Please recommend the dirtiest, overblown, funked up, angry distorted flute playing.

Who is this flute-playing witch?

everichon — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:23:24 -0800

Is this witch with a flute a character from somewhere? I saw it screen-printed on a tote bag in a photo at Face Hunter, but it rang a very vague memory bell. Any info anybody has would be most welcome.

looking for a recording of flight of the bumblebee

nadawi — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:56:18 -0800

flight of the bumblebee played on the flute without stopping for a breath? impossible! but i heard it - now, where can i find it again? around 95 i attended a byu band camp and in the flute choir sessions our teacher played a record (like, actual vinyl) of a single guy (i do seem to remember it being a male) playing flight of the bumblebee and there were no breath stops. it blew my mind at the time and i'd like to hear it again

New Age Top 10

forallmankind — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:16:49 -0800

New Age Top 10! We've all read lists of best rock, pop & soul albums - but what would appear on your Top 10 list of recommendations for a New Age noob? I know next to nothing about this world, so I'm trying to learn. I've been researching on Amazon but - as I'm sure is the case with all musical genres - I'm finding there's a lot of chaff I have to wade through before I find the wheat.

I guess specifically I'm looking for chanting or gong, perhaps moving into flute or sitar. But either way, if you have a New Age album you love, or can go as far as a top ten, or perhaps point me towards a site that has recommendations, that'd be awesome.

Music ensembles for a flautist in Los Angeles

TheClonusHorror — Sat, 24 May 2008 09:24:35 -0800

What kind of community music ensembles are there that a flute player could join in (or near) the San Fernando valley area of Los Angeles? I played flute from elementary school through college. I'd say my skill level is "average".

I'm interested in small or large ensembles that meet and play for fun and maybe have a concert now and then.

So, do you know of any community concert bands or woodwind ensembles or pit orchestras or marching bands or what-have-yous?

Woodwind ensemble masterpieces?

cowbellemoo — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:15:24 -0800

Classical Music lovers, what great chamber music pieces feature predominantly woodwinds (esp. flutes)? (I'm also interested in great solo parts in larger orchestras) I would prefer slower music, both because I'm still learning what different instruments are doing and because I might be interested in learning to play them myself (on the flute). I did purchase a beginner repertoire book, but Amazon seems unusually sluggish in shipping lately, and I'm impatient to find out what's out there.

I always liked Peter and the Wolf, but otherwise I'm completely ignorant of woodwinds-heavy music and classical music in general. Help would be lovely.

Casual flute self-study to Beatles and downtempo pop?

cowbellemoo — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:56:47 -0800

I want a casual beginner's flute regimen that won't bore me to tears. My goal is to be able to play a collection of simple pop melodies that I enjoy (Beatles, Zero 7, Air) and have enough skill in notation to write down simple melodies that get stuck in my head. You see, I'm an avid whistler and I am wonderfully happy repeating short phrases from whatever song I'm obsessing over at the time. I would like to parlay this into a meager aptitude for, and comfort with, my flute.

I had a small measure of success with one of the 50s era beginners books, enough to produce a handful of notes in the easiest register and get comfortable with the mouthpiece, but I gave up in short order since I have zero patience for those dated and unmoving songs. I'm willing to go through scales and other wrote exercises, but I'd like to be able to jump into "Hey, Jude" or whatever if my interest wanders. I'm also eager to get some private lessons, but I'd like to have a grip on music that's familiar and beautiful to me first. Where do I start? Better beginner's books? Blank sheet music journals and sound everything out? Look for piano sheet music to bands I like?

Some details on my background if it helps: 2 years of clarinet in HS; I can read and hum a simple piece of sheet music, but can't reliably recognize notes audibly. I own a new Gemeinhardt SP2 (closed hole, key of C) student flute.

Mystery Mixtape Movie Score Track: Elfman, Zimmer & Kazoos

vanoakenfold — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:00:39 -0800

Help me identify this mystery track from my friends' mix CD, that he can't recall either. No sample available, yet! It's more than likely a movie score track. Cross between 1941, Elfman, Zimmer, Willow, and involves kazoos in places. In short, to me it sounds like a Pee Wee's Big Beetlejuice Great Escape, featuring periodic Kazoo backups as performed by an Elfman/Zimmer team-up. The friend suggested Chicken Run. but none of the samples on Amazon have a passage found in it. The disc was made 2004 at the latest, I wager. but seems more like around 2000 that he gave it.

Here's my description to said friend, if that helps any:

"If the next mystery track is not Elfman or Zimmerman, despite being a little too POTC-1941-ish, I'm not sure what is. It has a brief high flute intro, flowing strings and brief resounding brass, followed by some marching snare and a tooting low brass, a clarinet solo with some kind of muffled piano accompaniment, then sharply accellerates into a cross between Beetlejuice, 1941 and Willow, with Hans Zimmer looking over his shoulder. And with stacatto-ish low strings. And kazoos."

The track itself is 3:36, no overt vocals (except some Elfman-ish oohs and aahs)

Super detailed description:

00:00-00:12 - very soft strings slowly emerge, gradually adding a slackpaced flute/piccolo solo of the main theme..
00:13-00:26 - the lower strings crescendo into the fray with a smooth and delicate flowing movement and the high strings pick up where the flute left off, followed by flute again.
00:27-00:31 - after a brief pause, soft middle brass comes in with a soft trumpet solo...
00:32-00:35 - solo marching-pace snare
00:36-00:44 - baritone or trombone picks up the pace with a rising triple-it lead-in as a tooting flute/piccolo makes a little twittering song vaguely resembling LOTR's shire theme
00:45-00:46 - trombone/brass rises suddenly to cut the festivities off and stops just as quickly...
00:47-01:00 - a distinctly Elfman muffled piano (or plucked low strings), middle speed pace, down-up-down-up style, with a clarinet fluttering in the background with possibly mandolin accents...
01:01-01:17 - brief unexpected pause, resume same arrangement but faster paced, momentarily adding strings, with a young-ladies aah-aah-aah vocal (characteristic of Elfman, comparable to Edward Scissorhands), periodic swirling violins and trilling clarinets...
01:18-01:22 - brief brass fanfare-like introduction with cascading strings...
01:23-01:28 - returning up-down-up-down with piano/plucked low strings, repeat formula with periodic brass mini fanfares...
01:29-01:32 - A [Batman Animated Series]-sounding spat...
01:33-01:56 - A bold trombone loudly declares the main theme with a Zimmer-like steady-paced strum-strum-strum sound from the mid-to-lower strings. Repeat main theme again but with a trumpet-trombone teamup, with a snare jointing the two, then add (keeping the steady background) a brave violin section counter/sub-melody, with a quick fluttering of timpani toward the end, and a solid brass cap on the end before a brief pause...
01:57-02:00 - kazoos pick up a repeated tail of the main theme pattern...
02:01-02:15 - French horns break in to the renewed steady background to repeat the main theme in all their glory (I can almost detect the snares' "shhhhhh" in response)
02:16-02:46 - Tubular bells accents, flowing middle-to-high strings pick up the sub/counter melody like gliding over a still lake, with kazoos peeking in around 02:22-:26, handing the baton to a forceful solo flute who keeps the joyful pace, passes to the high strings, and into a cymbal crescendo for the win and a sudden halting of the pace in a serious "whoa" rein-tugging into a similarly paced but brief Batman section,
02:47-03:12 - a very low and soft faster-paced Jaws passage, with the Violins with Parkinsons section creeping up, a few taps to the snare and we're back into the main theme with peppy steady-handed strings and kazoos murmuring in the background...
03:13-03:16 - Kazoos simmer down, piping flute accents periodically against the familiar steady low-string background pace...
03:17-03:36 - the pace slacks up again with the last string of the theme going slo-mo, a lonesome and regretful french horn not to be outdone, adds a mournful "awww, man!" and cuts off just as the strings taper off.

I hope you have as much fun finding this track as I did doing commentary!

where should i put the holes on a recorder?

KaeporaGaebora — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:04:51 -0800

how can i figure out where i should place the holes and how large they should be on a bamboo recorder i am making? i am trying to make a bamboo recorder, and i have done everything up to the point of placing the holes in the correct spot. the recorder plays an "e" right now and is 25 cm long. the bore is 2 centimeters in diameter. can anyone tell me how i could figure out where and how large the holes should be? is there some sort of equation?
i have visited this site http://www.webspirit.com/fluteman/book/simple_bamboo_recorder.htm
but my recorder does not have the right dimensions for the diagram there.

Jazz on the Flute?

pasici — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:01:54 -0800

My niece, a freshman in high school, is interested in playing jazz on her flute and in convincing her teacher that there is a role for the flute in the school's jazz ensemble. I'd like to get some really good C.D.s of jazz flautists for her enjoyment and to enlighten the teacher, so I am turning to MeFi for help. Please help me find C.D.s of good jazz played on the flute. (No need to mention Bolling's Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio; we already know about that one.)

Please help me expand my Hindu pantheon!

LMGM — Wed, 30 May 2007 06:50:00 -0800

There is a South Indian vegetarian restaurant in Paris called Krishna-Bhavan (delicious, BTW), that has an image of a flute-playing butt with eyes (and jewellery) on one of their walls. Can anyone help me identify this deity / character? Picture here (scroll down). It took me and my sister a fair bit of work to finally sneak a picture of this in a way that didn't broadcast "Hey! Your religious icons amuse us!" But seriously, I really want to figure out what part this character plays in the Ramayana.

Where else have I heard the Hijack flute loop?

mhum — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:00:49 -0800

Where else have I heard the Hijack flute sample? There is a flute sample from Herbie Mann's song Hijack that was used in the Beatnuts' Watch Out Now and subsequently in Jennifer Lopez's Jenny From The Block.

When I first heard the J-Lo song, I remember thinking "Great. Why'd they have to take that great flute loop and ruin it for me?" But now, I can't remember at all where I might have heard it before Jenny From The Block. I wasn't aware of the Beatnuts song until I started researching this on the interwebz and I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking of the Herbie Mann original. So, my question is: What other songs (possibly remixed?) have used that flute sample from Hijack?

Silent WInd

funboytree — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:42:17 -0800

This morning I sat near a guy on a train, who produced a pair of headphones and plugged them into what I can only describe as a silent flute... The guy then practised on the instrument during the journey. It was about 8 or 9 inches long, clear plastic with electronics visible inside, no moving keys, but some kind of silver sensors. It was played more in the manner of a whistle or bagpipes. What on earth was it ?

Looking for contemporary (ish) music that includes the violin as a focal and/or background instrument.

Lockeownzj00 — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 21:34:06 -0800

MuzikFilter: Looking for contemporary (ish) music that includes the violin as a focal and/or background instrument. I'm thinking modern bands like Ye Wiles or Dirty Three where the violin is a major element of every song. Also think the song "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" by Modest Mouse.

I think it's a great way to spice up the music--adding to a guitar and drum something atypical like a cello or flute or something like that (come to think of it--flutes are fair game too).

I'm fine with hip-hop and the like, too, although I'm leaning towards the umbrella-genre "rock" here.

I played this song a hundred times in band, but I can't remember the name.

liet — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:10:07 -0800

Help me identify an intense piece of music I played in high school band. Sometime between 1994 and 1998, my high school symphonic band* won a local band championship by playing a very cool, intense piece of music. I haven't the faintest idea of the name or the composer, and I've already Googled for local news stories on our win -- no luck. Something makes me think that it was a fairly recent composition, but I could be wrong.

I only remember the first little bit: "duh da duh DAAAAAAAH duh (three slow, purposeful bass drum or timpani beats ...) duh da duh DAAAAAAAH duh." (In pitch, it was "low mid low HIIIIIGH low.") It was intense.

In the flute part, the long, high note was well above the staff, and I think only a few of us flute players were even able to pull it off. I don't remember which note it was, only that it was a bitch.

Any ideas on the name or composer? I'd love to hear it again. Thanks much.

* in case it helps, it was Central High School in Independence, Oregon.

I want a flute

nadawi — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 09:44:29 -0800

I might be getting a flute for Christmas... So my father wants to buy me a flute and asked what I am looking for in one. The thing is, I don't really know. I know i don't want it to be open holed and I'd like the sound to be more soulful and less shrieking. I played for about 7 years before I got rid of my flute 4 years ago. What should I tell him to look for? Where is a good place to look?

Pink Floyd's The Wall Instrumental History

signal — Thu, 25 Dec 2003 19:43:09 -0800

On the movie version of Pink Floyd's The Wall, there's a short instrumental piece before "In The Flesh" (I think), with a guitar and flute, the guitar part starts something like this:
E||-----------------0----|----------------------|-----------------0----|----------------------|-----------------0----|-----------------|| B||------------1---------|--1-------------------|------------1---------|--1-------------------|------------1---------|--1--------------|| G||-------2--------------|-------2---------2----|-------2--------------|-------2---------2----|-------2--------------|-------2---------|| D||--2-------------------|------------2---------|--3-------------------|------------3---------|--4-------------------|------------4----|| A||----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|-----------------|| E||----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|-----------------||
Does anybody know the history or name of the piece, and hopefully have an accurate tab of it? I've played it forever but never seem to have got it quite right.