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Flute & Piccolo

29/8/2015

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Barney Flute
Barney learning the flute
Flute
The word “Flute” covers a wide range of woodwind instruments in which sound is produced by directing air across the edge of a hole. Along with the flute, which is pictured here, the family includes instruments such as the piccolo, recorder, fife, ocarina and panpipes. The flute is played by blowing across the mouthpiece hole rather than into the instrument. Apart from the piccolo, the flute is the only instrument in the band that is played in this way.


The flute tone can range from mellow to rich to clear and brilliant. For the lowest notes, the flute is very quiet, but in the middle of its range it can be bright and rich and so is often used to play solo passages, sounding particularly beautiful in quiet pieces. The highest notes can be penetrating and shrill, so are often used to play the high melody lines.

The flute is used in orchestras, wind bands, and jazz bands to give a bright, silvery sound. A single flute cannot produce very much volume, so several players are usually required in the flute section of a concert band, with a large band having as many as 12 flute players. Most band music has 2 or 3 different flute parts.

Most modern flutes are made of metal, usually silver and only occasionally made of wood.
Fact: George Washington and Leonardo da Vinci both played the flute.

Do you recognise our flute player photo from the archives? Do you know what year or concert the photograph was taken during? What instrument does the band member now play?  
Why not use the comment button to let us know below.
Flute
Photo from our archives
Piccolo
The piccolo is a special kind of flute that is half the size of the regular flute and pitched much higher, so can be very piercing to listen to! The musicians who play piccolo often also play the flute. The piccolo is extremely difficult to play, and hard to keep in tune while playing even for the most experienced of players. It is the smallest and loudest instrument in the band, and usually only one is used in the whole band. However one of our pieces does use two!

Fact: The piccolo was invented by Theobald Boehm a flautist from Munich, Germany

Piccolo
A piccolo and a flute
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Woodwind Instruments

26/8/2015

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Instruments of the woodwind family are used today in orchestras and bands, and can be heard in many different types of music, from classical to jazz.

Woodwind instruments work by blowing air (or wind) across an edge which causes the air inside the instrument to vibrate. This edge can be either a thin piece of cane (called a reed), or be the edge of a hole that the player blows across (like blowing across a bottle). Whilst many woodwind instruments are made out of wood, some are made out of metal. To change notes on a woodwind instrument a player changes how long the tube is by covering holes down its length with their fingers – at a basic level, the more fingers that are covering the holes, the lower the note will be!

Be sure to check back and look out for the most well-known members of the woodwind family!
Barney_logo
Barney our mascot's new handmade coat!
Woodwind_Spring_2013
Woodwind Group Photo
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Instruments of a Concert Band

22/8/2015

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If you were asked to name an instrument that is played in a Concert Band, some of you may be stumped for an answer, and some of you may take a guess and come up with perhaps trumpet, clarinet or saxophone. These of course are correct, but if you were asked to name the different types of saxophones in the band then you may not know, and in all honesty why should you?

Well, to help those of you who would like to know more about the make-up of a concert band we will be creating numerous posts throughout the coming weeks and months, covering the main instruments with numerous photos, be sure to look out for our mascot Barney too!

They will be categorised into three sections: woodwind, brass and percussion.

You will notice that there are no strings, such as you would find in an orchestra, so no violins, cellos etc., although the string bass (bass guitar or double bass) may be used from time to time. 
SBCB
Group Photo from Summer Concert
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    South Berks

    SBCB is a community music group based in Mortimer, Reading. We thrive on inspiring generations to both listen to and play music.
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