“Blow on this,” someone said. And whatever happened next must have brought untold pleasure, for it happened again and again. Those words, however, were unlikely to have been in English, nor even the incorrect Google German “schlag auf diese”, despite it happening in the region know as the Swabian Alb. That’s because it was at least 40,000 years ago when perhaps the earliest known musical instrument was made and much later discovered. It wasn’t a trumpet, even though it was made from mammoth tusks. It might have been made to mimic birdsong, with one early five-hole model made from a vulture wing bone, and others made from swan bones. But it has certainly not had its swansong. Others were later made from bamboo, wood and metal. And so the world heard it for the first time, a shrill, but then beautiful, half-breathy, haunting sound, from an instrument that can elevate almost any melody into greater purity than even the human voice – the flute.
Flutes come in all shapes and sizes, but all produce sound when air is blown across or into a hole, causing vibration. Within the flute, different combinations of holes are covered or uncovered by fingers or valves to produce different pitches inside the instrument’s resonant cavity. The best known model is the modern western concert flute, usually made of metal. My earliest memory of the flute was watching on TV the lively, darting eyes of Belfast-born James Galway, who despite suffering from nystagmus, is undoubtedly a master flautist, and is known, for obvious reasons, as the man with the golden flute.
But this week’s topic is as much about other non-reed woodwind instruments. Other side-blown cousins to the concert flute include the piccolo, fife, dizi and bansuri, not forgetting the nose flute. And there’s also a whole fleet of end-blown flutes, such as the Persian ney, Chinese xiao, Balkan kaval, Korean danso, Japanese shakuhachi and Egyptian quena.
In another family there are the fippled flutes, all of which have a specially shaped mouthpiece to help direct airflow. Best known of these is the recorder, which, coming in a family of sizes from descant to double contra bass, is often associated with a horrible noise created by bands of junior school pupils. But when properly controlled, the recorder can be just as spellbinding as the flute. An incredible recorder player – Charlotte Barbour-Condini – reached the final of 2012’s Young Musician of the Year. But during the Rennaissance of the 16th and early 17th centuries, alongside the “flaut”, the recorder was the electric guitar of the day. Its players and composers, from John Dowland to William Byrd, were the sex symbols and pop starts of court, with Henry VIII, the daddy of all sexy doublet-and-hose-sporting silverbacks, boasting a collection of 76 variously long ones. He was a right old rock’n’recorder. In the meantime, here’s a dash of so-called speed-folk featuring that very instrument.
Non-reed woodwind instruments may not have dominated the era of modern song, but when used potently they can really make a piece special. So if they play any key or prominent role then all such examples are worth nominating. And don’t forget there are other non-reed contenders blowing in too from South America to China, from pan pipes to the gemshorn, flageolet, tonette, fujara, or ocarina. We can also include any kind of whistle, including metal pea police models, boatswain and maritime whistles, to football referee types, the three-tone samba whistle, the tin whistle, any other human-voiced wolf or other whistles.
Who better then to guide which way this week’s wind blows with your song suggestions than conductor’s wand-waving RR regular magicman? Send your nominations through in comments below and optionally in the Spotify playlist by last orders (11pm BST) on Monday 29 September in order for him to orchestrate them into a skilfully whistled-down list by Thursday 2 October. Right then, time to blow…
To increase the likelihood of your nomination being considered, please:
• Tell us why it’s a worthy contender.
• Quote lyrics if helpful, but for copyright reasons no more than a third of a song’s words.
• Provide a link to the song. We prefer Muzu or YouTube, but Spotify, SoundCloud or Grooveshark are fine.
• Listen to others people’s suggestions and add yours to a collaborative Spotify playlist.
• If you have a good theme for Readers recommend, or if you’d like to volunteer to compile a playlist, please emailpeter.kimpton@theguardian.com
• There’s a wealth of data on RR, including the songs that are “zedded”, at the Marconium. It also tells you the meaning of “zedded”, “donds” and other strange words used by RR regulars.
• Many RR regulars also congregate at the ‘Spill blog.
