November 13th 2008
Late one evening in 1919, the Dolmetsch family joined a huge crowd of people waiting for a train at Waterloo Station in London. The family was returning home from a concert at which they had performed. Inside one of their bags was an old kind of duct flute called a recorder. Continue Reading »
November 13th 2008
Many flutes are held sideways across the player’s mouth. They are called side- blown or transverse flutes. The player blows across the top of a blow hole to play the instrument. Flutes are an ancient kind of instrument which became popular in European concert music about 200 years ago. Early fluteshad open holes along the pipe. You closed these with your fingers to change the pitch, just like a whistle. But early flutes were not easy to play because the fingering was complicated. Continue Reading »
November 13th 2008
Early trumpets and horns were made from natural materials in just the same way as early pipes. However, unlike pipes, trumpets and horns have a thin end to blow through and a thicker, cone- shaped end to carry the sound out into the air. It’s often difficult to tell the difference between an early trumpet and an early horn. Trumpets are usually straight and horns are usually curved. Continue Reading »
November 13th 2008
In 1939, a rare silver trumpet with a long, straight tube was blown for the first time in 3,000 years. It was a tense and exciting moment. The effect was shattering. The trumpet broke into several pieces! The trumpet was one of two discovered in the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Continue Reading »
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