Playing the flute in America used to mean heavy doses of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.
Pick up the flute today, however, and chances are you’ll be whistling a new tune–or perhaps even blowing into an exotic instrument that vaguely resembles an ancient religious object (complete with intricate carvings, vivid colorings and a profoundly mystical sound).
The standard silver flute that young musicians and old masters have been playing for more than a century, in other words, is losing its monopoly in American culture. Though it remains the instrument of choice in Western symphony orchestras, a new wave of instruments from distant places and ancient cultures has been gaining ground in American music.
What’s more, these instruments carry traditions of musical performance and repertoire that stretch far beyond the three B’s.
Call it democratization of the flute.
“It’s no longer good enough to just know about the silver flute,” said flutist Christine Potter as she tested a variety of instruments during the National Flute Association Convention in the Chicago Hilton and Towers hotel, which ends Sunday.
“I make sure my students learn about Native American flutes, Japanese shakuhachi flutes, Bolivian flutes, everything. I have dozens of them. There’s an enormous history and variety of flute playing throughout the world, and students need to know that there’s more to flute music than John Philip Sousa.”
Like the rest of the 4,000-plus teachers, students, performers and aficionados who have converged on Chicago for the 25th anniversary convention, Potter couldn’t help but observe that the definition of flute playing in America has expanded dramatically. That much was apparent from the remarkable array of instruments on view at the convention’s exhibition hall, from the quena (a simple, wooden instrument from Peru) to the ocarina (an intricately carved clay instrument from Chile shaped to resemble various pre-Columbian gods and icons).
So why has America swung open its doors to forms of flute music that long had been ignored?
The rising popularity of “world music”–in the record bins and on the radio–has had something to do with it. During the past 25 years, bands led by Brazilian singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento, Senegalese singer-composer Youssou N’Dour and British folk-rock musician Ian Anderson have whetted America’s appetite for unconventional flute playing.
Further, the compact disc explosion of the late 1980s brought to the music-store bins exotica by hitherto unknown ensembles from South America, Australia, China and other far-flung locales.
Thus, what was once considered strange and unfamiliar has become practically de rigeur even in the halls of academia.
“At Ohio State University, where I teach, we offer a required class for freshmen and sophomores in world music, and there’s a course in African music history, as well,” said flute professor Katherine Borst Jones, who also is a past president of the flute association.
“As America has become more multicultural, perhaps it’s no surprise that the flute has as well.”
Yet flutists have been more open to the sounds of foreign cultures than other instrumentalists. Drop in on a comparable gathering of pianists or violinists, for instance, and you’re likely to hear the standard European repertory of the past couple of centuries.
The flute, however, by its nature speaks to many musical cultures and eras, if only because it’s an ancient instrument that has come of age in uncounted societies around the world. The piano and violin, in other words, may be distinct creations of European music over the past 300 years, but the flute originates in the carved animal bones that prehistoric man played at the dawn of civilization.
Yet even as the flute has flourished as an instrument around the world, only recently has the American music establishment acknowledged and embraced sounds from outside its borders.
In part, that may be out of necessity.
“It’s all about bringing in new audiences–putting bodies in the seats–which is something that symphony orchestras across America are trying to do,” said New Orleans flutist Patti Adams, who is also program chair for the flute association convention.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re having jazz, Irish music, a Venezuelan band, African-American music and all kinds of ethnic players performing at the convention.”
During the four-day convention, Chicagoans dropping in on the event (which is open to the public) will have heard all manner of flutes dispatching jazz classics by Jon Hendricks and “Cannonball” Adderley, tangos by Astor Piazzolla, folk dances of Brazil, concert works by the African-American composer William Grant Still, flute choir music from China and ancient melodies played on a 750-year-old instrument.
Futurists will savor a “plugged-in” electronic flute concert, and novelty-seekers will behold the triple flageolet (which can articulate three melody lines at once).
Clearly the winds are shifting in the world of the flute.
“All I’m trying to do is make the classical music world aware of all the other traditions of playing,” said Mike Becker, a dealer whose Native Sounds display at the convention includes Apache bamboo flutes, Oklahoma Cherokee flutes and even a medieval-style gemshorn, carved from an animal’s horn.
“It’s critical that people know about these instruments, because as the world inevitably becomes more modernized, we risk forgetting and losing those traditions. That would be a tragedy.”
Becker need not worry, judging by the activities of various Chicago musicians who are performing at the convention. Local bands such as Siurco (which plays a broad variety of Irish music) and the Mirandas (Brazilian folk music) have piqued the interest of the visiting flutists.
“I’ve been playing classical music for 25 years, but choro music offered a way to branch out,” said Julie Koidin, flutist of the Mirandas. She referred to a Brazilian music that roughly resembles a mixture of jazz, ragtime and bluegrass.
“We’re trying to broaden Chicago’s opinion of Brazilian music, and the flute is uniquely positioned to do that.”
Indeed, considering its versatility and nearly universal appeal, the flute seems likely to lead the way into new, foreign and ancient musical sounds.
“No matter what kind of flute you’re playing, there’s something about the sound of it that seems to touch listeners,” said Jones.
“It’s sensual, it’s spiritual, it’s natural, it’s a pure sound that seems to entice people everywhere.
“You know, we flutists are called `birds,’ ” added Jones, “and what could sound more appealing than that?”
