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RECORDER, FIPPLE FLUTE

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 967 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

RECORDER, FIPPLE See also:FLUTE Or See also:ENGLISH FLUTE (Fr. fluted-bec, flfite See also:douce, flute anglaise or flute a neuf trous: Ger. See also:Block- or Plockflote, Schnabelflole, Langflote; Ital. flauto deice, flauto diritto), a See also:medieval flute, blown by means of a See also:whistle See also:mouthpiece and held vertically in front of the performer like a See also:clarinet. The recorder only survives in the now almost obsolete See also:flageolet and in the so-called See also:penny-whistle. The recorder consisted of a wooden See also:tube, which was at first cylindrical or nearly so, but became, as the See also:instrument See also:developed and improved, an inverted See also:cone. The whistle mouthpiece has been traced in almost prehistoric times in See also:Egypt and other See also:Oriental countries. The principle of the whistle mouthpiece is based on that of the simplest flutes without embouchure, like the See also:Egyptian See also:nay, with this modification, that, in See also:order to facilitate the See also:production of See also:sound, the See also:air current, instead of being directed through See also:ambient air to the See also:sharp edge of the tube (or the lateral embouchure in the See also:modern flute), is blown through a chink directly into a narrow channel. This channel is so constructed within the mouthpiece that the stream of air impinges with force against the sharp edge of a See also:lip or fipple cut into the See also:pipe below the channel. This throws the air current into the See also:state of vibration required in order to generate sound-waves in the See also:main See also:column of air within the tube. The inverted cone of the See also:bore has the effect of softening the See also:tone of the recorder still further, earning for it the name of flute douce. Being so easy to See also:play, the recorder always enjoyed See also:great popularity in all countries until the greater possibilities of the transverse flute turned the See also:tide against it. The want of See also:character which distinguishes the timbre of the whistle-flute is due to the paucity of See also:harmonic overtones in the clang. The recorder had seven holes in front and one at the back for the thumb.

As See also:

long as the tube was made in one piece the lowest hole stopped by the little See also:finger was generally made in duplicate to serve equally well for right- and See also:left-handed players, the unused hole being stopped with See also:wax. Being an open pipe, the recorder could overblow the See also:octave and even the two following harmonics (i.e. the twelfth and second. octave). The holes produced the diatonic See also:scale, and by means of harmonics and See also:cross-fingering the second and See also:part of a third octave were obtained. The recorder is described and figured by See also:Sebastian Virdung, See also:Martin See also:Agricola and Ottmar Luscinius in the 16th See also:century, and by See also:Michael See also:Praetorius and Marin See also:Mersenne in the 17th century. Praetorius mentions eight different sizes ranging from the small flute two octaves above the cornetto to the great See also:bass. The lowest notes of the large flutes were provided with keys enclosed in perforated wooden or See also:brass cases, which served to protect the mechanism, as yet somewhat See also:primitive; the keys usually had See also:double See also:touch pieces to suit right- or left-handed players. There are at least two See also:fine sets of recorders extant : one is pre-served in the Germanisches Museum at See also:Nuremberg, consisting of eight flutes in a See also:case and dating from the 17th century; the other is the See also:Chester set of four 18th-century See also:instruments, which are fully described and illustrated in a See also:paper by See also:Joseph C. See also:Bridge.' The recorder has been immortalized by See also:Shakespeare in the famous See also:scene in See also:Hamlet (II. 3), which has been treated from the musical point of view in an excellent and carefully written See also:article by See also:Christopher Welch, the author of an equally valuable paper, " The Literature of the Recorder." 2 The small whistle-pipe used to accompany the See also:tabor (Fr. galoubet; Ger. Stamentienpfeiff or Schwegel), which had but three holes, belongs to the same See also:family as the recorder, but from its association with the tabor it acquired distinctive characteristics (see PIPE AND TABOR). (K. S.) ' " The Chester Recorders " in Proc.

See also:

Mus. Assoc., See also:London, 1901. z " Hamlet and the Recorder," ibid., 1902 and 1898.

End of Article: RECORDER, FIPPLE FLUTE

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