Music Practice Commons^™

Jean-François Beaudin: Borrowing From The Old World And The New, Wendell B. Dobbs

Music Faculty Research

The modern flute world is full of innovation. Every year brings a new assortment of changes intended to improve the design or functioning of the modern flute—a new head-joint or a new material, a design innovation such as the vertical flute or a new contrabass flute. Much more subtle are changes to the design of 18thcentury style flutes. Generally, modern makers of these instruments take careful measurements of particular antique flutes that are recognized for ease of playing and copy them. The innovations are most likely subtle—a new wood, gentle tweaking of the embouchure or a tone hole, or cosmetic …