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A flageolet is a woodwind musical instrument and a member of the fipple flute family. Its invention is ascribed to the 16th Century Sieur Juvigny in 1581.[1] It had 4 holes on the front and 2 on the back. The English instrument maker William Bainbridge developed it further and patented the "improved English flageolet" in 1803 as well as the double flageolet around 1805.[2] They were continued to be made until the 20th Century when it was succeeded by the tin whistle.

Flageolets have varied greatly during the last 400 years. The first flageolets were called "French flageolets", and have four tone-holes on the front and two on the back. This instrument was played by Frédéric Chalon and Samuel Pepys, and Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel both wrote pieces for it.

Small versions of this instrument, called bird flageolets were also made and were used for teaching birds to sing.

The number of keys on French flageolets range from none to seven, the exception being the Boehm system French flageolet made by Buffet crampon which had thirteen keys.

In the late 18th and early 19th century certain English instrument makers started to make flageolets with six finger-holes on the front. These instruments are called "English flageolets" and were eventually produced in metal as tin whistles.[citation needed] The keys range between none and six. Some were produced with changeable top joints which allowed the flageolet to be played as a flute or fife.[citation needed]

An English maker, William Bainbridge, in around 1810 patented a double flageolet [1] which consisted of two English flageolets joined together so that the player could harmonise the tunes that he played. He also produced a triple flageolet which added a third, drone pipe which was fingered in a similar way to an ocarina.

The flageolet was eventually entirely replaced by the tin whistle and is rarely played today.[citation needed] However, it is a very easy instrument to play and the tone is soft and gentle. It has a range of about two octaves.

[edit] Dilli Kaval (Reed Kaval)

  • Origin : Turkey
  • Material: Plum wood

Single piece traditional end blown flute, good tuned... Soprano (C) and Alto (A) are hand made with tonimetric patent of Burhan Tarlabaşı. All 12 tones from Low A to Hig G# are manufactured in set. Also made of ebony and apricot wood. http://www.volkangucer.com/kavaltr.gif

  • Abanoz Dilli Kaval (Ebony Reed Kaval) C#
  • Material: Ebony

This special custom made ebony reed kavals is very rare, engineered by Burhan Tarlabaşı (C#). Their sound are very crisp and similar to irish whistles, but the wood adds up a breathy softness. http://www.volkangucer.com/kavalabanoz.gif

    • Abanoz Dilli Kaval (Ebony Reed Kaval) F#

This special custom made ebony reed kavals is very rare, engineered by Burhan Tarlabaşı (F#). Their sound are very crisp and similar to irish whistle, but the wood adds up a breathy softness. http://www.volkangucer.com/abanozf.jpg

[edit] Common Technical Characteristics of Reed Kavals

  • KAVAL (TONE) NAME : 5th hole sound, in response to the sound at the piano.
  • NOTE: At the second line, written with §.
  • NORMAL PLAY TONE : It is determined with the series that starts and finishes with the 5th hole.
  • NATURAL SOUND SERIES: By the sound system of Turkish Music; the European Music sounds are created by the response of piano sounds.
  • SLIM AND THICK TONES: The strength of the play determined tones. By the thick sounds (P) light, by the sharp tones (f-ff) a strong whistle will be made. The most suitable sounds are taken from the thick and the middle parts...
  • THICKEST TONE: It can be taken while the 7th hole is open (and the others are closed ).
  • SOUND WIDENESS: The sound that is taken from the place of the thickest tone; 2 octaves, one minor triple.
  • http://www.burhantarlabasi.com/en/pic/lakaval.gif
Flageolets - Museum of music, Paris
Flageolets - Museum of music, Paris
Flageolet XIXe - Private collection Dominique Enon
Flageolet XIXe - Private collection Dominique Enon

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Stanley Sadie (editor). Norton/Grove The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980/1995 ISBN 1561591742
  2. ^ The Pleasant Companion: The Flageolet's Site

[edit] External links

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Annotations

  • a wind instrument. similar to a recorder or oboe. in ‘single’ & ‘double’
    formats. made of wood &/or silver. commonly tuned to key of D

  • Repost of information collected from various annotations to entries of January - May 1660.

    A small wooden pipe, having six or more holes, and a mouthpiece inserted at one end. It produces a shrill sound, softer than of the piccolo flute, and is said to have superseded the old recorder.

  • Repost from ‘other instruments’ page
    music-flageolet picture of same
    http://www.kawells.fsnet.co.uk/flageolet.htm
    http://musicologie.free.fr/sites/flageolet.html
    double flageolet

  • The Flageolet used by SP is known as the “french flageolet

  • I bought a tin/penny whistle for my son, some years ago…
    … and it was referred to as a flageolot throughout all the documentation.

  • Waits playing three hautboys and a sackbut, from a drawing in London & Westminster Prints and Drawings Volume II, Pepys Library, Magdalen College, Cambridge.
    See:
    http://www.waits.org.uk/pictures/originals_undated.htm#17th%20Century%20Waits

  • Today, 14 April 2005, Sotheby’s London is offering for sale (says the TLS for 8 April) “The Pleasant Companion; or, New Lessons and Instructions for the Flagelet,” by Thomas Greeting, a friend of Pepys’s. Four copies of the 2nd edition, 1673, are held in Stockholm and Washington. The auction copy “of this delightful work, containing pieces by, among others, Matthew Locke and Pelham Humprey, is expected to fetch between L3,000 and L4,000.”

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References in the diary

1660
Jan: 16, 30
Feb: 3, 8, 17, 27
May: 1, 14, 18
Jun: 21
1661
Apr: 3
Jun: 5
1662
Mar: 26
May: 9
1663
Nov: 9
1664
Jul: 20