Rockin'
Flutes
Can
Flute be a Rock Instrument? Someone submitted this last year for me to write
about—and the answer is YES!!! Why not? Ska bands actually use trombones and
clarinets and saxophones very often in addition to electric guitars. There are
even some “classical” violinists making a great solo career playing Rock tunes
from Metallica. Just as flute is great for Jazz, it’s great for Rock too—Ain’t
it great to play such a versatile instrument?!
The most famous Rock flutist example I can think of is Ian Anderson and his band
Jethro Tull. He pioneered flute in Rock music beginning in 1968. The band is no
celebrating 41 years!
Ian was born in 1947 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. After attending primary
school in Edinburgh, his family relocated to Blackpool in the north of England
in 1959. Following a traditional Grammar school education, he moved on to Art
college to study fine art before deciding on an attempt at a musical career.
Widely recognized as the man who introduced the flute to rock music, Ian
Anderson remains the crowned exponent of the popular and rock genres of flute
playing. So far, no pretender to the throne has stepped forward. Ian also plays
ethnic flutes and whistles together with acoustic guitar and the mandolin family
of instruments, providing the acoustic textures which are an integral part of
most of the Tull repertoire.
Anderson has recorded four diverse solo albums in his career: 1983's
eclectic-electric "Walk Into Light"; the flute instrumental "Divinities" album
for EMI's Classical Music Division in 1995 which reached number one in the
relevant Billboard chart, and the more recently recorded, and critically
acclaimed, acoustic collections, "The Secret Language of Birds", released in
2000, and "Rupi's Dance" in 2003.
For Andersons advice on Flute see the link on The Piper webpage!
BUT— Jethro Tull isn’t the only one out there doing this—In South America, there
are several types of native flutes that are regularly used in popular music. I
promise you will never see or hear a Salsa (the latin dance
not
the food) band without a flute. Cumbia bands always use a Gaita (special flute
found in the Caribbean regions). Even true Rock music from South America uses
both native and classical flutes.
So, you see, our wonderful instrument can be used for anything you like. It just
takes creativity and a sense of adventure to try these other areas of playing.
If you could start any group you wanted and play any type of music you wanted,
where would your imagination take you? Let me know if you want to explore any
of these ideas!
Odd Music Fact:
Many Rock musicians were classically trained, some even graduated form Julliard
in NY, including The Rolling Stones, Queen, Metallica, Def Leppard and many
more!
Meet
Richard Wagner
by Kelsey Bowen
Richard
Wagner, a German romantic and opera composer was born in Liepzig, Germany on May
22, 1813. Carl Griedrich Wagner was his official father, who died soon after
his birth. His mother married her friend, painter, actor, and poet, Ludwig
Geyer, who may even have been his real father. Wagner was a very intelligent
child and had an early interest in theatre. At 15 he wrote a play and at 16 he
wrote his first compositions. Wagner was a music student at a University in
Leipzig. Wagner married Minna Planer in 1836 and sent to Konigsber where he
became a musical director at the theatre.
His first two operas,
Die Feen,
and
Das Liebesuerbot
were experiments with different styles, but in 1842
Rienzi,
a large-scale opera with a political theme set in imperial Rome, was accepted in
Dresden and Wagner went there for its highly successful premiere. Its theme
reflects something of Wagner's own politics (he was involved in the
semi-revolutionary, intellectual 'Young Germany' movement). He formed his more
mature operatic style with
The Flying Dutchman,
which Wagner called simply drama. This opera set him into a new style of opera.
The theme of redemption through a woman's love, in the Dutchman, recurs in
Wagner's operas (and perhaps his life). In 1845
Tannhäuser
was completed and performed and
Lohengrin
begun. In both Wagner moves towards a more continuous texture with semi-melodic
narrative and a supporting orchestral fabric helping convey its sense.
Wagner then began his most famous work of four musical dramas, that took 22
years to complete.
Der Ring des Niebelungen
(The Ring of the Niebelungs) was comprised of the four musical dramas
Das Rheingold,
Die Walkuere,
Siegfried
and
Die Gotterdammerung.
This work is known as one of the most remarkable and influential achievements in
Western Music (Incidentally some of the thematic ideas in this opera were
inspirations to Tolkien when writing the Lord of the Rings). The
Ring
is about 18 hours' music, held together by an immensely detailed network of
themes, or leitmotifs, each of which has some allusive meaning: a character, a
concept, an object etc. They change and develop as the ideas within the opera
develop. They are heard in the orchestra, not merely as 'labels' but carrying
the action, sometimes informing the listener of connections of ideas or the
thoughts of those on the stage.
To create “Gesamtkunstwerk” (literally a total work of art) was Wagner’s
ambition in life. This means to unite all forms of art – music, poetry, dance,
painting, and drama. Wagner used opera to achieve this. He transformed opera
into music drama making it bigger than life, defining moods and colors
effectively. He single-handedly changed opera from a set of “numbers” (a
formula for putting opera scenes together) to a completely fluid and continuous
work of music and art.
Wagner died in Venice Italy, February 13, 1883. Wagner did more than any
composer to arouse music passions and change music.
