The extended alto flute: The history and development of the alto flute, with a study of modern alto flute design and its effect on extended techniques in alto flute repertoire and pedagogical materials

Abstract

The purpose of this document is to trace the origin of the modern alto flute from its beginning through Theobald Boehm's design, compare the designs and acoustical qualities of modern alto and c-flutes; identify the various types of extended techniques found in contemporary alto and c-flute repertoire with attention as to how the realizion of these techniques may differ for alto and c-flute; and survey representative works for alto flute that incorporate extended techniques. Chapter I follows the development of larger flutes from examples found in Renaissance-period sources up to the early nineteenth century. Chapters II and III discuss Boehm's design innovations, identify specific parts of alto flute design that distinguish it from the c-flute, in in aspects such as air column diameter and volume, tone hole location and diameter, and head joint design. Chapters IV through VII investigate the origins of extended techniques on alto and c-flute and include explanation of various monophonic, microtonal and multiphonic techniques, and identify differences between alto and c-flute responses in these areas. Chapter VIII examines representative solo and chamber works for alto flute that incorporate extended techniques, with descriptions of the techniques and a grading system that rates these works on their level of extended technique difficulty. Three appendices are included: Appendix A is a quarter-tone fingering chart for the alto flute; Appendix B is a listing of alto flute multiphonic fingerings: Appendix C is a listing of descriptive notes for the multiphonics in Appendix B.