Flageolet

Classification
Woodwind
Wind
Aerophone
Related instruments
Simple-system flute
Pipe and tabor
Shvi
The flageolet is a woodwind instrument and a member of the fipple flute family. Its
invention was erroneously[1] ascribed to the 16th-century Sieur Juvigny in 1581.[2]
There are two basic forms of the instrument: the French, having four finger holes
on the front and two thumb holes on the back; and the English, having six finger
holes on the front and sometimes a single thumb hole on the back. The latter was
developed by English instrument maker William Bainbridge, resulting in the
"improved English flageolet" in 1803.[3] There are also double and triple
flageolets, having two or three bodies that allowed for a drone and countermelody.
Flageolets were made until the 19th century when they were succeeded by the cheaper
and more easily made tin whistle.[4]
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 Hector Berlioz, Frdric Chalon, Samuel Pepys,
and Robert Louis Stevenson. Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel both wrote
pieces for it. An early collection of manuscript Lessons for the Flajolet, dating
from about 1676, is preserved in the British Library.[5]
Small versions of this instrument, called bird flageolets, were also made and were
used for teaching birds to sing. These tiny flageolets have, like the French
flageolet, four finger holes on the front and two thumb holes on the back.
The number of keys on French flageolets ranges from none to seven, the exception
being the Boehm system French flageolet made by Buffet Crampon which had thirteen
keys. The arrangement of the tone holes on the flageolet yields a scale different
from that on the whistle or recorder. Whereas the whistle's basic scale is D-E-F#-
G-A-B-C#-d, the flageolet's basic scale is D-E-F-G-A-C-d. Cross-fingerings and keys
are required to fill in the gaps.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, 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. The keys number between none and six. Some were produced with changeable
top joints which allowed the flageolet to be played as a flute or fife.[6]
An English maker, William Bainbridge, in around 1810 patented a double flageolet[7]
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.[4] However, it is a very easy instrument to play and the tone is soft
and gentle. It has a range of about two octaves.
The flageolet is composed of several parts: the ivory beak serves as the
instrument's mouthpiece; the windway is a gradually expanding part that leads to
the barrel. The barrel contains the fipple and together they form the wind channel
which focusses the stream of air across the window and onto the labium (lip) where
the stream is split, giving rise to a musical sound. Finally, there is the body (or
bodies, in a double or triple flageolet) which contains the finger holes and keys.
The beak, windway and barrel do not contribute to sound production and the
instrument can be played if these parts are missing.