of basic intonation of individual flutes can be seen in figure 15.10,and
the largest deviation achieves an interval of almost a perfect fifth.Here,
too,the internal shape and size of the mouthpiece (manner and shape of
distal widening of the bone at the metaphysis and how thoroughly the
spongiosa is removed) are clearly very important.
A new difficulty in determining basic pitch was seen in the various pos-
sible ways of blowing into the flute (e.g.,notched,rim-blown,transverse),
since basic tones produced in the different ways varied greatly.As an
example,figure 15.11 shows the basic tones of the metal flute played in
four different ways.It follows from this that we can only guess at the
more exact basic frequency of the flute.
Even greater difficulties appeared when we attempted to determine
the selection of sounds (possible musical scale) that could be drawn from
a flute,since a change in pitch can be achieved in a number of ways:
changing the embouchure and strength of blowing,partly or completely
closing the lower end of the instrument,overblowing,and lengthening
and shortening of the length of the instrument.We successfully used all
these methods in our experiments,and they appreciably affected the
pitch.Embouchure and strength of blowing had an influence on chang-
ing the basic tone and had similar effects on other possible tones (figures
15.12,15.13,and 15.14).
Partly closing the lower part of the flute theoretically enables a con-
tinuous change of pitch between closed and open instruments.With our
reconstructions,we succeeded in executing small,continuous changes of
tone,and the instruments quickly transformed from closed to open type
(or vice versa).Such closure could also be achieved by placing the fingers
at the lower end of the instrument (stopping the hole).In such a way,
the tone could be precisely changed continuously downward by more
than a perfect fourth.The length of the instrument could be extended in
a simple way only with the hand,but this did not have much effect in
259 New Perspectives on the Beginnings of Music
Figure 15.11
Comparison of the basic tones of a metal reconstruction of the bone flute played in dif-
ferent ways:(1) as a rim-blown flute blown at the distal end,(2) as a rim-blown flute blown
at the proximal end,(3) as a notched flute,and (4) as a transverse flute blown at hole two
and with the proximal part closed.
Fig.15.11