The Flute Expedition

42 imaginative studies exploring the extended techniques and unusual sounds of the flute

Extract form the introduction:

During my performing and teaching career, I have been constantly researching the possibilities of the flute with special regard to the multiphonic sounds of the instrument. This work resulted in the creation of the software Flouble (www.flouble.com) for flute double-stops. I always aimed to use extended techniques to serve both the development of classical sound production and musical expression. In the 20 or 25 pieces I composed earlier for solo flute or multiple flutes, I had no regard for fellow flutists; I was only interested in what the flute is capable of and what I was able to bring out of the instrument. As I had already accumulated much experience, these works turned out to be too difficult for most players without the proper pre-education. And of course, the experimental flute pieces of other composers and flutist-composers often require similarly high-level virtuosity in the field of extended techniques too. The original goal of The Flute Expedition was to build a bridge between traditional classical techniques and contemporary extended techniques and to prepare flutists for an even more complex repertoire not written for educational purposes. A broader goal is to erase, or never even draw, any borderline separating traditional and modern flute sounds and, right from the beginning of the studies, to see the unity and entirety of all the phenomena that we can call flute playing, flute sound, and flute music.

I hope to be joined by many on this expedition and that this experience will form not only their technique but also their musical thinking, taste, and artistic approach.

Content and Structure

This two-volume series contains 42 short pieces (or 43 if we include the mute piece marked as Nr.0). Each piece concentrates on one or several particular technical possibilities; in each, I circumscribe a musical idea or create a musical situation. The pieces are arranged more or less in order of difficulty, though this is not a consistent rule due to the fact that these studies put forward many different types of challenges, and it is impossible to predict what will be more difficult for which player. Some of these challenges include reading new symbols, learning unusual playing methods, and forms of physical and mental endurance. 

In addition to attempting to arrange the pieces progressively by level of difficulty, I also wanted to create variability of themes, so I put works next to each other that offer different challenges or characters. Therefore, pieces connected in terms of their subject will be spread across the volumes, delving deeper and deeper into the same problem. One example of these thematic groups is the seven movements that focus particularly on natural overtones such as Overtone-Prelude, Ear-Twister, Overtone-Play, Bosporus, Lianas, Ode to the Low B, and Bubbling. Of course, there are other pieces which also utilize this fundamental technique.

Another recurring theme is works based on breathing techniques including Panting, HuXi, Cave, and Gill. There are also eerie-sounding movements like Cave, Ghost, T(h)riller, Tremor, and Whirlwind, movements that include glissando playing such as Vague Memory, Snake Fingers, and Amoeba, as well as other recurring themes throughout the two volumes such as enriching the articulation toolkit, more and more difficult fingering combinations, and increasing complexity of multiphonic sounds. 

The reason for dividing this material into two volumes is that the first volume contains 21 pieces that do not require a flute with either a low B-footjoint or open-hole keys. The first volume will thusly have less variation in playing techniques, while the second (with one or two exceptions) will require the flute’s open holes and/or the B-footjoint and will naturally include more complex works. 

The style of the music within these pieces can, for the most part, be described as contemporary classical as there is a lot of modern musical vocabulary, though the music is not necessarily “avantgarde.” Throughout the pieces, you will often encounter more simple and familiar tonal systems derived from classical music and diverse styles of ethnic music from around the globe. Besides offering my pedagogical approach to flute-playing technique, I intend these books to cultivate musical taste and a sense of openness towards contemporary sounds and styles, including forms of expression that are not found in purely classical works. Through the study of these works, you will become familiar with many new musical and flute-specific concepts, including the natural overtones, several tonal systems, pentatonic, wholetone and octatonic scales, dodecaphonic music, free atonality, microtonal intervals, glissando playing, the effect of different timbres, noise sounds, compound metres and asymmetrical rhythms, un-metered timing, and to certain extent, aleatoric and improvised playing. For all this, we have to leave behind the conventional playing techniques, including our usual ways of blowing and the common fingering patterns, so that we can explore every available possibility. Rather than trying to reach a distant goal, our expedition will proceed along the beaten path, and while broadening it, we will be trying not to overlook anything that could be called a flute sound.  

Due to the nature of the sounds and the hope to avoid any extreme difficulties, there are more slow pieces than fast ones among these works, and the general mood of the music is often meditative, mysterious, dramatic, or lyrical. However, there are also rhythmic and more vigorous works which often borrow from the idioms of minimalism, folk, or popular music. Also, a sense of playfulness and humour appears here and there.

Quite a few pieces share the idea of holding a title borrowed from literature (Monologue, Dialogue, Baladette, etc.). The ones built around one musical pitch also belong to this group (Chapter on the G#, Elegy in C, Drama around G, etc.).

Each piece comes with a detailed explanation which will need to be studied thoroughly to understand the musical concept of the piece and the technical challenges within. In some cases, the special symbols have explanations directly following the piece, whereas explanations of the more commonly used notation can be found in the Legend at the end of the volume, along with a description of the fingering notation. The Nota Bene sections of the instructions provide further advice and encourage more profound reflections on the new concepts.”