Quarky Plays The Flute
Can you make music out of just air?
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Quarky is writing this for you...
The story
Quarky blows across a hole and the air inside the tube starts wobbling into a note. People made bone flutes like this 35,000 years ago. In 1847 Theobald Boehm rearranged the holes and added keys, so fingers could reach every note easily.
What you'll learn
- Blowing across an opening makes the air column inside the tube vibrate.
- Covering holes changes the tube's length and so changes the note.
- Bone flutes are around 35,000 years old, and Boehm modernised the flute in 1847.
- Quarky takeaway: the very first instrument may have been nothing but breath.
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