Mapping the sound world of the flute: towards a new classification of standard and extended techniques

Abstract

In the last decades, some literature has been published about extended techniques, and composers have made them part of the contemporary music language. However, the classification of extended techniques in these writings is often arbitrary, based on the way they have been discovered and used. In this contribution, a new way of classifying flute playing techniques is proposed, with the aim of grouping them according to their role in sound production and to the gestural parameters that are involved for each of them. First, a definition of the concept of extended technique is given. An overview of publications since the 1960s will show the existing classifications; then types of musical gesture according to Cadoz and Wanderley (2000) and a classification of extended techniques based on the musical instrument classification system by Hornbostel and Sachs (1914) will be applied to the flute, with a description of the articulators involved in the flute sound production.