The flabiol () is a
Catalan woodwind
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments.
Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Ree ...
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...
of the family known as ''
fipple flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
s''. It is one of the 12 instruments of the
cobla. The flabiol measures about 25 centimeters in length and has five or six holes on its front face and three underneath.
Overview
The two main types are the ''dry flabiol'' without keys, usually made of a hardwood such as
bubinga, and the keyed flabiol, used in coblas for
sardana dances and in other folk music ensembles.
The flabiol is normally played by the left hand while the player uses the right hand to beat a small drum (called ''
tamborí'') attached to the left elbow.
All sardanes played by a cobla begin with a short introduction (''introit'') from the flabiol which is terminated by a single tap of the ''tamborí''.
Its traditional geographic zone extends from the south of
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
to the
Roussillon
Roussillon ( , , ; , ; ) was a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and French Cerdagne, part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the region of ' ...
area of France, and from the Eastern strip of
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
to the
Balearic islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...
, where it is used as solo instrument with its own melodies.
Apart from being in the cobla for the performance of sardanes, the flabiol is also found in the reduced version of the cobla known as ''cobla of three quarters'' formed of one tarota or
tible, a flabiol and a ''sac de gemecs'' (
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...
).
A specific type of flabiol is the ''flabiol de gralla''. This is a flabiol made to be played with the same fingering as the
gralla, an instrument used in traditional music such as that played during
castells performances. This is helpful for children and others as it is easier to play than the gralla, helping them learn skills that can be transferred to the gralla later. It is also useful for gralla players to practise at home or otherwise indoors where the loud sound of the gralla would disturb others.
[Benito Alemany, Paula]
''Mètode de gralla.''
P. 22. Accessed September 9, 2021.
Flabiol fingering
The flabiol is a
transposing instrument
A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which music notation is not written at concert pitch (concert pitch is the pitch on a non-transposing instrument such as the piano). For example, playing a written middle C on a transposing ...
in the key of F, and the played notes sound an
eleventh (
octave
In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...
and a
perfect fourth
A fourth is a interval (music), musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending int ...
) higher than those written.
The Flabiol requires special playing skill, because it is generally played only with the left hand, using the thumb and the first three fingers, with the little finger able to play a tone hole under the instrument and providing the required stability. The four holes at the lower end are used as vent holes and for tuning with wax plugs. If any of the four lowest semitones are required, the thumb and one or two fingers of the right hand have to be used. Keyed versions have the key pads between the top 3 toneholes for fast play. The Flabiol is the original model for the modern
Tonette
The stub-ended Swanson tonette is a small (6" cavity), end-blown vessel flute made of plastic, which was once popular in American elementary music education. Though the tonette has been superseded by the recorder (musical instrument), recorder i ...
or Flutophone, popular with school children.
See also
*
Pipe and tabor
References
*Jeremy Montagu, ''Was the Tabor Pipe Always as We Know It?'', in ''Early Music'', Vol 9, No. 1. p 141
*Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, Richard Trillo, ''World Music: The Rough Guide'', Vol 1, p 108
*Walter Aaron Clark, ''
Isaac Albéniz: Portrait of a Romantic'', Oxford University Press, 2002 p 197
External links
El Flabiol- Flabiol web site (in Catalan)
El testament n'AmèliaVideo of a performance of this sardana (composer
Joan Lamote de Grignon) by the cobla "Comptat d'Empúries" at the Castelló d'Empúries. The flabiol plays the theme tune as an extended introduction.
MIDI files of folk pieces for flabiol collected by Joan Tomàs and Joan Amades atalan
{{Authority control
Aragonese musical instruments
Balearic musical instruments
Catalan musical instruments
Internal fipple flutes
Spanish musical instruments
Sardana