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KelticDead Music
KelticDead Folk Music Broadsides
The “Celtic” Whistle:
Origins and Developments
Next to the drum, the whistle/flute is believed to be the oldest “musical” instrument
known to man. In recent archeological discoveries, a bone whistle was discovered
in a cave in southwestern Germany that played the musical pentatonic scale; the
Hohle Fels Flute.
Based upon the sediment
and location, the Hohle
Fels Flute/whistle is
estimated to be anywhere
from 35,000 to 40,000
years old.
What is significant about the Hohle Fels Flute is that it has a degree of
sophistication in the design, as a pentatonic scale whistle. That would indicate the
culture which made it had an even older awareness of musical scales. This find
pushes the timeline of mankind’s knowledge of music before the Sumerian and
possibly even of the Tartarian civilizations.
Regardless of distinctions in how the
wind is blown down a tube, or across
an opening on the tube to make the
sound, these “wind-instruments” have
been in our musical cultures throughout
the world for thousands of years. For
example, From tombs excavated in
China at over 12,000 years ago, the
bone “jiahu flutes” had six to eight
holes, and can still be played today.
Most “wind” “tube” musical
instruments are based upon the
open, six-hole design no matter how
many adaptations are made or how
many keys are added to that basic
design. Changing octaves requires
a bit of player breath control, but
that’s true with all wind instruments.
In addition, most of these ancient
wind instruments were based on the
“natural” scale (also known as the
Pythagorean scale). This type of
tuning is one of the reasons why
these instruments remained in the
category of “folk” music for many
years, because they sounded great
selectively, but tuning with other
instruments could vary.
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