The Fipple Flutist

In musicology, the word “fipple” signifies a constricted mouthpiece common to many end-blown flutes, such as the tin whistle and the recorder. These instruments are known as fipple flutes – which thus makes me a fipple flute player aka “Fipple Flutist”. Over the course of the last years, I made many recordings for social media and I am currently selecting the most interesting ones for a solo album (mockup above).

As your typical Aspergirl, I am a collector of many things… such as musical instruments. The core of my collection are my fipple flutes and its relatives (such as the Breton bombarde, the Japanese shakuhachi and the horizontal concert flute). In my collection, I have flutes from Armenia (the shvi), the Celtic countries (tin whistles), India (the Bansuri), Korea (the Angel flute), Australia (bamboo flute) and many more.

What I love the most about playing my flutes is the amazing diversity it offers me. All sorts of tunings, and repertoire from the Seikilos epitaph to the present-day. Every country I visited seems to have its own fipple flute tradition, with another flute, another sound, another folk music tradition.

Inspired by fellow musicians like Sarah, Iryna and Stephanie, with this project, “The Fipple Flutist”, I hope to share my love for fipple flutes via social media, ignited by a wish to inspire others to take up this accessible instrument.

On my YouTube channel and Facebook page, I will share arrangements of well-known songs, traditionals, and musics from TV and games, with clearly visible fingering, for you to copy. There will also be original compositions by me and others, improvisations and comparisons of the various flutes in my collection. Should you have a special request for a song, please do not hesitate to contact me!