Myth 1. Recorder is made from a log on the knee.
In fact, the production of a family of flutes is a high-tech, multi-stage and complex process that requires the involvement of special equipment and professional skills of highly qualified craftsmen, of which there are only a few in Ukraine today. There are only a few craftsmen who know the technique of making professional flutes. Some of them cooperate with the Acropolis company.
The first stage is the purchase and preparation of wood.
In the 21st century wood for woodwind instruments is a rare and precious material. Mostly, maple, pear, and cherry are used for flutes, dried naturally or vacuum-dried for 5-10 years.
The second stage in the manufacture of the instrument is the selection of the most suitable wood. From 100% of the material, only about half corresponds to the acoustic and other properties.
The third stage is boiling the wood in paraffin for 72 hours to give the material water-repellent properties.
The fourth stage is the moment of transformation of the blank into a tube, in which an internal channel is drilled, and the outside is decoratively processed, giving it an aesthetic shape.
The fifth stage is culminating and decisive for the quality of the future instrument. At this, the most responsible stage, work is carried out on the labium, which completely depends on the sound characteristics of the instrument.
At the final stages, the instruments go through the tempering process (arrangement in a certain system), and only then are they subject to expert evaluation.
Myth 2. Recorder is the cheapest instrument.
Flutes exist in different standards, the cost of which is formed under the influence of clearly formulated practical and aesthetic requirements. As one of the most common musical instruments in Ukraine, the flute is mostly associated with a school instrument of a democratic price group. However, in fact, the production of flutes is divided into separate segments that can satisfy different needs: school, student, student and professional concert instruments, the price of which often reaches 20,000 hryvnias. Instrument making is a developed culture in the world, closer to art than to simple manufacture. The Acropolis factory tries to take into account the most diverse needs and possibilities of lovers of this national instrument.
Myth 3. Recorder is an attribute of dryads, shepherds and early aesthetic education.
The stereotype of the viburnum flute firmly tied the image of the instrument to the theme of ethnic tradition. Rich and deep in itself, like the tradition of shepherding, an integral element of which is improvisation on flute instruments, today it is far from the only area in which flutes successfully function. Also, the spread of the instrument among preschoolers, in preparatory classes for wind instruments, general education and music schools does not limit its functions in the musical culture of Ukraine. At the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. the flute develops in the field of academy, concert and science. Specialized flute classes exist at all levels of music education, from music school to music academy, so flute performers can earn bachelor’s, master’s, and postgraduate degrees.
Myth 4.Recorder is an easy to master instrument.
There are a number of instruments that are very attractive due to the simplicity of sound extraction. Among them are the piano, guitar, bandura, percussion group, and among the wind instruments are longitudinal flutes, which also include the Ukrainian flute. This is one of the reasons why it is most often chosen as a beginner or amateur instrument. The beginning really encourages further exercises. But, as in the process of mastering any other instrument, the performer goes through more and more difficult stages. Mastering the flute at a master level requires mastering a whole range of techniques: performance inhalation/exhalation, intonation (the holes in the flute give only an approximate division of the scale, the perfect proportions of which are achieved by the performer thanks to trained hearing, breathing and additional application combinations), articulation, finger motility, as well as coordination of all these techniques for the expressive voicing of real music. Roughly, this requires several thousand hours of practice.
Myth 5.Recorder is an instrument for folklore, carols and children’s melodies.
The flute is the world’s only patented chromatic, valveless wind instrument. Its range (up to three octaves), intuitive application (which, however, becomes more difficult in the upper register), sound characteristics refer it to the group of virtuoso wind instruments. Mastery of the flute enables a musician to achieve any level of musical expression.