The flute can be so much more than a safe, pretty instrument

I won’t make it to every Prom but Prom 22, featuring the New York a capella septet, Naturally 7, is one that’s permanently etched in the diary. Not merely beat-boxers, these cool crusaders have invented a new genre, ‘vocal play’, which basically means they can create the sound of a big band with the number of effects they make with their voices alone.

I’ve always been fascinated by what people can do with their voices. Yet, as a flute player, I’ve always played it safe, preferring the traditional flute repertoire over anything too ‘way out’. Singing while playing? Er, I think not.

But Ian Clarke, who teaches flute at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and also composes and performs, has always embraced extended techniques on the flute and isn’t afraid to experiment. His new album, ‘Deep Blue’, which was released in May, shows us just what the instrument can do. Among the more easy-listening, jazz-inspired tracks is Hatching Aliens – a journey into outer space for flute and piano that reveals the flute as far more than just a ‘pretty’ instrument. And yes, there’s a bit of singing involved, too.

‘Singing and playing does involve a bit of practise,’ Clarke admits. ‘You’re usually singing in parallel with the pitch you’re playing though, so that’s not too hard – but it’s when you have to sing an independent line that it gets difficult.’

This is just one trick up Clarke’s sleeve. On Hatching Aliens, you’ll hear percussive tonguing, jet whistling, microtones and quartertones (Clarke was influenced by Stockhausen’s Xi for solo flute), timbral changes, double-tonguing (sucking, not blowing!)…but none of these effects are used to mask music that’s not worth listening to. ‘The techniques have to be in service to a strong musical idea,’ Clarke says. ‘They’re not a gimmick – because that gets pretty dull and boring pretty quickly.’

Clarke is frustrated that the public view of the flute is still fairly limited. And he has a point. Where’s the evidence of 21st-century flute playing in most concert season brochures? Emmanuel Pahud has done much to expand the flute’s repertoire with a series of commissions, and two of these were performed at the Proms in 2011 – but in fact, as Pahud himself says, none of these ‘are very experimental in terms of extended techniques’. And that’s fine of course – celebrating the flute for its beauty of tone is a good thing. ‘Composers recognise the quality and essence of the flute,’ says Pahud. ‘A flute concerto shouldn’t be a study on how to expand technique.’ But even Pahud admits that, if the musical language requires it, pushing the boundaries in terms of technique is ‘a fantastic thing to do’.

And fantastic is the word. I’ve heard Ian Clarke play live and there’s a real buzz in the audience when he produces sounds that you just wouldn’t expect to hear from the flute. His pieces seem to appeal to players, too. Three woodwind finalists in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition have opted to play Clarke’s Zoom Tube, which has achieved near cult status in the flute world, while The Great Train Race has been on the Grade Eight syllabus for some 13 years. While the public’s perception of the flute may still be stuck at James Galway, the student view has, says Clarke, ‘changed massively over the last 10-15 years’. Perhaps it’s just me who needs to be brave…

Hear an excerpt from the third movement of Clarke's Hatching Aliens on the Gramophone Player below: