What is a flute choir? Today the term generally refers to an ensemble of 5 of more flutes. Using this definition one could argue that flute “choirs” have been around for a long time, fife and drum corps and Irish flute bands being prime examples. Flutists have always enjoyed performing together. Boismortier, an 18th century composer, wrote beautiful flute quintets, still popular today. However, the “modern” flute choir is a recent development, and the once sparse selection of repertoire for the group is now abundant and includes a large variety of literature.

In the 1960’s “modern” flute choirs surfaced in many different parts of the country, largely unbeknownst to each other. Typically these flute choirs were formed in colleges as a means of including the many graduating high school flutists in college music programs. The directors often arranged or composed music for the groups. Gradually these groups began to learn about each other, and in 1972 a small group of flutists pursued a vision of a national meeting to come together just for the love of the flute. The National Flute Association was formed with its first annual meeting held in California in August 1973. James Christensen was asked to arrange Bach’s Air from Suite No. 3 in D Major for mixed flute ensemble, which was the only work presented for flute choir at the meeting. This was the beginning.

In 1976 The National Flute Association included several competitions in their plans for the annual convention, including a newly published music competition as well as a competition for a High School Flute Choir. Thus the flute choir movement took off. Bass flutes were first commercially available in the late 1960’s. Less than two decades later at the 1982 convention, the Tokyo Flute Ensemble Academy performed with contrabass flutes as part of their group. By 1985 the flute industry was producing better and more affordable alto and bass flutes. Arrangements and original compositions for flute choir began to be published. In 1978 Myrna Brown produced a repertoire list of 128 flute choir works, many in manuscript. In 1996 Carol Kniebusch Noe, formerly at James Madison University, published A Guidebook to Flute Choir Literature which was 104 pages long! Presently there are over 1000 pieces available for flute choir.

The Instruments

The most common instruments in a flute choir are piccolo, C flute, alto flute and bass flute. Eb flute and contrabass flute are recent additions. Students really enjoy having the opportunity to play the different flutes, and each instrument brings a distinctive tone color to the ensemble. However, because many groups only have access to C flute and piccolo, compositions are often published with C flute substitutions for Eb flute or alto flute. A number of composers have also begun writing for “expandable” flute choir. An “expandable” work can be performed successfully with various numbers of flutes, for example from a quartet format to an octet, using alto and bass flutes as an added dimension, rather than a duplication of existing parts.

What The Students Learn

Because flute choir is a chamber music experience, it offers the students the opportunity for more individual attention than is possible in the school band setting. We focus on typical chamber ensemble skills, with special emphasis on developing listening skills to improve intonation, phrasing, articulation and tone quality. The flute choir repertoire varies from three to as many as twelve individual parts. Therefore the students become more independent, rather than “following the leader,” as often happens in band when there are many flutes on one part. In addition, by changing parts and instruments, the students learn to pay attention to where their part fits into the harmonic and melodic structure. Because there are few players on a part, the students become more comfortable with playing by themselves as well as the constructive criticism necessary to correct errors. By learning to direct while playing, they become more aware of the meaning of a conductor’s motions and learn when it is especially important to pay close attention. All of these skills translate into a more competent, cooperative and responsive flute section in the band.

Adapted from Amy Rice-Young, "Flute Choirs", Alry Publications, etc., inc 1982