The tonal range of the all instruments in this article is C5 through D6. The goal is to make playing as easy and intuitive as possible. Finger holes are raised so they’re easier for youngsters to fully cover than those of recorders with their flat, unadorned holes. Tonette (photo courtesy of Gibson by way of Offerup )Īs with the other three instruments in this article, you progressively lift your fingers to play the scale. A few even sport a removable bell or tail. This permits tuning and easier cleaning, too. Many tonettes consist of a single piece of molded plastic and are not tunable. Though they look like cylindrical bore flutes, tonettes sound more like the plastic ocarinas they are. This design is largely responsible for their unique timbre. In fact, they’re inline ocarinas, or vessel flutes that extend straight out from the mouth with a row of fingering holes. The closed end means that tonettes are vessel flutes, instruments that rely on resonance within a closed air chamber for their voice. (Even those with the flared bell, which is purely decorative and serves no function.) Inspect the end of your plastic flute - if it has an open end, it is not a tonette. It’s important to note that all tonettes have closed ends. Most have a tapered end, though some feature a bell reminiscent of a clarinet. They measure 7.5 to 8.5 inches long and a bit over an inch at their widest point. Over the decades they’ve been made in every color of the rainbow, yet for some reason, black predominates. These photos at Ebay show how a variety of tonettes look. On each instrument, a stamped imprint just below the mouthpiece identifies it as a tonette by the words “Tonette”, “Swanson”, or “Gibson”. A variety of companies have manufactured them since including The Tonette Company, Chicago Musical Instrument Co., Swanson, Gibson, and Dimestore Dreams/Binary Arts Corp. The tonette was invented in the late 1930s by Ziegner Swanson. Top to Bottom: 2 Song Flutes, white Flutophone, Gemshorn, Red and Black Tonettes Let’s take a detailed look at tonettes, song flutes, flutophones, and precorders. In this article we’ll leave these last two to others and keep the focus on traditional pre-band flutes. New competitors have emerged, too, such as low-end plastic recorders and ocarinas. Meanwhile, Suzuki introduced their precorder®, which to all appearances looks like an updated, modernized tonette. Today, the tonette has fallen to the wayside and is no longer produced. Talk to someone who grew up in the decades since, and they’re more likely to recall their flutophone. Talk to someone who grew up in the 40s, 50s or 60s, and they probably remember their tonette or song flute. The flutophone’s sales really take off several decades after its introduction. The company claims their flute has since been the introductory instrument for some 50 million children. Trophy’s flutophone ® joins the competition in 1943. government even produces tonettes for military personnel during World War II. These little black flutes quickly become familiar to a generation of schoolchildren as they establish themselves as ubiquitous in primary education. The pre-band concept starts in the late 1930s with the inventions of the tonette and the song flute. We’ll listen to sound clips that show how even these simple instruments can act as vehicles for true musical expression. You might actually enjoy playing them! They’re not all just for kids. Oh, and there’s one more reason to discuss these flutes. It’s no surprise we view these cheap flutes as the perfect means to start youngsters in their musical education. The idea is that kids start on an instrument that’s as fun and approachable as a toy in grade school and then graduate to concert instruments as they mature. They’re often described as pre-band instruments. They fit small hands and make playing scales intuitive. These simple flutes are inexpensive, easy to clean, portable, and nearly indestructible. You probably remember tooting one yourself. Perhaps the biggest one is simply that they’ve introduced tens of millions of American schoolchildren to music. There are a whole host of reasons to familiarize yourself with these instruments - even if you never play them.
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