The Engelberger five-tone flute is available in two tunings. It has been specially developed for beginners playing wind instruments. It differs significantly from the construction method of traditional recorders in the proportions of the sound-forming areas, but without losing or even hindering the possibilities of clear articulation.
It is incomprehensible that the area of articulation is often neglected, although it has long been known that the sound makes the music. And how does a melody sound if it consists of nothing but notes breathed in the same way? Our language also comes to life through the colourfulness of its articulation. And when we tell children a fairy tale, for example, we use all these shades of our language to allow the little listeners to really experience the story. If music is to live in children, it is important that they can experience it.
It would also be incomprehensible that at an age when children have already learnt to articulate sounds (language), this ability should not be used and developed for music. For this reason, great importance has been attached to the possibility of free and broad articulation in the development and construction of each individual instrument. However, as the Engelberg five-tone flute is aimed at beginners, the range was deliberately limited in order to concentrate the lessons on the basics.
In this way, the children are not distracted from their search for small, cleanly played and sensitive melodies by a large range that they cannot grasp.
The playing range includes the 5 notes d, e, g, a and b, which can be played via the four finger holes at the front. The instrument is made of seasoned, waxed pear wood, and the design has been carefully considered to harmonise light weight and robust suitability for everyday use.
Joachim Kunath
Our Engelberg five-tone flute has only 5 notes on purpose. This makes it simple enough for the child to experience in the first year of school that his or her great endeavours will also bear fruit. It is essential that every child can have this experience, and this is certainly the case with an instrument with only four holes.
It was also important to us to create a recorder through which enough air can be released to strengthen the child's exhalation. Don't we tend to only breathe in nowadays? But the invigorating inhalation can only take place if the child has first exhaled vigorously; and how happy the child is when it is allowed to transform the inhaled air completely into sound.
From the very beginning, we make sure that the tip of the tongue is used to produce the sound: it is our servant that opens the door to the sound at the right time. It is well known how essential the sounds D and T are for the development of a child's thinking (GA 307, Ilkley, 8 August 1923).
If you can cultivate them here in the musical stream, you should not miss it. These are the outer sides of the little recorder. But the essential thing is that it presents us with so few technical difficulties that we can work on the innermost embouchure.
So let's get started. Of course, the teacher always plays every little exercise, because the child needs the impression of hearing, which then helps him to imitate. Sometimes it takes us a long time to reach the child's ear because it is closed. In this way, the infant has protected itself from the modern noise to which it is often exposed.
But we must succeed in teaching our children to really listen again. For example, the teacher now lets the sounds talk to each other and ask each other: "Are you there?". This is different from me saying: "Now please play the same note three times."
With the help of this little sentence, I can also encourage the melodic thought to flow, to turn towards the other person. This creates a musical conversation between teacher and student. It is important to remain in constant inner movement and to lead our melodies, which are always entrusted to us from the inaudible, from one note to the next.
For us adults, the sounds often have something standing, existing for themselves - we string them together. But we get over this by playing quickly and thus creating the illusion of movement. But doesn't this sometimes leave our soul completely empty?
For the child, it is a tangible reality that every note has two gates: the one to which the melody comes in, the other to which it goes out again. And our marvellous, yet also responsible task is to awaken not only the outer ear of the child, who is still so close to the land of origin, but also the inner ear, with which it perceives the inaudible, the heavenly power of music. This is what the child needs in order to develop sufficient inner substance that will carry him through the difficult times when so many external attacks are aimed at preventing the young person from realising his ego.
Dorothea Hahn