The fourth octave on the flute

Abstract

This thesis is an approach to the fourth octave on the flute. The subject is looked at from three different perspectives: the physical, the historical and the technical one. First I investigated the characteristics and the limits of the instrument according to its construction. Then I had an approach to the fourth octave analyzing the flute repertoire. And last I read in flute treatises about the fourth octave and the fingerings. Then all those ideas were brought to the practice room where I experimented with the fourth octave and wrote about my experience. This work is expressed in this text, where also some musical examples of exercises that I have modified can be found and, moreover, there are four recordings made by myself. Three of them are a demonstration of those exercises and the fourth one is an example of a passage where the fourth octave can be found on a flute piece, this is Prokofiev's Sonata for flute and piano.