The flabiol also known as flaviol, flubiol or fabirol, is a woodwind

Woodwind instrument

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...

 musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

 of the family known as fipple

Fipple

A fipple is a constricted mouthpiece common to many end-blown woodwind instruments, such as the tin whistle and the recorder. These instruments are known variously as fipple flutes, duct flutes, or tubular-ducted flutes.-How it works:...

 flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

s. It is one of the 12 instruments of the cobla

Cobla

The cobla is a traditional music ensemble of Catalonia, Spain and in Northern Catalonia in France. It is generally used to accompany the Sardana, a traditional Catalan folk dance, danced in a circle.-Structure:...

. The flabiol measures about 25 centimeters in length and has five or six holes on its front face and three underneath.

Overview

The two main types are the dry flabiol without keys, usually made of a hardwood such as bubinga, and the keyed flabiol, used in coblas for sardana

Sardana

The sardana is a type of circle dance typical of Catalonia, Spain. The dance was originally from the Empordà region, but started gaining popularity throughout Catalonia during the 20th century....

 dances and in other folk music ensembles.

The flabiol is normally played by the left hand while the player uses the right hand to beat a small drum (called tamborí

Tambori

The tambori is a percussion instrument of about 10 centimetres diameter, a small shallow cylinder formed of metal or wood with a drumhead of skin...

) attached to the left elbow.

All sardanes played by a cobla begin with a short introduction (introit) from the flabiol which is terminated by a single tap of the tamborí.

Its traditional geographic zone extends from the south of Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 to the Roussillon

Roussillon

Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

 area of France, and from the Eastern strip of Aragon

Aragon

Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

 to the Balearic islands

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

, where it is used as solo instrument with its own melodies.

Apart from being in the cobla for the performance of sardanes, the flabiol is also found in the reduced version of the cobla known as cobla of three quarters formed of one tarota or tible, a flabiol and a sac de gemecs (bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

).

Flabiol fingering

The flabiol is a transposing instrument

Transposing instrument

A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which written notes are read at a pitch different from the corresponding concert pitch, which a non-transposing instrument, such as a piano, would play. Playing a written C on a transposing instrument will produce a note other than concert C...

 in the key of F, and the played notes sound an eleventh

Eleventh

In music or music theory an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh....

 (octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

 and a perfect fourth

Perfect fourth

In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...

) higher than those written.
The keyless Flabiol requires special playing skill, because it is generally played only with the left hand, using the thumb and the first 3 fingers. The little finger is placed under the instrument for "one-handed" stability. The 4 holes at the lower end are used as vent holes and tuning with wax plugs. If any of the four lowest semitones are required, the thumb and one or two fingers of the right hand have to be used. Keywork versions have the key pads between the top 3 toneholes for fast play. The Flabiol is the original model for the modern Tonette

Tonette

The Tonette is a small, end-blown flute made of plastic, which was once popular in American elementary music education. Though the Tonette has been superseded by the recorder in many areas, due to their price, durability and simplicity, you can still find plenty of plastic Tonettes as well as...

 or Flutophone, popular with school children.

External links

• El testament n'Amèlia Video of a performance of this sardana (composer Joan Lamote de Grignon
  Joan Lamote de Grignon
  Joan Lamote de Grignon i Bocquet , was a Catalan Spanish pianist, composer and orchestra director.Joan Lamote de Grignon was born and died in Barcelona, the son of parents of French descent Lluis Lamote de Grignon and Elena Bocquet. In 1911 he founded the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, of which he...
  
  ) by the cobla "Comptat d'Empúries" at the Castelló d'Empúries. The flabiol plays the theme tune as an extended introduction.
• MIDI files of folk pieces for flabiol collected by Joan Tomàs and Joan Amades [Catalan]