Editing Piccolo

{{Short description|Flute an octave higher than the C Flute}}
{{About|the instrument in the flute family}}
{{Infobox instrument
| name           = Piccolo
| image          = Piccolo.jpg
| image_capt     = Piccolo
| background     = woodwind
| classification = {{hlist
  | [[Woodwind]]
  | [[Wind instrument|Wind]]
  | [[Aerophone]]
 }}
| hornbostel_sachs = 421.121.12-71
| hornbostel_sachs_desc = [[Flute]]-like [[aerophone]] with [[key (instrument)|keys]]
| range          = <div style="text-align: center; background-color: white;">
  <score lang="lilypond">
    {
      \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" }
      \clef treble \key c \major \cadenzaOn
      \tweak font-size #-2 c'1 ^ \markup "written"
      d'1 \glissando \ottava #+1 c''''1 \ottava #0
      \hide r1
      \tweak font-size #-2 c''1 ^ \markup "sounds"
      d''1 \glissando \ottava #+2 c'''''1
    }
  </score></div>Tessitura of the piccolo is D{{sub|5}}–C{{sub|8}}. Some have a key for low C{{sub|5}}.
| related        = [[Flute]]s: {{hlist
  | '''Piccolo'''
  | [[Treble flute|Treble]]
  | [[Soprano flute|Soprano]]
  | [[Western concert flute|C flute]]
  | [[Flûte d'amour]]
  | [[Alto flute|Alto]]
  | [[Bass flute|Bass]]
  | [[Contra-alto flute|Contra-alto]]
  | [[Contrabass flute|Contrabass]]
  | [[Subcontrabass flute|Subcontrabass]]
  | [[Double contrabass flute|Double Contrabass]]
  | [[Hyperbass flute|Hyperbass]]
 }}
}}

The '''piccolo''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪ|k|ə|l|oʊ}} {{respell|PIK|ə|loh}}; {{langnf|it||small}})<ref name="auto">{{cite dictionary| url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piccolo|title=Piccolo|dictionary=Merriam-Webster|access-date=2012-05-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=piccolo - Dictionary Definition|url=https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/piccolo|access-date=2021-01-25|website=Vocabulary.com}}</ref> is a smaller version of the [[western concert flute]]{{efn|It is usually around 2{{1/4}} times smaller than a normal [[western concert flute|C flute]].}} and a member of the [[woodwind]] family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or '''piccolo flute''', the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the [[Western concert flute|standard transverse flute]],<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/transverse+flute|title=Transverse flute|publisher=The Free Dictionary By Farlex|access-date=2012-05-26}}</ref> but the sound it produces is an octave higher. This has given rise to the name '''ottavino'''{{efn|Italian substantified adjective (an ellipsis of ''flauto ottavino'', "small flute at the [high] octave") that means "small at the [high] octave". In the past ''ottavino'' was not a specific word for the piccolo, as it was also used for other instruments like the small [[spinet]] at the octave, ''spinetta ottavina'' or simply ''ottavino''.}} ({{IPA|it|ottaˈviːno}}), by which the instrument is called in Italian<ref>{{cite web| url= https://web.library.yale.edu/cataloging/music/instname |title= The Names of Instruments and Voices in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish|publisher=Yale University Music Library|access-date=2012-05-26}}</ref> and thus also in scores of Italian composers.
[[File:Piccolo in D-flat MET MUS1399A5.jpg|thumb|Early 19th-century French piccolo in D{{music|flat}}.]]

Piccolos are often orchestrated to [[Voicing (music)#Doubling|double]] the violins or the flutes, adding sparkle and brilliance to the overall sound because of the aforementioned one-octave transposition upwards. The piccolo is a standard member in [[Orchestra|orchestras]], [[Marching band|marching bands]], and [[Concert band|wind ensembles]].

== History ==
Since the Middle Ages, evidence indicates the use of octave transverse flutes as military instruments, as their penetrating sound was audible above battles. In cultured music, however, the first piccolos were used in some of [[Jean-Philippe Rameau|Jean Philippe Rameau]]'s works in the first half of the 18th century. Still, the instrument began to spread, and therefore to have a stable place in the orchestra, only at the beginning of 1800 A.D. During the Baroque period, the indication "flautino" or also "flauto piccolo" usually denoted a [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]] of small size (soprano or sopranino). In particular, this is the case of the concertos that [[Antonio Vivaldi]] wrote for ''flautino''.{{efn|Moreover, even the simple indication ''flauto'' in the music of that period is to be understood as a (alto) recorder; the transverse flute was always explicitly requested with names such as ''flauto traverso'' or ''flauto traversiere''. It is in fact only from the second quarter of the 18th century that the recorder begins a rapid decline which in the following decades will see the transverse flute become the only type of flute in cultured music.}}

Until the end of the 19th century, the piccolo maintained the same construction. Historically, the piccolo had the same keys of the baroque flute (one key) and then of the classical and romantic [[Simple system flute|simple system]] flute. At the end of the century, the piccolo began to be built with the [[Theobald Boehm|Boehm]] mechanism, which would become the standard during the 1900s. However, it cannot wholly transition to the Boehm system since the bore has remained conical, as in the old system flute, and the first bottom note is D, like in the baroque flute. The piccolo should not be confused with the [[Fife (musical instrument)|fife]], which is traditionally one-piece, has a smaller, cylindrical bore, and produces a more strident sound.

== Traditional use ==
It is a myth that one of the earliest pieces to use the piccolo was [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Symphony No. 5 in C Minor]], which premiered in [[1808 in music|December 1808]]. Although neither [[Joseph Haydn]] nor [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] used it in their symphonies, some of their contemporaries did, including [[Franz Anton Hoffmeister]], [[Franz Xaver Süssmayr]], and [[Michael Haydn]].<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal|last=Nourse|first=Nancy|title=The Symphonic Debutante Piccolo: Was it Really Beethoven's Fifth?|journal=Flute Focus|date=April 2008|issue=14|pages=26–29}}</ref> Also, Mozart used the piccolo in his opera ''[[Idomeneo#Instrumentation|Idomeneo]]''. Opera orchestras in Paris sometimes included small transverse flutes at the octave as early as 1735 as existing scores by [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]] show.<ref name="auto1" />

Piccolos are now mainly manufactured in the key of C or D. In the early 20th century, piccolos were manufactured in D{{Music|flat}} as they were an earlier model of the modern piccolo.<ref>{{cite thesis|doi=10.33915/etd.5756|id={{ProQuest|1947737021}}|type=Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance|publisher=West Virginia University|title=The Piccolo in the 21st Century: History, Construction, and Modern Pedagogical Resources|year=2017|last1=Hanlon|first1=Keith D.|doi-access=free}}</ref> For this D{{Music|flat}} piccolo, [[John Philip Sousa]] wrote the famous solo in the final repeat of the closing section (trio) of his march "[[The Stars and Stripes Forever]]".[[File:Joueuse de flûte à Château-Thierry.jpg|thumb|left|A piccolo being played]]

Although once made of wood, glass, or ivory, piccolos today are made from plastic, resin, brass, nickel silver, silver, and a variety of hardwoods, most commonly [[Dalbergia melanoxylon|grenadilla]]. Finely made piccolos are often available with a variety of options similar to the [[flute]], such as the split-E mechanism. Most piccolos have a conical body with a cylindrical head, like the [[Western concert flute#Renaissance (1400%E2%80%931600) and Baroque flutes (1600%E2%80%931760)|Baroque flute]] and later flutes before the popularization of the [[Western concert flute#Boem flute|Boehm bore]] used in modern flutes. Unlike other woodwind instruments, in most wooden piccolos, the tenon joint that connects the head to the body has two [[interference fit]] points surrounding the cork and metal side of the piccolo body joint.{{Citation needed|date=October 2013}}

The piccolo is used alongside [[Basler drum|marching drums]] in traditional formations at the [[Carnival of Basel]], Switzerland.

In 2014, a festival was born entirely dedicated to the piccolo, the [[International Piccolo Festival]], which takes place annually in July in [[Grado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia|Grado]], [[Italy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Grado |url=http://www.internationalpiccolofestival.com/ |access-date=22 November 2022 |website=International Piccolo Festival}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/trieste/cronaca/2017/07/18/news/turismo-culturale-vincente-per-l-isola-1.15629362 | title = Il Piccolo (Trieste's main newspaper) | access-date = 2021-08-24 | archive-date = 2019-12-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191210005353/https://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/trieste/cronaca/2017/07/18/news/turismo-culturale-vincente-per-l-isola-1.15629362 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

== Repertoire ==
There are a number of pieces for piccolo alone by such composers as [[Samuel Adler (composer)|Samuel Adler]], [[Miguel del Aguila]], [[Robert Dick (flautist)|Robert Dick]], [[Michael Isaacson]], [[David Loeb (composer)|David Loeb]], [[Stephen Hough]], [[Polly Moller]], [[Vincent Persichetti]], [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], and [[Brian Ferneyhough]]. 

Repertoire for piccolo and piano, many of which are [[sonata]]s, has been composed by [[Miguel del Águila]],  [[Robert Baksa]], [[Robert Beaser]], [[Rob du Bois]], [[Howard J. Buss]], {{ill|Eugène Damaré|fr}}, [[Pierre Max Dubois]], [[Raymond Guiot]], [[Lowell Liebermann]], [[Peter Schickele]], [[Michael Daugherty]], and [[Gary Schocker]].

[[Concerto]]s have been composed for piccolo, including those by [[Lowell Liebermann]], Sir [[Peter Maxwell Davies]], Todd Goodman,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qsoa.org/Todd_Goodman.htm|title=Todd Goodman: Composer|publisher=Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association|access-date=2009-06-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417025700/http://www.qsoa.org/Todd_Goodman.htm|archive-date=2009-04-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> Martin Amlin,<ref>[http://www.presser.com/composers/info.cfm?name=martinamlin Martin Amlin] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215104120/http://www.presser.com/composers/info.cfm?Name=MARTINAMLIN |date=2013-12-15 }} page of Presser website.</ref> [[Will Gay Bottje]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://composers.com/will-gay-bottje|title=Will Gay Bottje|date=Feb 19, 2009|website=American Composers Alliance}}</ref> [[Bruce Broughton]], [[Valentino Bucchi]], [[Avner Dorman]],<ref>[http://www.cabrillomusic.org/2009/avner-dorman.html Avner Dorman] on the Cabrillo Music Festival website. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724072133/http://www.cabrillomusic.org/2009/avner-dorman.html |date=July 24, 2009 }}</ref> Jean Doué, Michael Easton,<ref>[http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/work/easton-michael-concerto-for-piccolo-percussion-and-strings Concerto for Piccolo, Percussion and Strings], Australian Music Centre page.</ref> [[Egil Hovland]], [[Guus Janssen]], [[Daniel Pinkham]], [[Jeff Manookian]] and [[Levente Gyöngyösi]].

[[File:Yamaha Piccolo YPC-81.png|left|thumb|A concert piccolo with a grenadilla body and wave head joint and silver-plated keys]]
Additionally, there is now a selection of chamber music that uses the piccolo. One example is Stockhausen's ''[[Samstag aus Licht#Scene 3: Luzifers Tanz|Zungenspitzentanz]]'', for piccolo and two euphoniums (or one synthesizer), with an optional percussionist and dancer. Another is [[George Crumb]]'s [[Madrigals, Book II]] for soprano, flute (doubling piccolo/alto flute), and percussion.  Other examples include a trio for piccolo, contrabassoon, and piano, 'Was mit den Tränen geschieht' by [[Stephen Hough]], the [[Piccolo Quintet|Quintet for Piccolo and String Quartet]] by [[Graham Waterhouse]], and ''Malambo'' for piccolo, double bass, and piano by [[Miguel del Aguila]]. Currently published trios for three piccolos include ''Quelque Chose canadienne'' (Something Canadian) by Nancy Nourse and ''Bird Tango'' by Crt Sojar Voglar for three piccolos with piano. ''Petrushka's Ghost'' for eight piccolos by Melvin Lauf, Jr. and ''Una piccolo sinfonia'' for nine piccolos by [[Matthew King (composer)|Matthew King]] are two more examples.

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== Bibliography ==
* Gippo, Jan (ed.). ''The Complete Piccolo: A Comprehensive Guide to Fingerings, Repertoire, and History'', second edition, foreword by Laurie Sokoloff; contributing editors, Therese Wacker, Morgan Williams, and Tammy Sue Kirk. Bryn Mawr: Theodore Presser Company, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-59806-111-6}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/flute/ The Woodwind Fingering Guide], with piccolo fingerings
* The [http://www.internationalpiccolofestival.com/ International Piccolo Festival]'s website

{{Western concert flutes}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Side-blown flutes]]
[[Category:Orchestral instruments]]
[[Category:Concert band instruments]]