Alderley Edge Symphony Orchestra
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Louise Townsend.jpg
Louise Townsend (principal flute) has played with the Alderley Edge Symphony Orchestra since 2008, previously on flute and piccolo and as principal since 2023. She also regularly plays with other orchestras in the region and enjoys flute trios. She took up the flute aged 10 and played in the Lancashire Schools Symphonic Wind Band and then her college and university orchestras at Durham. Keen to continue playing when she started work, she joined the Altrincham Concert Orchestra where she played for many years.

Outside of music, Louise is a financial services lawyer and enjoys park run, the Lake District and walking with her West Highland Terrier.

Although the flute has been around for many centuries, it did not come into general orchestral use until the early 18th century.
 
The mechanics of the instrument are relatively straightforward: a silver or wooden tube is closed off at one end and an aperture is cut into the side, across which the players blows to produce the required note. The modern design of flute owes much to the German maker Theobald Boehm who, in the 1830s, worked out the correct position for the holes along the length of the instrument which determine the pitch of each note and developed the system of keys that enable the player to finger the notes with ease.
 
The range of the standard orchestral flute extends some three octaves above middle C; it is not a transposing instrument and music is therefore notated at concert pitch. Higher passages require the tiny piccolo which has a similar compass above top D (although the upper notes can be difficult to control), whilst at the other end of the scale the alto flute makes an occasional appearance to provide notes down to a low G.
 
An outstanding characteristic of the flute family is its tremendous agility and the repertoire is full of dazzling sequences that enable the player to demonstrate his or her skills. The great solo in Ravel's Daphnis and Chloé culminates in a tremendous exhibition of flute virtuosity, and amongst other well-known orchestral works for the flute are Mozart's flute concertos, the Serenade for flute, violin and viola by Beethoven and Bach's Suite in B minor.
Flute
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