Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/27

 lengths, accompanying a soloist who is standing, the rest being either on their knees or sitting. He is apparently a noted performer, as he alone is fully clothed; possibly he is a conductor. The other players all have their lower hand on the inner side of the pipe, but his is on the outer side. In these old designs it is always the hand away from the spectator that is stretched to the end of the flute; but though the players are very frequently represented as being left-handed, we learn from Apuleius (Met., lib. xi. 9) that the custom was (as now) to hold the tube to the right side : "Obliquis calamus ad aurem porrectum dextram." In the reproduction of this highly interesting picture given by Engel (Mus. Insts. 13) the flutes of the three players nearest to the soloist are not at their mouths, and he suggests that the division of the players into two groups may possibly represent firsts and seconds. The flutes are very long, the players' arms being extended to their full length in order to reach the furthest hole. Mr. Flinders Petrie discovered two ancient flutes of slender make in the tomb of the Lady Maket, dating about 1450 B.C. These probably had originally reed mouthpieces, now lost, or were blown across the open top. They were encased in larger reeds to preserve them. One has four oval holes and the other three, of unequal size, getting rather larger towards the bottom. They are both about $17 1⁄2$ inches long, and are not absolutely cylindrical, tapering slightly towards the bottom end. These Maket pipes are very interesting as being "the oldest evidence of the world's earliest music" (Herman