Flageolet
Another term for a harmonic tone produced by lightly touching the string at a node point. Common in French notation.
What it is
Flageolet is another term for a harmonic. It appears in French and German editions and in older scores generally, and means exactly what harmonic means. The left hand section collects the related terms.
The word comes from a small woodwind instrument of the flageolet family, whose pure, breathy tone the harmonic was thought to resemble.
Encountering flageolet in a score, a player produces a harmonic. There is no separate technique.
Why the term persists
Musical terminology accumulated across several languages and traditions, and many concepts have more than one name.
French editions frequently use flageolet or sons harmoniques. German editions use Flageolett. Italian editions use armonici. English editions use harmonics.
A student working from a French or German urtext edition will meet the term, and knowing it saves confusion.
Some older English-language editions also use flageolet, reflecting the influence of continental publishing.
What it indicates
Generally a natural harmonic, though the term covers artificial harmonics too.
The notation alongside the term clarifies which. A circle above a note head on an open string indicates a natural harmonic. Paired normal and diamond note heads indicate an artificial harmonic. Practising this is easier with the free chromatic tuner.
Where flageolet appears as a word instruction over a passage, it usually means the passage should be played in harmonics throughout.
Related terms in scores
Several terms appear in the same context and are worth recognising.
Sons harmoniques. French, meaning harmonic sounds. Same meaning.
Flageolett. German. Same meaning.
Armonici. Italian. Same meaning.
Naturale after a harmonic passage indicates a return to ordinary stopped notes.
Flauto or flautando is different and refers to bowing over the fingerboard for a flute-like tone, not to harmonics. The similarity in name causes occasional confusion, but sul tasto and harmonics are unrelated techniques.
The technique itself
Identical to natural or artificial harmonics, which have their own entries.
The finger touches the string lightly at a node point without pressing it to the fingerboard. The bow plays faster and lighter than normal, closer to the bridge.
The resulting tone is high, pure and flute-like, without vibrato.
What goes wrong
The same faults as any harmonic.
Pressing too hard, producing a stopped note.
Touching too lightly, producing nothing.
Wrong node location, producing a rough sound.
Wrong bow, which is the most common and least recognised cause of failure. Harmonics need speed, lightness and proximity to the bridge.
Misreading the term. A student unfamiliar with flageolet may not realise a harmonic is being asked for and may play a normal note, which sounds two octaves lower than intended.
Where you meet the term
French and German editions of the standard repertoire.
Older editions in any language.
Contemporary scores by composers writing in French or German.
Chamber and orchestral parts published in Europe.
Students working from an urtext edition of a French or German composer will encounter it, and it is worth knowing before it appears mid-rehearsal.
How it is taught
Mostly as vocabulary rather than as technique, since the technique is covered under harmonics.
What matters is recognising the term and knowing which harmonic is meant from the notation alongside it.
More broadly, this is one instance of a general point worth teaching: musical terminology comes from several languages and the same concept often has three or four names. A player who knows only the English terms will be caught out by a European edition.
Building that vocabulary is part of becoming fluent with printed music, and it is one of the reasons a technique dictionary is useful.
Reading European editions
Encountering flageolet is one instance of a broader point: the standard repertoire is published across several countries and terminology is not standardised.
A student working from a French Durand edition, a German Henle edition and an American reprint of the same piece will see different words for the same instruction.
Building a working vocabulary of the common French, German and Italian terms is part of becoming fluent with printed music, and a technique dictionary is one of the more efficient ways to do it.
Terms worth knowing alongside it
Arco. Italian, return to bowing after pizzicato.
Ordinario, ord. Return to normal playing after any special instruction.
Naturale. Same meaning.
Sons harmoniques. French, harmonic sounds.
Am Steg. German, at the bridge, meaning sul ponticello.
Am Griffbrett. German, at the fingerboard, meaning sul tasto.
Detache, martele, spiccato, sautille. French and Italian stroke names, used in all languages.
A player who recognises these reads a European edition without stopping.
Why the terminology matters practically
A student who does not recognise flageolet will play a normal stopped note where a harmonic was intended.
The resulting pitch is two octaves below what the composer wrote, which in an ensemble is immediately audible and in a lesson is a puzzling moment where the student insists they played what was written.
The same applies to several other terms. Am Steg played as an ordinary note, or ordinario ignored after a special instruction, produce errors that are not technical failures but reading failures.
Vocabulary is part of technique in the sense that matters: it determines whether the right sound comes out.
Our teaching studio covers Cumming, Sugar Hill and Berkeley Lake with private and group violin lessons. If you would like help with left-hand work like Flageolet, call 470-789-2422 or book a no-commitment evaluation lesson.
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