The pan flute - a voice of ancient ages that still enchants today
Though it was born in ancient times, its sound never ceases to fascinate even modern audiences - the soft, ethereal tone of the pan flute can set the soul resonating and carry the listener into another world.
Your guide to the world of the pan flute is Petr Tomeček - a concert player, advocate and populariser of this unique instrument.
What is the pan flute
The pan flute is a wind instrument made of a row of little tubes - pipes - of differing length, bound side by side. Each tube produces a single note: the longer it is, the deeper it sounds. The pipes are closed at the bottom and the tone is made by blowing across their top edge, much like whistling over the neck of a bottle.
The instrument has no keys or other mechanism. The player chooses the pitch by picking a tube and by everything else - breath, articulation, the tilt of the instrument and the work of the jaw. This very simplicity is the most beautiful thing about the pan flute: nothing stands between player and tone but air.
A concert nai of dark wood - wood and bamboo are the instrument's standard. Photo: archive of Petr Tomeček.
From the myth of Pan to today
“And so the reeds of unequal length, joined together, kept the name of the girl.”Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I (the myth of Pan and Syrinx)
Pan, the god of pastures, glimpsed the beautiful nymph Syrinx in the Arcadian mountains and desired her. Syrinx fled from him as far as the river Ladon - and as Pan was catching up, she begged the river sisters for rescue. At the moment the god clasped her in his arms, he held not the nymph but only a bundle of marsh reeds.
According to the myth, the nymph Syrinx turned into reeds by the river Ladon. Illustrative photo.
Pan and Syrinx
The Greek myth of the instrument's birth: a nymph turned into reeds and a god who bound pipes from the reed. Recorded by Ovid in the Metamorphoses (Book I).
Mariupol, Ukraine
The oldest surviving pan flute: seven decorated pipes of bird bone in a grave at a Neolithic burial ground.
The pan flute in Czechia
The voice of ancient ages sounds for Czech audiences too - guided by concert player Petr Tomeček.
The art of mastery
A simple melody can be played on the pan flute after a few weeks. But mastery lies elsewhere: in clean intonation without a single key, in semitones shaped by the tilt of the instrument and the jaw, in vibrato carried by the breath and in phrasing that turns a row of notes into song.
The world tradition of virtuosos is led by the Romanian school, headed by Gheorghe Zamfir, the “Master of the Pan Flute”. And the Czech chapter? It is written by the only Czech professional player - Petr Tomeček.
Mastery is audible from the very first note. Illustrative photo.
Petr Tomeček - your guide
Petr Tomeček is a musician enchanted by the tones of one of the oldest wind instruments. He studied at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava and has devoted himself professionally to the pan flute for almost ten years - as the only Czech player and ambassador of this instrument in Czechia and Slovakia.
Under the banner of the association Panova flétna, z. s. he creates and produces his own concert projects. He performs at cultural and social events and collaborates with leading artists at home and abroad.
Learn to play the pan flute
The Pan Flute Academy is taking shape under the guidance of Petr Tomeček - the only Czech professional player. Lessons, courses and workshops are in preparation; leave us your contact and be among the first.
Individual lessons
Your own pace and the tutor's full attention. From the very beginning to refining concert expression.
Group courses
Discovering the instrument together in a small group - motivation, interplay and the joy of a shared sound.
Workshops
A one-day encounter with the instrument: how it sounds, how it's held and how to get the first melody out of it.
Programmes for schools
Educational concerts and storytelling about an instrument most children are seeing for the first time in their lives.
Seminar for conservatories
The unique world of the pan flute through a specialist seminar introducing students to its history, playing technique and extraordinary possibilities.
Did you know that…
The oldest flute is made of bird bone
The oldest surviving pan flute has seven pipes of bird bone and is over seven thousand years old. It was found in a grave at a Neolithic burial ground in Mariupol, Ukraine.
ArchaeologyIt sounds in Kill Bill
The melody The Lonely Shepherd, which Gheorghe Zamfir recorded in 1977 with the James Last Orchestra, became the musical signature of Tarantino's Kill Bill.
Film musicMorricone entrusted America to it
For the film Once Upon a Time in America, Zamfir recorded the flute parts Cockeye's Song and Childhood Memories - among the loveliest melodies by Ennio Morricone.
Film musicReading about the flute is lovely. Hearing it is more.
Concerts, dates and tickets are on the sister site petrtomecek.cz - the site of Petr Tomeček, your guide through this world.