Pair o’ Dactyls For Two Kinds Of Flutes

Fipple Flute Frenzy

Diridi, diridi,
Georg Philipp Telemann,
Fond of the outer ex-
tremes of the flute,

Scribbled his passagework
Unsympathetically:
That it is awkward is
Not in dispute!

Double Dactyl for Flute sans Basse

Flattement battement,
Jacques-Martin Hotteterre,
Gave us the word on the
Flute that's transverse:

Trying to fathom it
Leads one to bleak despair:
Incomprehensible,
Everyone's curse!

– The Yellow Doggerelist

Copyright © 1996 Stephen S. Bates