Hi JaimeG,
I'm glad to see some solidarity in the anti-piccolo group!
The odd thing is that I don't feel the same way about hearing flute, either live or recorded. My brother played flute for some years and as a kid, I'd hear him practising. Never bothered me. The flute produces almost perfectly pure tones with very few overtones (harmonics).
This past summer, I saw an operetta performance in a small theater at Bard College, and the 10-piece "orchestra" included a flautist sitting barely 15 feet away. I marveled at how beautiful the instrument sounded live.
Fortunately there was no piccolo part in the musical score.
Alan
