JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #114 - July 2017 - 4

OPlNlON composites music

flûte SCOATARIU

"Novelty upsets a lot of
parameters and habits "

JEC Composites Magazine: Could you
briefly tell us about your career path?

Jean Marc Scoatariu : My
career path is that of a classical musician:
the French conservatory route from
the age of seven to 22, where I finished
up my musical curriculum at the
Conservatoire National Supérieur de
Musique in Lyon. After that, I gave flute
lessons, directed choral and orchestra
groups in a municipal music school,
which I also wound up directing. I am
currently a flute teacher, singing teacher
and choir director, and I have been lucky
enough these past four years to be able
to teach and experiment with my new
flute in my music schools.
Pascal Sophie : I have an atypical
career path. After studies in electronics
and heat transfer technology, I joined
the Garbolino Company (a fishing pole
manufacturer) in 1989 to help develop
filament winding (design of materials,
machines, production methods and new
product development) before pursuing
my career at Vitech Composites (2009).
Vitech Composites specializes in three
fields of activity in the high-performance
composite industry:
- preimpregnating carbon (PAN and
pitch based), glass and aramid fibres in
the form of yarns (Tow-preg and Vitow),
tapes, fabrics and unidirectionals;
- weaving impregnated yarns (Viweave
process);

4

with

Jean Marc Scoatariu
Musician & Inventor
Flûte Scoatariu
PaScal SoPhie
Deputy General Manager
Vitech

- making tubular composite parts using
filament winding and dry layup.
Our expertise enables us to meet the
needs in a number of sectors, including
aerospace, medical, sports and leisure,
wind energy, and industrial equipment.
JCM: What is it that makes your creation
a completely new musical instrument?

J. M. S. : I filed for a patent in October

2008 and my new instrument, the
Scoatariu flute, received a Gold Medal
in the 2009 Concours Lépine, the
international competition for inventors
in Paris. The two patents that preceded
my invention were for the saxophone in
1840 and the Ondes Martenot in 1926.
My new instrument, which stems from
whistled languages, is a cross between
my main instrumental practices, i.e.
flute and voice. It is 40 centimetres
long, weighs 80 grams, and has a range
of more than five octaves. Acoustically,
it can produce many sound effects that
only electroacoustic instruments have
been able to.

JCM: How did your partnership come to
be after the 2009 Concours Lépine?

J. M. S. : It was somewhat of a

coincidence, since Vitech Composites
was the only factory in France capable of
making my instrument, and it was only
25 kilometres away from where I live!
After an article about my patent
filing was published in the Nouvelle

jec composites magazine / No114 July 2017

République Région Centre, Vitech
Composites invited me to come by
to meet them. The first meeting was
very brief because Vitech was busy
restructuring its activities, and I was
sort of disappointed when I left that day,
though I did have two carbon tubes that
Mr. Sophie kindly gave me to use for a
"door slide stoppers".
The Scoatariu flute, received a Gold
Medal in the 2009 Concours Lépine,
the international competition for
inventors in Paris.

"

The Scoatariu flute, named after its inventor, was first
introduced to the public at the 2009 Concours Lépine,
the international competition for inventors in Paris. The
flute owes its existence to the encounter of a musician
with carbon fibre. With the support of Pascal Sophie and
Vitech Composites' expertise, Jean Marc Scoatariu talks
to us about this invention, which is pushing the limits of
musical interpretation.

JCM: What were the project's key phases,
from the start to the first final instrument
produced?

J. M. S. : I competed in the Concours

Lépine using various homemade and
very rudimentary prototypes made
of pyrex, metal, wood and carbon
fibre (the "window slide" and "door
slide stoppers") with which I had to
demonstrate the acoustic qualities of my
new instrument.
After winning the Gold Medal in
May 2009, I went back to see Vitech
Composites, fascinated by the way
carbon slides against carbon, by the
strong, lightweight characteristics of
the material, and by the many design
possibilities, convinced that we had
something to create together!
My intuition was correct, because
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #114 - July 2017
