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The flute (technically transverse flute) is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. A musician who plays the flute is sometimes called a flutist or flautist.
A flute from 1917, part of the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection.
A flute is an open-ended reedless tube with circular finger holes, which can be used to produce high and low sounds depending on which finger holes are opened or closed. The tone is produced by blowing horizontally and vertically across a tone hole which is located at one end of the instrument.
Flute sounds are typically open and hollow as a result of relatively weak upper partials. As a result, flute tones are sweet in character and blend well with other instruments. The flute's timbre, pitch and attack are flexible, allowing a very high degree of instantaneous expressive control.
In western classical music the standard concert flute is pitched in C and has a range of about 3 octaves starting from middle C. Also commonly used in orchestras is the piccolo, a small flute usually pitched an octave above the concert flute. Alto and bass flutes, pitched a fourth and an octave below the concert flute, are used occasionally. Parts for the alto flute are more common than for the bass. Many other sizes of flute and piccolo are used from time to time. A much-less common instrument of the current pitching system is the treble G flute. An older pitching system, used principally in older wind-band music, includes D-flat piccolos, E-flat soprano flutes (the primary instrument, equivalent to today's concert C flutes), F alto flutes, and B-flat bass flutes.
The modern professional concert flute is generally made of silver, gold, or combinations of the two. Student instruments are usually made of nickel silver, or silver-plated brass. Wooden flutes and headjoints are more widely available than in the past.
Some jazz and rock ensembles include flutes. Since Boehm's fingering is used in saxophones as well as in concert flutes, many flute players "double" on saxophone for jazz and small ensembles.
The dimensions and key system of the modern western concert flute and its close relatives are almost completely the work of the great flutist, composer, acoustician and silversmith, Theobald Boehm , who described his invention in his 1871 book, The Flute and Flute Playing. Minor additions to and variations on his key system are common but the acoustical structure of the tube remains almost exactly as he designed it. Boehm's key system, with minor variations, continues to be regarded as the most effective system of any modern woodwind, allowing trained players to perform with facility in all keys and with extraordinary velocity and brilliance.
Quite at the opposite end of the spectrum, in terms of the complexity of the key system developed by Boehm, was the Giorgi flute, an advanced form of the ancient holed flute. Patented in 1897, the Giorgi flute was designed without any mechanical keys, though the patent allows for the addition of keys as options. Giorgi enabled the performer to play equally true in all musical keys, as does the Boehm system. Giorgi flutes are now rarities, found in museums and private collections. The underlying principles of both flute patterns are virtually identical, with tone holes spaced as required to produce a fully chromatic scale. The player, by opening and closing holes, adjusts the effective length of the tube, and thus the rate of oscillation, which defines the audible pitch.
Playing the zampoña, an Inca instrument and type of pan pipes. Flutes may be either transverse or end-blown, and their tubes may be either open or closed.
The familiar concert flute, piccoloThis article is about the instrument. For the Dragon Ball character, see Piccolo (Dragon Ball A piccolo is a small flute. Its name in Italian means "tiny". Like the flute, the piccolo is normally pitched in the key of C, but written music for the piccolo, fifeA fife is a small, high-pitched, flute often accompanied by drums in a military or marching band. Fifes were commonly used for signaling on the battlefield in the U. Army and elsewhere until about the time of the Civil War because they are quite loud., and Indian bansuriA bansuri is a six or seven-holed bamboo or reed flute, played by Indian musicians, f. Hariprasad Chaurasia. are examples of transverse flutes, in which air is blown from the mouth across a small hole at the top of the instrument. In a transverse flute the embouchureThe embouchure is the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument. Less frequently, it is used to mean the mouthpiece itself. The word is of French origin and is related to the root bouche 'mouth'. The proper embouchure allows the instrumen (position of the lips and tongue) is the main determining factor in tone production (as well as having an effect on pitch).
Fipple flutes include the recorder, organ pipe , ocarinaAn ocarina is a wind instrument, closed at both ends to produce an enclosed space, and punctured with four to thirteen finger holes. A mouth tube projects from it, often from the side, and one sound hole is added, usually on the underside of the instrumen, and the tin whistleThe tin whistle also called the flageolet pennywhistle Irish whistle or simply whistle is a simple six-holed breath instrument. It can be described as an end blown fipple flute putting it in the same category as the recorder, Native American flutes, and m. In these, the stream of air is directed in one end through a narrow pathway, against a blade. The embouchure is less critical, though it is still important in mastery of the finer points of playing. Nose flutes exist in some cultures. On the other hand, the shakuhachi, the kaval and the queña are examples of end-blown flutes in which the mechanism for sound production is similar to transverse flutes.
Flutes may also be either open- or closed-ended. The ocarina, pan pipes, concert whistle , jug, police-whistle , and bosun's whistle are closed-ended. Open-ended flutes such as the concert flute and recorder have more harmonics, and thus more flexibility for the player, and brighter, more pleasing timbres. An organ pipe may be either, depending on the sound desired.
In Middle Eastern music, a flute-like instrument called the ney is often used. Depictions of early versions of the ney can be found in wall paintings in the pyramids of Egypt, indicating that it is one of the oldest musical instruments in continued use.
See also vertical flute.
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