The Flute

The Flute is a tubular musical instrument enclosing air that is set in vibration when the player's breath is directed against the sharp edge of the hole. Additional holes in the flute wall can be opened or closed to produce different pitches. In horizontally held flutes, the mouth hole is cut into the side of the tube. In vertically held flutes the hole may be at the end of the tube. In duct flutes, a mouthpiece channels the breath against the edge of a sound hole.

The transverse flute, or horizontally held, was known in China by about 900 BC. By about AD 1100 it reached Europe, where it became a widely used flute in German-speaking areas. Families of flutes from soprano to bass were played in 16th- and 17th- century chamber music. These flutes had a cylindrical bore and six fingerholes. The flute was redesigned in the late 1600s by the Hotteterre family of French woodwind makers. They built it in three sections, with one key and a conical bore tapering away from the player. This flute displaced the recorder as the typical orchestral flute in the late 1700s. Gradually, more keys were added to improve the intonation of certain tones.

In 1832 the German flute maker Theobald Boehm created an improved conical-bore flute, which is the model in widest use in the 20th century. The cylindrical Boehm flute is made of metal or wood and has thirteen or more tone holes controlled by a system of padded keys. Its range extends three octaves, from middle C upward. Other orchestral flutes include the piccolo, alto, and bass flutes.

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