The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute produces sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, flutes are edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist or flutist.
A pan flute is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length. Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been popular as folk instruments. The pipes are typically made from bamboo, giant cane, or local reeds. Other materials include wood, plastic, metal, and clay.
The recorder is a family of woodwind musical instruments in the group known as internal duct flutes: flutes with a whistle mouthpiece, also known as fipple flutes. A recorder can be distinguished from other duct flutes by the presence of a thumb-hole for the upper hand and seven finger-holes: three for the upper hand and four for the lower. It is the most prominent duct flute in the western classical tradition.
The ney, is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music, Turkish music, Jewish music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually for 4,500–5,000 years, dating back to ancient Egypt, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use.
The zurna is a double reed wind instrument played in the Central Asia, West Asia, the Caucasus, Southeast Europe and parts of North Africa. It is also used in Sri Lanka. It is usually accompanied by a davul in Armenian, Anatolian and Assyrian folk music.
The end-blown flute is a woodwind instrument played by directing an airstream against the sharp edge of the upper end of a tube. Unlike a recorder or tin whistle, there is not a ducted flue voicing, also known as a fipple. Most rim-blown flutes are "oblique" flutes, being played at an angle to the body's vertical axis. A notched flute is an end-blown flute with a notch on the blowing surface. A lip-valley flute is a type of notched flute.
The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a “flautist” in British English, and a “flutist” in American English.
The stub-ended Swanson tonette is a small, end-blown vessel flute made of plastic, which was once popular in American elementary music education. Though the tonette has been superseded by the recorder in many areas, plastic Tonettes are still in use in elementary schools around the nation due to their price, durability, and simplicity. The range of the tonette is from C4 to D5. A skilled player can produce notes above the principal register by overblowing and half-covering holes. Similar instruments are the song flute, flutophone, and precorder.
The xaphoon® is a chromatic keyless single-reed woodwind instrument. It has a closed cylindrical bore and a very slightly flared bell. The xaphoon has a full chromatic range of two octaves, and overblows at the twelfth like the clarinet.
Washint is an end-blown wooden flute originally used in Ethiopia. Traditionally, Amharic musicians would pass on their oral history through song accompanied by the washint as well as the krar, which is a six stringed lyre, and the masenqo, a one string fiddle.
The danso is a Korean notched, end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean folk music. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but since the 20th century it has also been made of plastic. It was imported from China in the 19th century, where it is called duanxiao. The Korean name is the transliteration of the Chinese one, a short variant of the xiao.
The koudi is a very small Chinese flute made from bamboo. It is the smallest flute in the Chinese flute family. Its original shape derives from prehistorical instruments made with animal bone, but the modern koudi is made with wood, bamboo or PVC. It was invented in 1971 by dizi master Yu Xunfa.
The shvi is an Armenian fipple flute with a labium mouth piece. Commonly made of wood or bamboo and up to 12 inches (300 mm) in length, it typically has a range of an octave and a-half. The tav shvi is made from apricot wood, it is up to 18 inches (460 mm) long, and is tuned 1/4 lower producing a more lyrical and intimate sound.
The sring is a shepherd's flute originating in Armenia. Sring is also the common term for end-blown flutes in general. These flutes are made either of a stork bone, bamboo, wood from the apricot tree or cane and have or eight finger holes, producing a diatonic scale. The Armenian musicologist Komitas believed that the sring was the most characteristic among the Armenian instruments.
The xindi is a Chinese musical instrument. A 20th-century derivative of the ancient dizi, the xindi is western influenced, fully chromatic, and usually lacks the dizi's distinctive di mo, or buzzing membrane.
The Turkish ney is an end-blown flute made of reed, an Ottoman variation on the ancient ney. Together with the Turkish tanbur lute and Turkish kemençe fiddle are considered the most typical instruments of Classical Turkish music. The ney also plays a primary role in the music of the Mevlevi Sufi rites (semâ).
The five-key flute is a musical instrument once common in school marching bands, and composed of wood with metal keys. It is a transposing instrument, most commonly in A♭, this variant being known as the B♭ flute, named after its lowest note and sounding a minor sixth below the orchestral piccolo. The next most common variants are the E♭ piccolo, sounding a fifth above the B♭ flute, and the F flute, sounding a fifth below the B♭ flute. The E♭ piccolo is used for ornamentation in melodies and the F flute is used as a bass instrument in flute band harmonies. They are now often found in British military corps of drums, often playing various regimental marches.
The Bulgarian dvoyanka is a double flute made of a single piece of wood, with six sound holes on one side.
A vessel flute is a type of flute with a body which acts as a Helmholtz resonator. The body is vessel-shaped, not tube- or cone-shaped; that is, the far end is closed.
Šupelka is a Macedonian traditional woodwind instrument very similar to the kaval. It is mostly made of walnut, cornel, ash, or maple wood. The šupelka plays a chromatic scale, with the exception of the first note of the lower octave. In the lower register, the šupelka gives a soft and pleasant sound, while the upper register tone is sharp and high-pitched.
