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.
The ocarina is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is traditionally made from clay or ceramic, but other materials are also used, such as plastic, wood, glass, metal, or bone.
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 term fipple specifies a variety of end-blown flute that includes the flageolet, recorder, and tin whistle. The Hornbostel–Sachs system for classifying musical instruments places this group under the heading "Flutes with duct or duct flutes." The label "fipple flute" is frequently applied to members of the subgroup but there is no general agreement about the structural detail of the sound-producing mechanism that constitutes the fipple, itself.
A bansuri is an ancient side blown flute originating from India and Nepal. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal like material used in many nepali lok songs. A bansuri is traditionally made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with seven finger holes. Some modern designs come in ivory, fiberglass and various metals. The six hole instrument covers two and a half octaves of music. The bansuri is typically between 30 centimetres (12 in) and 75 centimetres (30 in) in length, and the thickness of a human thumb. One end is closed, and few centimeters from the closed end is its blow hole. Longer bansuris feature deeper tones and lower pitches. The traditional design features no mechanical keys, and the musician creates the notes they want by covering and uncovering the various finger holes.
The dizi, is a Chinese transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or héngdi, and has varieties including Qudi, Bangdi, and Xindi. It is a major Chinese musical instrument that is widely used in many genres of Chinese folk music, Chinese opera, as well as the modern Chinese orchestra. The dizi is also a popular instrument among the Chinese people as it is simple to make and easy to carry.
The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia too has a long history with the instrument that has continued into the present day. In China, a playable bone flute was discovered, about 9000 years old.
Chinese flutes come in various types. They include
The vertical flute is either (1) a rim-blown flute, (2) a tubular duct flute, with tapered bore or (3) a transversely blown flute, Giorgi flute, designed to be played in an upright position. The vertical flute is contrasted with the "cross flute" and "globular flute", and in stricter usage may refer only to the first category above.
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, a “flutist” in American English.
The venu is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the South Indian Carnatic music tradition. It is referred to as nadi and tunava in the Rigveda and other Vedic texts of Hinduism. In northern Indian music, a similar flute is called bansuri. In the south, it is also called by various other names such as pullanguḻal (புல்லாங்குழல்) in Tamil, oodakuḻal (ഓടകുഴൽ) or kurungu kuḻal in Malayalam (Kerala) and ಕೊಳಲು (koḷalu) or ಮುರಳಿ (muraļi) in Kannada (Karnataka). It is known as pillana grōvi or vēṇuvu (వేణువు) in Telugu. It is also called as Carnatic Flute.
The flûte d'amour, sometimes called a tenor flute, is an uncommon member of the Western concert flute family, pitched in A♭, A, or B♭ and is intermediate in size between the modern C concert flute and the alto flute in G. It is sometimes thought of as the mezzo-soprano member of the flute family.
The shinobue is a Japanese transverse flute or fue that has a high-pitched sound. It is found in hayashi and nagauta ensembles, and plays important roles in noh and kabuki theatre music. It is heard in Shinto music such as kagura-den and in traditional Japanese folk songs. There are three styles: uta (song), hayashi (festival), and doremi. The uta is tuned to a Japanese variant of the shi'er lü scale, while the temperament of the hayashi vary across regions. The doremi is tuned to the western scale; hence the name.
The Nohkan is a high pitched, Japanese transverse bamboo flute, or fue. It is commonly used in traditional Imperial Noh and Kabuki theatre. The nohkan flute was created by Kan'ami and his son Zeami in the 15th century, during the time when the two were transforming the Noh theatre forms Dengaku and Sarugaku.
Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, also known as Jacques Martin or Jacques Hotteterre, was a French composer and flautist who was the most celebrated of a family of wind instrument makers and wind performers.
The Jiahu gǔdí are the oldest known musical instruments from China, dating back to around 6000 BCE. Gudi means "bone flute" in Chinese.
Fue (笛/ふえ) is the Japanese word for bamboo flute, and refers to a class of flutes native to Japan. Fue come in many varieties, but are generally high-pitched and made of a bamboo called shinobue. The most popular of the fue is the shakuhachi.
The komabue (高麗笛) is a transverse bamboo flute, a fue that is used in traditional Japanese court music.
The Limbe is a western concert flute with six finger holes from Mongolian folk music, which belongs to the nomadic pastoral culture and is usually played with circular breathing by experienced players. The continuous playing of the flute to accompany "long songs" lasting up to 25 minutes was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in urgent need of preservation in 2011. Like most other Mongolian musical instruments, the limbe is traditionally only allowed to be played by men. The origin of the East Asian flutes such as the limbe and the related dizi in China could be traced back to the 1st millennium BC.
