Inspirejourneygal Music Theory: Musical Instruments: The Piccolo and The Flute

The flute is a wood wind instrument. The performer blows into a hole and it is held horizontally. Early flutes did not have keys to cover the holes as they do in modern flutes. However, some keys on modern flutes do have holes which enables the performer to play more special effects. The flute is generally silver plated, but as we move up the range they will have solid silver head joints, some gold plated. The flute has three parts, the head joint, the body and the foot joint.

Below is an example of a wooden flute where the performer has to cover the holes with their fingers.

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Here is an example of a modern flute with the keys covering the holes called a closed hole flute.

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A modern flute with holes in the keys called an open hole flute.

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A picture of a young girl playing the flute. Notice how she holds it vertically and blows over the hole.

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The range of the flute is from bottom C in the treble clef and it can play three octaves, C to the next C. the next C and up to the next C. There are different foot joints for the flute, the C foot joint, which is widely used and the B foot joint so the performer can play the B note below the bottom C. There are different flutes such as the bass and alto flute, they have a lower sound, an example shown in the picture below.

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The instrument pitched higher than the flute and that is widely played in orchestras is the piccolo. Notice how much smaller it is. It has the same range as the flute but the lowest note that it can play is the D rather than the C. It is written an octave lower than it sounds so it is a transposing instrument.