The Flute

The Flute is a high- pitched reedless woodwind instrument made up of a slender tube (usually metal) which is closed at one end with keys and finger holes on the side. Flute players hold the instrument to the mouth and produce sound by blowing across the mouthpiece, much like blowing across the top of a bottle. Its smaller cousin the piccolo, which sounds an octave higher than the standard flute, is so piercing that it …

…smaller cousin the piccolo, which sounds an octave higher than the standard flute, is so piercing that it can be heard over an entire orchestra playing at full volume. Between 1830 and 1850, Theobald Boehm developed the modern flute system of fingering for producing notes still known today as the Boehm system. I think that the flute itself adds a soft and yet personal touch to the orchestra and no orchestra is complete without it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**