General Information
Flutes and Piccolos from different eras were made by many different companies throughout the world.
Flutes and piccolos
are and were manufactured of different types of wood,
including rosewood, grenadilla (african blackwood/ebony) and cocuswood,
plastics and similar materials (ebonite/hard rubber & bakelite).
More commonly made of numerous types and combinations of metals,
flutes and piccolos still wander the world and could even be as close as your
neighbor's house
without your knowledge.
Many people have different opinions of just what can be classified as a flute.
I have quite strong opinions of such things and consider a flute to be a horizontally-blown instrument with holes throughout.
Below is an example of a few flutes and variations-- photo taken by a close friend of mine.
The top flute is an ebony 8-key flute also known as a simple system flute.
The four flutes below that flute are standard student model metal flutes (silverplated).
The last flute is an example of an open hole flute-- notice the obvious holes in the keys.
Some people consider recorders flutes whereas I do not think that they should be considered 'flutes' at all.
The tone from a recorder may seem similar to that of a flute however there are MANY differences between a recorder and flute to distinguish them into different categories of their own.
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