Five-key flute Five-key flute 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 Bb, this variant being known as the Bb flute and sounding one tone below the orchestral piccolo. The next most common variant is the Eb flute, sounding a fifth below the Bb flute and used as its bass instrument in band harmonies. It is now often found in British military corps of drums, often playing various regimental marches. As the name suggests, the five-key flute most commonly has five keys,
Xindi (instrument) which complements the other orchestral instruments better. All these reasons contribute to why its use for solo performance is so restricted and rare. Xindi (instrument) The xindi (; literally "new flute") is a Chinese musical instrument. A 20th-century derivative of the ancient "dizi" (bamboo transverse flute), the "xindi" is western influenced, fully chromatic, and usually lacks the dizi's distinctive "di mo", or buzzing membrane. The xindi is also known as the 11-hole di (十一孔笛). Its design is western influenced and based on the principal of equal temperament. It first appeared in the early 1930s. It was designed and produced by