Treble flute trill keys, and soldered keys. It is very similar to a piccolo, and plays in the same range, although, because it is a slightly larger instrument, it has a different quality at the upper end of its register, and it has an extended lower register, as compared with the piccolo. The instrument should not be confused with the Alto Flute, also in G, which is a larger instrument that transposing down by a fourth to the octave below the treble flute. Since the demise of the Renaissance flute consorts, the use of this treble flute in G seems to have
Eunuch flute Eunuch flute The eunuch flute, or onion flute, or mirliton (Fr. "flûte eunuque, flûte à l'oignon" and "mirliton"; Ger. "Zwiebelflöte") is a musical instrument of the woodwind family used during the 16th and 17th centuries, producing music akin to the comb-music of the nursery, and still manufactured as a toy ("mirliton"). The eunuch flute consists of a wooden tube widening out slightly to form a bell. The upper end of the tube is closed by means of a very fine membrane similar to an onion skin stretched across the aperture like the vellum of a drum. The mouthpiece, a simple