Members of the western concert flute family or private collections. This distinctive sounding instrument is rarely found at present. A few American publications for flute choir currently include a part for an E (soprano) flute, an instrument pitched a minor third higher than the standard C flute. In these publications, an alternative part is provided either for the C flute or for the piccolo. The standard concert flute is by far the most common member of the flute family. The flute is used in many ensembles including concert bands, orchestras, flute ensembles, occasionally jazz bands and big bands. The instrument is pitched in C and has a
Flute Indian culture and mythology, and the cross flute believed by several accounts to originate in India as Indian literature from 1500 BCE has made vague references to the cross flute. A flute produces sound when a stream of air directed across a hole in the instrument creates a vibration of air at the hole. The airstream creates a Bernoulli or siphon. This excites the air contained in the usually cylindrical resonant cavity within the flute. The flutist changes the pitch of the sound produced by opening and closing holes in the body of the instrument, thus changing the effective length