Western concert flute Western concert flute The Western concert flute is a transverse (side-blown) woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, flute player, or (rarely) fluter. This type of flute is used in many ensembles including concert bands, military bands, marching bands, orchestras, flute ensembles, and occasionally jazz bands and big bands. Other flutes in this family include the piccolo, alto flute, and the bass flute. A large repertory of works has been composed for flute. The flute is one of the oldest
Recorder (musical instrument) "common flute", "common English-flute", or simply "English flute" while the transverse instrument was distinguished as the "German flute" or simply "flute." Until at least 1765, some writers still used "flute" to mean recorder. Until the mid 18th century, musical scores written in Italian refer to the instrument as , whereas the transverse instrument was called . This distinction, like the English switch from "recorder" to "flute," has caused confusion among modern editors, writers and performers. Indeed, in most European languages, the first term for the recorder was the word for flute alone. In the present day, cognates of the word