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,
Flute the word back to the Latin "flare" (to blow, inflate) have been pronounced "phonologically impossible" or "inadmissable". The first known use of the word "flute" was in the 14th century. According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", this was in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Hous of Fame", c.1380. Today, a musician who plays any instrument in the flute family can be called a flutist (pronounced "FLEW-tist", most common in the US), or flautist (pronounced "FLAW-tist", most common in the UK), or simply a flute player (more neutrally). "Flutist" dates back to at least 1603, the earliest quotation cited by the "Oxford English