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,
Contrabass flute Phyllis Avidan Louke, and Judy Nishimura, among others. One is a "contrabass flute in G," pitched a fourth below the bass flute and an octave lower than the alto flute; thus, this is technically, a contra-alto flute. The other instrument is a "subcontrabass flute in G" pitched one octave below the contra-alto flute, or two octaves below the alto flute in G. Kotato & Fukushima also produce a "subcontrabass flute in C", a large, deep instrument pitched a full octave below the contrabass flute in C. Contrabass flute The contrabass flute is one of the rarer members of the flute