One of the most loved solo instruments since the 10th century, the flute has changed in construction since then so that it may be able to comply with our demanding musical techniques today. The flute is considered in the aerophone family of which the sound is created from air vibrations. Throughout the world, different cultures have interpreted their own types of flutes according to their needs. Some of those different types of flutes will be discussed later. The history of the flute can be divided into five sections: Primitive (Middle Ages), Renaissance, Baroque, Classical/Romantic, and Twentieth Century. During each of these periods, the flute changed in construction and the material it is made of to meet the needs of whoever played it.
    Primitive flutes are dated back before the 12th century in France. Early men considered flutes to be imperative in life, just as a bone scraper was needed to survive. Curt Sachs, the author of The History of Musical Instruments, said "Primitive man cannot overlook the resemblance between a pierced straight instrument and the penis; even in modern occidental slang the penis is designated by flute names. Early civilizations where the masculine impulse predominates connect the ideas flutes--phallos--fertility--life--rebirth, and they associate flute playing with the innumerable phallic ceremonies and with fertility in general." The flute was primarily performed by the men according to custom during ceremonial activities in all countries. There were four common types of flutes during the middle ages. They were the Verticle Transverse, Cross, Whistle, and Nose Flutes.
    The Verticle Transverse Flute was a long piece of wood or bamboo with the middle hollowed out. The upper end was stopped and a mouth-hole was cut in the side. The early flutes had one hole. Later in this era, three finger holes were introduced. Thie sideblown flute was usually held to the right of the player, however, there has been some evidence that left handed flutes existed.
    Next, the Cross Flute was a straight flute that was considered beaked or a recorder. This particular flute was end-blown. It was more difficult to play than the side-blown flute.
    The Whistle Flute was more complicated than the Cross Flute. It was made of bird bones, and the largest ones were made of cane.
    Last of all, the Nose Flutes were quite common in this era. They were blown thru the nose instead of the mouth. They came in two different sizes: tubular, or global. Brazil's Nose Flutes had two finger holes. The Jivaro (head hunters) stopped a Nose Flute up at both ends and the flute reached two feet in length. Melanesia and Polynesia were the countries that used Nose Flutes the most. It was very important that the finger holes were smaller than the holes on the mouth-blown flutes. They were made of wood or human bone and came in a variety of sizes and cylindrical bores. The people played them by plugging up one nostril with tobacco, rag, or pressed it closed with a finger.
    The Renaissance period marked a popular time for the recorder, however, flutes were still played by the beginning of the mid seventeenth century, woodwind instruments were redesigned. The flutes aquired a D# key and a reverse conical bore. The One-Handed flute became popular with the combination of the drum. It came in three different sizes. The treble was 20 inches in length and sounded the second octave D above middle C. The tenor was 26 inches long and sounded the G above middle C. The final size was the bass extending 30 inches and sounding on the middle C. Two other different kinds of flutes that were popular during that time were the Block flute and the Transverse flute. The Block flute was a whistle flute in which the upper end was blocked by a plug. That left a narrow flue to lead the breath toward a sharp edge which produced the sound. The bore tapered toward the end (diameter ratio between top and bottom was 5:3) which produced a pale tone. The Block flute, produced in the Netherlands in 1413, was the first kind of flute to have an open key. That key helped close a finger hole that was too far for the fingers to reach. A longitudinal brass lever with a padded cup at the lower end was within reach of the little finger. The Transverse Flute had become associated with the drum. In the sixteenth century, the new Transverse Flute had a wider bore than the previous ones which made the lower octave easier to blow and was not limited in its high register. The Transverse Flute came in three sizes, the larger ones gradually being admitted to art music. The first size is considered a treble which was 20 inches long and sounded the A above middle C. The second size was an alto-tenor which was 30 inches long and sounded the D above middle C. The third size was a bass extending 45 inches in length and sounding the G below middle C. This flute contained six finger holes and the airstream came from the player's lips and hit the sharp edge of the mouth-hole pierced in the wall of the cylindrical tube near the stopped end. The tone produced from the Transverse Flute was not mechanical like a recorder, so the sound was more variable, stronger, more clear, and penetrating.
    The Baroque era marked the return of the popular Transverse Flute. Previously used as a swweet solo instrument, it was now used as a shrill military instrument. The new construction was made up of a cylindrical bore by the French, which decreased 19 millimeters of the mouth-hole to 14 millimeters at the lower end. The flute contained six open front holes that were arranged in two groups, and a key covered a seventh hole producing the note D# when opened. The axis of this key was fixed in a bulb-like swelling of the tube which did not affect the bore. These Transverse Flutes of the Baroque era were called the "D" flute because the diatonic scale in which the finger holes were cut produced the D major scale. Other notes could be played by cross fingering or half stopping, but these notes were difficult to play and slightly muffled. Over blowing was easier and more favorable to different dynamics nd tonal variety. By the first half of the eighteenth century, the middle joint of the flute was divided in half. The flute was originally in three parts (head, body, and the foot) and not it was in four parts. The division of the body of the flute helped correct intonation problems. In 1720, the foot joint was divided into two parts and two keys were added to it. Now the flute was in six parts. Mattheson described the flute as "an instrument worthy of high esteem."
    Before the 1800's, the flute had the Bb, F, C, D, D#, and G# keys, but the flute was still very limited. During the Classical period, Pratton, Clinton, Carte, Siccama, and Radcliff contributed to redesigning the flute. Richard Potter increased the length of the flute which allowed the D# and middle C keys to be added. The flute only contained six keys before the 1800's, but soon after that, two more keys were added making the C and F notes. The flute now contained eight keys. In the late eighteenth century, the flute was altered so much and so quickly that few people continued to play the three and four keyed flutes. They preferred the eight keys or double and alternate keyed flutes. In 1808, Reverend Frederick Nolan in England invented the Ring-Key Flute which allowed corrective holes to be added. The construction of this was a springing metal ring suspended over the original bore and connected with a lever with another key over an auxiliary hole beyond the reach of the finger. As long as the hole under the ring-key was open, the auxiliary hole was also open and functioned as a correction. When the finger closes the hole, it presses on the ring closing the hole without interfering with the other keys. in 1820-30, flutist Charles Nichoolson in London tried to improve the flute by making larger holes, but was not entirely successful because the key mechanism was not right. Finally, a German flutist, Theodore Boehm, studied the newer techniques of flute making and in 1831 based a whole new system on them and created the Boehm flute, which is still the most used flute today. The basics were: 1.) The holes were to be as large as possible. 2.) Their position would depend on acoustical correctiveness only, without considering the player's comfort. 3.) The flute would contain a certain number of keys covering all holes. 4.) All keys were to be open in their position of rest (except G#). These new flutes were still made of a conical bore, and in 1846 Boehm created the modern cylindrical bore with a parabolic head. This made the pitch more accurate and the timbres equal in different registers.
    Flutes now sounded more reedy in the upper register and hornlike in the lower register. As time went by, they were made of metal more and more. The harder the metal, the brighter the timbre. Silver flutes sounded brighter than the gold ones. Dayton Miller, the greatest authority on flutes commented on gold flutes saying, "When played pianissimo, the tones are nearly simple, containing about 95% of fundamental, with a very weak octave and just a trace of some higher partials." Giorgi from Florence in 1888 made a flute of ebonite having a seperate hole for every semitone of the octave. Eleven holes posed as a problem for only ten fingers. This flute was held in the same position as an oboe or clarinet. The embroshure was pierced in a seperate bulbous head piece. Only performers with large hands could play it.
    Therefore, since the reconstruction of the flute by Boehm in 1847, it has basically remained the same. There may be additions or extentions to it, but it has not been redesigned. Some people still prefer the "simple system" which was made up of just tone holes bored in the body up until the 1950's. Today, the modern flute is about 26.5 inches long with a bore 0.75 inches. The modern flute is in three sections again containing the head joint, body, and foot joint. There are thirteen note holes which use eight fingers and the left thumb. The range starts at B or C' and goes to D"". The head joint is clogged with a cork and is open at the foot end. The most common material that the flute is made of is sterling silver, but some cheaper models are silver coated nickel. New metals have been experimented with such as Platinum and Auromite (gold and silver fused together), and even Titanium. A new D# roller key has been added to help make awkward tills easeir, and also a split E mechanism that allows two keys to be covered, while on a regular flute, one is only covered. This allows the high E to be played more cleanly and to have a better attack. Also, the head joint embroshure plate has been changed according to the player's needs, such as a concave lip-plate or channels cut into the other side of the sharp wall. These different kinds of head joints play a big role with the way a flute sounds. Some performers have more than one head joint so that they can change the timbre of the flute. Also, the invention of the piccolo (sounds an octave higher), alto flute (perfect fourth lower), and bass flute (range starts at G below middle C), have been used in orchestral and flute choirs this century. The piccolo is the more common of these.
    The history of the flute is quite extensive. Flutes were used since the beginning of the millennium and today they are still considered a very popular instrument. The construction has changed immensely. The first flutes started with the limited range on one hole, and then throughout time, more and more notes and keys were added to make 13 keys. The bulk of redesign occured in the late 19th through 20th century because of Theodore Boehm's brilliant knowledge; however, many other names should not be excluded from the remodeling of the flute: Pratten, Clinton, Carte, Siccama, Ratcliff, and many more. Whether it is bone or platinum, the flute has always charmed its audience and allowed them to escape their worries for a short time.

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Marcuse, Sibyl. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.

Musical Instruments of the World. New York: Diagram Visual Information Ltd., 1976.

Randel, Don Michael. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1940.