The flute belongs to the woodwind family of musical instruments. This is because flutes were originally made of wood. Today's modern flutes are usually made of metal, such as silver, gold, platinum, or nickel silver, which is an alloy of copper, zinc and brass.
Most woodwind instruments require a wooden reed to produce a tone. However, the flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening.
The flute is one of the first musical instruments in history. It has been used for thousands of years by many different cultures around the world.
A musician who plays the flute can be called a flute player, a flautist, a flutist or, less commonly, a fluter or a flutenist.
The flute requires the use of more air than any other wind instrument, including the tuba.
There are many sizes of modern flutes: piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute, contrabass flute.
