The History of Flute
Flue is perhaps the most ancient music instrument in the history of mankind. There are various reasons for this, when man hunted animals such as buffalo which has hollow horns or when man hunted birds like vultures who have hollow bones, another example which history books state is when man heard the voice from the bamboo jungles which were eaten by termites they produced sounds which led to the invention of flute.
As the facts go A number of flutes dating to about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Alb region of Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a developed musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe. In Indian tradition the myth of Mahabharata includes the flute which is supposed to be 5000 B.C. Japanese the flute is called fue and Chinese flute are called di or a chi flute discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at the Suizhou site, Hubei province, China. It dates from 433 BC, of the later Zhou Dynasty. The flute has been such a versatile instrument that it was discovered in almost every ancient civilization making it a universal music instrument .
The modern flute descends from inventions made in 1832 and 1847 by the Bavarian
goldsmith, flute virtuoso, and industrial designer Theobald Boehm, and modified by many other instrument-makers since then. By the early 20th century and the recording era, French-style metal Boehm flutes had become the commonest type in Europe and America.
The standard concert flute is pitched in the key of C and has a range of three octaves starting from middle C (or one half-step lower, when a B foot is attached to the instrument). This means that the concert flute is one of the highest common orchestral instruments, with the exception of the piccolo, which plays an octave higher. G alto and C bass flutes are used occasionally, and are pitched a perfect fourth and an octave below the concert flute, respectively.
Flute in modern classical music has gained more importance over the years and it still remains the Man’s most cherished musical instrument.