There are two major types of flute: end-blown flutes and side-blown or transverse flutes.

End-blown flutes are simple tubes with a sharp edge or notch or, as in the case of recorders and whistles, they may have an inserted block.

Side-blown flutes produce their sound from blowing onto a sharp edge, causing air enclosed in a tube to vibrate. Use of the side-blown flute in Europe was sporadic until the later Middle Ages, when it was cultivated chiefly by the minnesingers in Germany.

Narrow-bored flutes (fifes) became common as military instruments and one-handed, narrow-bored pipes played together with small drums (called pipe and tabor) were use to accompany dancing in southern France and northern Spain.

They were common instruments during the Renaissance. The Renaissance flute was a plain cylindrical boxwood pipe with 6 fingerholes and no thumbhole and no key or head cap. There were three principal sizes corresponding to the treble, tenor and bass recorders of the 16th century.

The modern instrument commonly known as a flute is a high-pitched reedless woodwind instrument consisting of a slender tube (usually metal) closed at one end with keys and finger holes on the side. Regarded as a transverse instrument, players hold the flute perpendicular to the mouth and.produce sound by blowing air across the mouthpiece much like blowing across the top of a bottle.

The flute is among the most agile instruments in the orchestra. The standard C flute has a range of about 3 and a half octaves, while the alto flute is pitched a fourth lower and the bass flute is pitched an octave lower. Its smaller cousin, the piccolo, which sounds an octave higher than the standard flute, is so piercing that it can be heard over an entire orchestra playing at full volume.