Divine sound, heart melting music and soul touching noise is released through this woodwind musical instrument. It is named as flute. Flutes including the famous Bansuri have been an integral part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC Very famously portrayed pictures of Lord Krishna have depicted him playing a flute.

The flute belongs to the family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reed, a flute is an aero phone instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. Flutes are categorized as edge blown aero phones.

Flutes including the famous Bansuri have been an integral part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC.

Musician who plays the flute is called as flutist. The oldest flute discovered was dated about 43,000 years ago. The five holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone.

A flute produces sound when a stream of an air directed across a hole in the instrument creates a vibration of air in the hole. The air stream across this hole creates a siphon. This excites the air contained in the cylindrical resonant cavity within the flute. The player changes the pitch of the sound by opening and closing the holes in the body of this instrument by his fingers. A flute‘s volume can be increased by making its resonator and tone holes larger.

Flutes vary from region to region and come in different styles. The Indian flutes, the Chinese flutes and the Japanese flutes they all have different make up‘s and produce different music.

There are varieties of flutes available in modern era of musical instruments.

Alto flutes: – The alto flute is a type of western concert flute. It has a distinct mellow tune. The tube of the alto flute is thicker and longer and requires more breathe from the player.

Bass flute: – It is the bass member belonging to the flute family. It is usually made with a “j” shaped head joint because of the length of the tube, which brings the embouchure hole within reach of the player. Usually this flute is used in flute choirs. Mostly this flutes are also used in jazz compositions.