Bamboo flute

The flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known.[1] Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists.[1] While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia too has a long history with the instrument that has continued into the present day. In China, a playable bone flute was discovered, about 9000 years old.[2]

Bamboo flute

Krishna playing flute with his herd of cows in Bucesvara Temple, Koravangala.
Woodwind instrument
Classification	woodwind
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	421 (421.11 End-blown flutes 421.12 Side-blown flutes)
Developed	Unknown where flutes developed. Flutes tens-of-thousands of years old have been discovered in Europe and Asia. Bamboo flutes spread from China and India, along silk road, and across the oceans to Southeast Asia and Africa. Native Americans also made bamboo flutes.

Historians have found the bamboo flute has a long history as well, especially China and India. Flutes made history in records and artworks starting in the Zhou dynasty. The oldest written sources reveal the Chinese were using the kuan (a reed instrument) and hsio (or xiao, an end-blown flute, often of bamboo) in the 12th-11th centuries b.c., followed by the chi (or ch'ih) in the 9th century b.c. and the yüeh in the 8th century b.c.[3] Of these, the chi is the oldest documented cross flute or transverse flute, and was made from bamboo.[3][4] The Chinese have a word, zhudi, which literally means "bamboo flute."[5]

The cross flute (Sanscrit: vāṃśī) was "the outstanding wind instrument of ancient India," according to Curt Sachs.[6] He said that religious artwork depicting "celestial music" instruments was linked to music with an "aristocratic character."[6] The Indian bamboo cross flute, Bansuri, was sacred to Krishna, and he is depicted in Hindu art with the instrument.[6] In India, the cross flute appeared in reliefs from the 1st century a.d. at Sanchi and Amaravati from the 2nd-4th centuries a.d.[6] [7]

In the modern age, bamboo flutes are common in places with ready access to bamboo, including Asia, South and Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa.

See: Chinese flutes

End blown flute mouthpieces

Name	Description	Picture
Xiao blowing hole	(the hole faces away from the player, against the lower lip, making sure the top lip is not concealing the hole, when the instrument is played. Works on the same basics as blowing air over an empty bottle to create noise.)
Shakuhachi	Kinko school utaguchi (歌口, blowing edge) and inlay. The shakuhachi player blows as one would blow across the top of an empty bottle (though the shakuhachi has a sharp edge to blow against called utaguchi) and therefore has substantial pitch control.
Hotchiku	Same technique as shakuhachi. The angle of the utaguchi (歌口, lit. "singing mouth"), or blowing edge, of a hotchiku is closer to perpendicular to the bore axis than that of a modern shakuhachi.
Quena	To produce sound, the player closes the top end of the pipe with the flesh between the chin and lower lip, and blows a stream of air downward, along the axis of the pipe, over an elliptical notch cut into the end.	Blowing tip of Quena flute, South America
Khlui	Thailand. A block has been put into the end of the flute, an internal fipple that creates a hole to blow through, channeling air through a duct to create sound.

List of bamboo flutes, cane flutes, reed flutes

This list is intended to show flutes made of bamboo. It excludes pan flutes or panpipes, and flutes and whistles that don't have finger positions to change notes. It also excludes pipes that use reeds to produce the sound. Bamboo is a grass, and some "cane" or "reed" flutes may get listed here, as long as the plant is being used for a tube that is blown into or across to create noise. Types of flutes include transverse flutes (also called cross flutes), end-blown flutes (ring flutes are included with these) and Nose flutes. Fipple flutes, also called duct flutes, may be added to the list as well, as long as they are bamboo-based instruments. The bamboo variant may be added for instruments that include wood and bamboo versions.

Name in English	Name in other language	Place / Region	Picture	Soundhole	Description
Atenteben		Ghana[8][9] [10]
Bansuri		Bangladesh	A group of bansuri flutes, grouped low pitched to high pitched.
Bansuri		India[11]	Musician playing a large bansuri; the larger instrument is lower toned than a smaller bansuri.
Bām̐surī	(Nepali: बाँसुरी)	Nepal	Public performance by Newar musicians with flutes, Lalitpur.
Bata Nalawa		Sri Lanka
Chi		China[3]
Dizi	Chinese: 笛子 pinyin: dízi)	China[5]	Group of dizi flutes in different sizes and pitches.
Daegeum	(Korean: 대금)	Korea
Dangjeok or Jeok	Hangeul : 당적 hanja : 唐笛	Korea[12]
Danso	Hangul: 단소 Hanja: 短簫	Korea[13]
Donali	دونَلی	Iran
Dongdi		China
Fijian nose flute		Viti Levu		Nose flute	This nasal flute is made from a section of bamboo, pierced with nine holes. The entire surface is decorated with geometric patterns of different shapes, forming several registers in the vertical direction. To play the flute, a hole must be applied against one nostril while the other is blocked by the fingers.
Hotchiku	法竹	Japan[14]
Garau-nai		Uzbekistan, Tajikistan[15]
India nose-flute bansuri		West Bengal		Fipple	In 1799, artist Frans Balthazar Solvyns depicted an end-blown flute, called Bansuri (like the side-blown flute), being played nasally.
Ji		Korea
Junggeum	Hangul: 중금 Hanja: 中笒)	Korea[16]	Top a daegeum, in the middle a junggeum, to the right a piri.
Kagurabue	(Japanese: 神楽笛))	Japan[17]
Khloy	Khmer: ខ្លុយ Burmese: ပုလွ	Cambodia[18] Myanmar (Burma)		internal fipple	end-blown duct flute. Mouthhole on bottom of pipe's end, soundhole on flute's bottom (opposite side of the pipe from the fingerholes).[19] This flute may have as many as 8 fingerholes, plus up to 2 additional thumbholes; the thumbholes offer additional notes.[19]
Khlui	(Thai: ขลุ่ย	Thailand		internal fipple	end-blown duct flute. Mouthhole on top of pipe's end, soundhole on flute's top.
Komabue	Japanese: 高麗笛	Japan[20]	Komabue in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts
Koudi	Chinese: 口笛 pinyin: kǒudí	China[21]	A koudi. The large hole in the middle is the blowing hole, and the three smaller holes on the top are finger holes. The two open ends of the tube are also used, played with the thumbs.
Lalove		Indonesia
Malaysian nose flute		Sarawak	Nose flute on Sarawak	Nose flute
Minteki or shinteki	minteki: (kanji: 明笛 shinteki: (kanji: 清笛))	Japan
Moseño		Andes mountains[22][23]
Murali		Nepal[24]
Native American flute		United States (Native American)
Nohkan	能管	Japan	Bottom, a Nohkan. The rest are shinobue.
Ney		Iran	Turkish ney
Ohe Hano Ihu		Hawaii
Paiwan nose flute		Taiwan	Paiwanese nose flute with two pipes.	Nose flute	Instrument of the Paiwan people of Taiwan.
Palendag		Philippines[25]
Palwei (German Wikipedia)	Burmese: ပလွေ	Myanmar	Palwei, a Myanmar transverse flute.
Pinkillu		Peru, Andes mountains[26]	Pinkillu flute and tinya drum. The musician plays the flute one handed while playing the drum.
Quena		Andes	Quena, made from American species of bamboos, (bamboo generas Aulonemia or Rhipidocladum.[27] Also the tokhoro, a species of cane.[27]
Ryūteki		Japan[28]
Sáo	sáo trúc	Vietnam[29]
Shakuhachi	尺八	Japan[30][31]
Shinobue or takebue	Shinobue: kanji: 篠笛 Takebue: (kanji: 竹笛)	Japan[32]	All but the bottom flute are shinobue. The bottom flute is a Nohkan.
Sogeum	Korean: 소금 Korean: 小笒	Korea[33]
Suling		Indonesia[34]	Man playing end-blown suling, a bamboo ring flute.
Suling		Papua, New Guinea	Woman playing a suling transverse bamboo flute, from Papua, New Guinea.
Tahitian nose flute		Tahiti		Nose flute	Bamboo nose flute bound with bands of colored coconut fiber. Collected from Tahiti, the Society Islands during Cook's voyages to the Pacific 1768-1780.
Tongso	Korean: 퉁소	Korea[6]
Venu	Sanskrit: वेणु	India
Wa		Myanmar
Xiao	Chinese: 簫 Simplified Chinese: 箫 Pinyan: xiāo	China[3]
Xindi	Chinese: 新 笛; pinyin: xīndí	China[5]
Yak	약	Korea
Yokobue		Japan
Yue		China[35]

References

1. "Earliest music instruments found". bbc.com. 25 May 2012.
2. "Brookhaven Lab Expert Helps Date Flute Thought to be Oldest Playable Musical Instrument, Bone flute found in China at 9,000-year-old Neolithic site". Brookhaven National Laboratory.
3. Sachs, Kurt (1940). The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 178–179.
4. "Ancient Chinese Musical Instrument's Depicted On Some Of The Early Monuments In The Museum". University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The Erh Ya (c. 400 B.C.) says the ch’ih was made of bamboo, its length was 16 inches, one hole opened upwards, and it was blown transversely.
5. "Chinese flutes and their music" (PDF). gim.ntu.edu.tw. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014. [https://www.scribd.com/document/251561769/The-Chinese-Membrane-Flute-Dizi-Physics-and-Perception-of-Its This text appears to be "The Chinese Membrane Flute (Dizi)_Physics and Perception of its Tones, a thesis by Chen Gia Tsai, submitted to Philosophical Faculty III at the Humbolt University of Berlin, 28 November 2003.
6. Sachs, Kurt (1940). The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 158–159, 180.
7. Kadel, Ram Prasad (2007). Musical Instruments of Nepal. Katmandu, Nepal: Nepali Folk Instrument Museum. p. 45. ISBN 978-9994688302. Banshi...\transverse flute...made from bamboo with six finger holes...known as Lord Krishna's instrument.
8. Akrofi, Eric (2016-11-30). "Personalities in World Music Education No 14 – J.H. Kwabena Nketia". International Journal of Music Education: 41–45. doi:10.1177/025576149201900106.
9. "Atenteben - Ghanian whistle". The Kwela Project. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
10. Onovwerosuoke, Wendy Hymes (2008-01-01). "New horizons: the world of African art music for flute: African art music offers rich programming opportunities, but scores often are unpublished and can be challenging to find. Insights are offered about some of Africa's foremost composers--among them the author's husband". Flutist Quarterly. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
11. Suneera Kasliwal (2004). Classical musical instruments. Rupa. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-81-291-0425-0.
12. Salcedo, Pablo. "Pablo Salcedo. World Flutes Master". www.pablosalcedo.org. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
13. "TANSO". Grinnell College.
14. Deaver, Tom. "HOCHIKU vs. SHAKUHACHI". shikan.org.
15. "Nai". thefreedictionary.com. The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979)...An Uzbek and Tadzhik transverse flute...Depending on the material from which it is made the nai is called agach-nai (wooden), garau-nai (bamboo), misnai (tin), and brindgzhi-nai (brass)
16. "문예진흥원 홈페이지". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007.
17. David Petersen (March 2007). An Invitation to Kagura: Hidden Gem of the Traditional Japanese Performing Arts. David Petersen. pp. 275–. ISBN 978-1-84753-006-6. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
18. Sam-Ang, Sam (2008). "The Khmer People of Cambodia". In Miller, Terry E.; Williams, Sean (eds.). The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music. New York, US: Taylor & Francis. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-234-56789-7.
19. "ប្រវត្តិ «ខ្លុយ» (translation:History of the Khloy". choukhmer.wordpress.com. 6 July 2010. រន្ធ មាន បង្ហើរ ខ្យល់ ចោល មួយ ឬ ពីរ ស្ថិត នៅ លើ ក្រោម ឬ ចំហៀង តួ សម្រាប់ ជួយ តម្រូវ សំនៀង របស់ រន្ធ ចំ រន្ធ ទី ៧ ឬ រន្ធ ទី ៨ ។(translation: One or two vents on the bottom or side of the body to help adjust the tone of the seventh hole or eighth hole)
20. Shigeo Kishibe, et al. "Japan." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43335pg5
21. Wang, Lisheng (2007). Introduction to Koudi. China.
22. "MOXEÑO o MOSEÑO". system of insufflation...placing a cane of conduit towards the mouth...to blow through the artificial "mouth"...due to the great distance from the normal mouth to the holes.
23. "La Quena". ...a flute originally from South America, from the Andean zone (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina...
24. Kadel, Ram Prasad (2006). Haamra Lokbaajaaharu (translation with subtitle: Our Musical Instruments, 'A course book for school children.') (PDF) (in Nepali). The [Nepal] Ministry of Education, Curriculum Department of Nepal Government. p. 7.
25. "Palandag, Group: Bagobo". kipas.nl/.
26. "Pincullo - Pinkullo o Pinkullu". Enciclopedia Digtal de la Provincia de Salta, Argentina.
27. "Materials and manufacture of quena". todosobrequenas.blogspot.com. Enciclopedia Digtal de la Provincia de Salta, Argentina. 16 October 2017.
28. "Instrumentos del mundo: Ryuteki" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
29. "Sáo trúc". Tieng Hat Que Huong. Archived from the original on 3 November 2003. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
30. 新都山流 心安らぐあたたかな音色 尺八.
31. 公益財団法人 都山流尺八学会.
32. "Shinobue (Bamboo flute)".
33. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-09-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
34. Taylor, Eric (1989). Musical Instruments of Southeast Asia. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-19-588894-4.
35. Thrasher, Alan R. "Yue". Grove Music Online.