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Flutes that have fipples, like penny whistles (or recorders), vessel flutes (some of which have fipples, like an ocarina), end-blown flutes without a fipple lik
by IggleSniggle 2y ago
Flutes that have fipples, like penny whistles (or recorders), vessel flutes (some of which have fipples, like an ocarina), end-blown flutes without a fipple like the xiao (which also happens to have a side-blown varient).
There are many, but the word is somewhat amorphous. Personally, I would call almost anything that uses a Helmholtz resonator instigated with the mouth as the initial oscillator a "flute," but will also take it to mean "orchestral flute" based on guessed context in conversation.
The thing that makes clarinets and oboes not flutes is that they have one or more reeds rather than producing a direct Helmholtz resonator.
- mrob 2y agoAlthough "Helmholtz resonator" is often used to describe a broader range of resonators than Helmholtz's original design, I think it's dubious to call fipple flutes "Helmholtz resonators". The fipple mechanism sets up an oscillating sheet of air going into and out of the pipe, which isn't present in traditional Helmholtz resonators. See: http://www.colinpykett.org.uk/how_the_flue_pipe_speaks.htm http://www.colinpykett.org.uk/how_the_flue_pipe_speaks.htm I think a better definition of a flute is a mouth-blown wind instrument with no vibrating parts.
- IggleSniggle 2y agoSuperb correction, thanks!
- mrob 2y agoI just remembered there are East Asian flutes that use vibrating membranes to modify the sound: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizi_(instrument) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizi_(instrument) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daegeum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daegeum These are uncontroversially flutes, so the definition would have to be "mouth-blown wind instruments that generate a tone without using vibrating parts".