The flute is made of metallic cylinder-like tube to which the mouthpiece and the valves are attached. It is an ideal solo instrument, but performs well in all kinds of musical textures, also in the middle tones of a voicing. The lower register (approx. c1-c2) has a broad sound and it blends nicely with all instrumentation choices.

The tone of the flute changes gradually: The lower register is soft and pan-flute-like, and louder volumes are very difficult to achieve. The higher register is sharper, and low volume is difficult to achieve. It is more a legato instrument than staccato, as the staccato effect remains very soft.

Different fingerings can be used to produce variations of a given tone with all flutes.

Recommended combinations:

Flute and clarinet (in octaves, unison or thirds)
Flute and string instrument
Flute and bassoon
Flute and oboe
Flute and and trumpet (lower register)

Problematic combinations:

Flute high register, clarinet lower register
Flute solo written in the lower register (can easily be drowned by the accompanying textures)

Listen to the audio samples:

Melody (278 KB)
Microintervals (84 KB)
Pizzicato (47 KB)