The flute for kids: how it works and what to hear

The flute is a woodwind instrument that the player holds out to the side. It is a slim metal tube about two feet long, with keys along its length. It has no reed. The player blows across a hole near one end, and the stream of air makes the sound. The flute plays some of the highest and brightest notes in the orchestra.

Quick facts

• Family: woodwinds
• Size: about 26 inches long
• Made of: metal, most often silver or silver plate
• Sound is made by: blowing across a hole
• In an orchestra: two or three, and one of them often plays the piccolo

How it makes sound

The player rests the flute against the lower lip and blows a thin stream of air across the mouth hole. Part of the air goes into the tube and part goes over the edge. This splits the air and sets the air inside the tube shaking.

Blowing across the top of a bottle works the same way.

The fingers press keys that cover holes along the tube. With all the holes closed, the tube is long and the note is low. Opening holes makes the tube act shorter, and the note goes up. The player also reaches higher notes by blowing faster.

Why a metal instrument is a woodwind

Flutes were made of wood for hundreds of years. In the 1800s, a German maker named Theobald Boehm redesigned the flute with a metal tube and a new system of keys. The family name stayed. An instrument is a woodwind because of how it makes sound, not because of what it is made of.

One of the oldest instruments

People have played flutes for a long time. Flutes carved from bone, found in caves in Germany, are about 40,000 years old.

The piccolo

The piccolo is a flute half the size. It plays an octave higher, and it is the highest instrument in the orchestra. One of the flute players often switches to it. Its sound cuts through everything. Read the piccolo for kids.

Its job in the orchestra

The flutes sit in the middle of the orchestra, in the front row of the woodwinds. They often play the tune, or double the violins an octave above. Composers use the flute for birds, for light and quick music, and for calm, floating solos.

Pieces to hear

The bird in Peter and the Wolf, by Prokofiev. Fast, fluttering notes. See the guide.

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, by Debussy. The piece opens with one flute, alone, sliding down and back up.

Badinerie from Orchestral Suite No. 2, by Bach. A quick, bouncy solo that tests a player’s fingers and breath.

“Dance of the Reed Flutes” from The Nutcracker, by Tchaikovsky. Three flutes play together. See the guide.

“Morning Mood,” by Grieg. The flute plays the sunrise tune first. See the Peer Gynt guide.

The piccolo solo in “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” by Sousa. High and showy, near the end of the march.

Starting to play

Many children start the flute at about nine or ten, often in a school band. A child needs arms long enough to hold the flute out to the side and reach the keys. For younger or smaller children, some flutes have a curved top section that brings the keys closer.

Making the first sound takes patience. A beginner often practices on the top section alone for the first week.

The recorder is a common first step. It is blown from the end, costs little, and teaches breath and fingers.

Things to do together

Bottle flute. Blow across the top of an empty bottle until it hums. Add water and try again. The note goes up as the air space gets smaller.

Be the bird. Play the bird’s music from Peter and the Wolf and flutter around the room.

Flute or piccolo? Play a flute solo and a piccolo solo. Ask which is higher. For more to hear, read famous flute pieces for kids.

Spot the flute. In a concert video, look for the silver instrument held sideways.

Print and play

To compare the two, read flute vs clarinet: which is easier for a beginner? Tick the woodwinds on the instrument families listening chart. For the rest of the family, read woodwind instruments for kids. For all four families, see instruments of the orchestra for kids.