Below is a modern day western concert flute.
The flute dates back to 2-3 million years ago, this is around the Stone Age so it makes the Flute one of the oldest instruments. Today they are made of mostly silver and some platinum and gold. On the left is a picture of a flute from the Stone Age. It along with many other flutes were made out of animal bones.
The range of the flute can be explained by using straws
The pitch of a sound corresponds to the frequency of the sound wave. The higher the frequency, the higher the perceived pitch. The shorter straw should have made a sound wave with a higher frequency than the longer straw, and so the shorter straw should have made a higher pitch than the longer straw.
Below is a video of the beginning of the song Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) which is a piece by Debussy famous for the opening.
Fun facts about the flute!
A flute player can called a flutist, flautist, or a flutenist.
The flute requires the most air out of all the instruments due to its high notes.
The flute has a lot of competition between musicians as ther are typically a lot of them.
A flute player needs to be able to read music quickly as it’s one of the fastest instruments.
The flute is in the key of C, which is the same as the piano!
Credits:
Created with images by Schanin - "music flute classic" “Those Amazing Musical Instruments!” By Genevieve Helsby “Two ancient Roman bone flutes with six finger holes, Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen (Netherlands)” uploaded by Carole Raddato Sound Science: “Do-Re-Mi with Straws” by Science Buddies What Does Music Look Like? Classroom Physics Demos A_Different_Perspective - "flute musical instrument silver plated"