History
The flute is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. The precursors of the modern concert flute were keyless wooden transverse flutes, similar to modern fifes. These were later modified to include between one and eight keys for chromatic notes. The most common pitch for such flutes was and remains "six-finger" D, but other pitches sometimes occur. These primitive and simple-system flutes continue to be used in folk music (particularly Irish traditional music) and in "historically informed" performances of Baroque (and earlier) music. For flutes in general see flute. The following section follows a rough sketch history of the western concert flute.
Read more about this topic: Western Concert Flute
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