transverse flute

A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The player blows across the embouchure hole, in a direction perpendicular to the flute's body length.

This instrument could best be termed a "band flute," in that it is pitched in a flat key for use in military or community bands playing repertoire written mostly in flat keys.

Such adjustments cannot be taken very far on simple folk instruments with thin walls, but the design of European transverse flutes traditionally includes wall thickness adequate for wood, ebonite (hard rubber), and ivory instruments to achieve proper embouchure hole dimensions.

What all these flutes have in common is that the air breaks on an edge of the instrument, although the edge is unlike the lip plate on a recorder. The straight flutes are open on both sides, whereas the transverse flutes are closed at the side where the mouth opening is. This is often the natural knot in a reed.

Flutes held horizontally are called transverse flutes. Jacques Hotteterre has been credited with redesigning the transverse flute in the 1600s to include a head joint (mouthpiece), a body, and a foot joint. Modern day flutes are still made up of these three parts.

Transverse flutes made out of animal bones were used in Europe in the Paleolithic era. These instruments can certainly be regarded as the ancestor of the flute.

The flute is the oldest woodwind instrument, dating to 900 B.C. or earlier. The first likely flute was called the "ch-ie" and emerged in China. Early flutes were played in two different positions: vertically, like a recorder, or horizontally, in what was called the transverse position.

The transverse flute first arrived in Europe with traders from the Byzantine Empire during the Middle Ages and flowered in Germany, so much so that it became known as the German flute. During the 1100s and 1200s, the flute was widely used in courtly music and saw use as a military signaling and marching tool.

The earliest transverse flute was also created in China. Made of bamboo, the “chi” was held horizontally across the right side of the body. The oldest example dates from about the 5th century BC.