Flute, Piccolo
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The Piccolo is the smallest member of the orchestral flute family ; it is half the length of the regular flute and plays an octave higher. The tube is conical, made out of metal or wood, and has the same keywork mechanism as the flute. The piccolo's bright sound sings out in the orchestra, adding color and vitality to the music.
| Family |
| Woodwinds |
| Pitch range |
| About two-and-a-half octaves. |
| Material |
| Metal or wood. |
| Size |
| About 13 in (33 cm) long, and 0.5 in (13 mm) in diameter. |
| Origins |
| The piccolo did not appear in the orchestra until the late 18th century. Its mechanism developed alongside that of the flute, though Boehm's keywork system, applied to the flute in the 1840s, was not adopted by the piccolo until much later. |
| Classification |
| Aerophone: an instrument that produces its sound by the vibration of a column of air. |
| And also... |
| The name piccolo is an abbreviation of "flauto piccolo," which is Italian for "little flute." |
