Mondo Knows Facts
A flute has no reed at all
The player's air stream splits on the edge of the embouchure hole The unstable jet of air flips back and forth, driving the air column inside the tube. Because the tube is open at both ends, overblowing jumps an octave. Modern flutes are metal, though the instrument was long made of wood. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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More facts like this
A clarinet jumps a twelfth when it overblowsIts cylindrical tube is closed at one end, so only odd harmonics soundA recorder is a whistle with finger holesThe player blows into a mouthpiece channel rather than over an edgeAn oboe makes sound with two cane reedsThe reeds vibrate against each other, and the player shapes them by handHarmonicas and accordions share a free reedA metal tongue vibrates through a close fitting slot rather than beating a tubeOpen and closed pipes behave differentlyAn open pipe supports every harmonic, while a closed one supports only odd onesHalving a string raises it an octaveOther simple length ratios give fifth, fourth and third
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Tags: woodwind, flute, physics
A flute has no reed at all: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The player's air stream splits on the edge of the embouchure hole. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.