The History and Process of the Development of the Modern Flute

The flute has gone through many phases of development starting from its early form to the modern model which is played today. Though many important flute makers, composers and musicians were part of this process, Johann Joachim Quantz and Theobald Boehm were the two major contributors to the flute’s technological developments. The flute started as a simple tube with holes to which keys were progressively added by Quantz. Boehm completely redesigned the flute to enable the performer to cover more holes than the human hand fingers alone are capable. Although the work of Quantz and Boehm took time to become accepted, the developments have become an integral part of what is now known as the modern flute