On hearing Charles Nicholson play in England, Theobald Boehm became dissatisfied with his own sound and, having examined Nicholson's flute, discovered that the tone holes were unusually large. This set him wondering about the construction of flutes, and the rest as they say is history...

Yesterday, I found a hollow branch with holes, no doubt originally the handiwork of a bird. However, the holes have been shaped and spaced as a flute or recorder would have, and the spacing is remarkably positioned to resemble a wooden flute inclusive of the thumbhole on the underside....

In 1832, William Best was a principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, and the most famous flute player in England. His opinion was sought far and wide on all matters to do with new developments on the flute and with teaching. He was at the top of the tree. But change was in the wind...

On his voyages around the globe, James Cook and his crew made four extensive stays in New Zealand, in both autumn and winter 1773 and from October to November 1774. The pūtōrino may be presumed with some certainty to have been collected during those months. This musical instrument might have been acquired at Queen Charlotte Sound in June 1773 from a group of local Māori.I....

When quite young, Marcel Moyse would be sent off to look after the sheep and, to pass the time, he would make whistles out of wood which he learned to play. When he was given a real flute, he quickly became very accomplished and went to the famous Paris Conservatory in France to study with the great teacher of the time, Paul Taffanel...

Louis Drouet's father was a barber and one day a customer presented the four-year-old lad with a flute. He quickly learned to play it and gave his first concert at the age of seven. Mind you, he did work very hard and practised eight hours a day and even played for a couple of hours in bed before he got up in the morning!...

Have you ever wondered who invented the first flute and how? Trevor Wye has, and has provided his interesting version of this hugely significant historic moment...

This instrument was likely collected on the second or third of Cook’s voyages, between 1772 and 1780, by one of the crew members. After the voyage, most of the crew sold their artifacts to whomever was the highest bidder, and in 1782 the kōauau was donated to the University of Göttingen by King George III....

What a player! John Amadio was to the 1930s and '40s public what Sir James Galway is today. Of course, the flute was not so popular then and not everyone had access to a radio or a gramophone, but still, John Amadio managed to record many records of popular flute pieces for the ordinary music lover.

The toroa koauau from the Cook / Forster Collection held at the museum in Göttingen (Germany) was for a long period of time 'recognized' not as an historic instrument made from an albatross wing bone but as a cloak button.....