Meditation Flute

It is no small wonder that the flute, perhaps the oldest known instrument, can so swiftly bring peace and a state of tranquility. With your eyes closed, all thoughts melt away as the flute is being played. It sings of a melancholy longing for something that resides deep within each of us. It stirs a need to connect with ourselves and nature, as lulls us past our thoughts into a state of relaxation. The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a flute player, a flautist, a flutist, or, less commonly, a fluter. The term flutenist, found in English up to the 18th century, is no longer used. Aside from the voice, flutes are the earliest known musical instruments. A number of flutes dating to about 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Alb region of Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a developed musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe.