“Celtic” Whistle:  
Origins and Developments  
The early origins of “cross-wind,” six-hole, "musical" flute may have originated in  
China and used for thousands of years prior to coming into Europe.  
Perhaps, a closer truth is that it takes  
quite a bit of skill by the player to  
develop the correct "embouchure" (the  
alignment of the mouth with the hole  
on the instrument) to play its two-  
octave range, and not many could  
master that skill.  
The concept of a crosswind, six-  
hole flute did not come back into  
Europe until the 11th Century.  
At best, these keyless, six-hole,  
musical instruments were used by  
European sheep herders to calm  
their herds and to pass the time.  
Some accounts say that the  
Christian Church in those times was  
also responsible for the suppression  
of the flute, and forbade anyone to  
play these types of instruments,  
because they produced a magical  
sound that could bewitch the  
However, once it was realized that the  
simple, six-hole flute could produce a  
full range of notes (a chromatic scale  
with both sharps and flats for two  
octaves), flutes began to become part  
of serious orchestration ensembles  
throughout Europe. At the same time,  
an adaptation of the crosswind flute  
was created with Medieval "bone"  
flutes, where clay "fipples" were made  
for instruments which became known  
as flageolets, and these fipples made it  
easier for a person to make clean  
notes that better approximated sharps  
and flats of the main notes.  
senses of young maidens.  
“Straight-wind” flutes (or whistles)  
began to improve by creating a  
channel on one end of the tube to  
guide the air more precisely across a  
“ramp” or “cutter” to help create a  
clean(er) sound. From there, the  
placement of the tone holes became  
more precise and even a thumb hole  
was added to help stabilize the sound  
between the two octaves.  
www.KelticDead.com  

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