All I can come up with is the adjective lilting.
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1Are you looking for a better adjective? If so, what's unsatisfactory about lilting? Or are you looking for a noun or something else?– B. SzonyeCommented Feb 8, 2014 at 3:27
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1There probably isn't anything in the same way a drum makes drumming, or a whistle makes whistling/a whistle. Most instruments don't have dedicated adjectives/nouns for their own particular sound. And if you just want any descriptive word, such as lilting, it's probably subjective/POB (it might also depend very much on how someone plays the flute).– FumbleFingersCommented Feb 8, 2014 at 4:03
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1It would help if you gave us a sample sentence with a gap where the word would fit. The extra context will help. For example are you referring to classical music? Folk music? Something else?– chasly - supports MonicaCommented Aug 30, 2015 at 20:47
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Are there common words that are specific to other instruments? (there certainly are specific words for what you -do- to get the sound on those instruments, but that's not at all the same thing). I can't think of any, either adjectives, verbs or nouns.– MitchCommented May 23 at 18:22
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Many instruments that sound nothing like a flute can play a lilting melody.– DjinTonicCommented May 23 at 18:50
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6 Answers
There is "tootle" and "tootle-too".
tootle n. 3. the sound made by tooting on a flute or the like.
tootle-too sound of a flute (“the ceremonial band” by James Reeves, in “Noisy poems” by Jill Bennett)
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1Classical and orchestral players would be insulted if you called it tootling. Let's get some more context. Commented Aug 30, 2015 at 20:48
I would suggest "trill", which has a specific musical meaning, but is a technique often used by flautists.
answered Feb 8, 2014 at 5:43
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Trill is only one of the ornaments available to flute playing; they are also available to a wide range of instruments, including the human voice. Your answer is akin to offering glissando or tremolo as a solution here.– RobustoCommented Feb 8, 2014 at 12:08
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How could the sound of a flute playing without trills be described as trilling? Commented May 23 at 18:47
breathy (adj.)
Of the sound of the voice, a wind instrument, etc.: having a soft tone characterized by audible flow of air.
1962 The breathy edge tone that we hear with the flute.
A. Nisbett, Technique of Sound Studio iii. 67
[OED online]
Characterized or accompanied by or as if by the audible passage of breath
M-W
The flute (a woodwind instrument) is played out at the side of the body and has a high breathy sound.
Donna Minto; Classroom Gems (2012)
Although every voice teacher and choral director instructs singers to eliminate breathy tone, you want to extra breath here to mimic the breathy sound of a flute.
Deke Sharon; So You Want to Sing A Cappella (2017)
Egoyan has suggested that the breathing body had indeed been a conscious consideration in the filmmaking process, specifically evoked through the flute playing of Danna's score and its deliberate embodiment of The Pied Piper fable, pointing out the 'the Persian flute player was asked to emphasize the breathy extremes of his instrument'. Egoyan's remarks on the 'breathy' sounds of the flute reflect, then an interest in attuning the viewer not only to the music but, more precisely, to the sound of a particular 'body' that plays each note. Essentially, Egoyan attunes the viewer to the rhythm of breath enabled by the musician's embouchure (the particular shaping of the lips and facial muscles as part of the performance technique required to play wind instruments).
Davina Quinlivan; Place of Breath in Cinema (2014)
It is possible to play extremely quietly on the flute, and allow the sound to fade away to a whisper of breath, or play around with breathing sounds.
Caroline Anderson et al.; "The Flute" in Dawn Loombe et al. (eds.); Flute, Accordion or Clarinet? (2015)
residual tone. A term coined by renowned flutist Robert Dick in 1970 to refer to a breathy sound with only a hint of a regular note in the background. The breathy part of the sound can vary widely in dynamics.
Susan J. Maclagan; A Dictionary for the Modern Flutist (2019)
I think we all agree. The extremes of flute tone such as ‘breathy’ or ‘clear’ are relatively easy for listeners to distinguish.
"Flute Tone Colors"; theFluteCoach.com
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@EdwinAshworth The breathiness varies, of course, and can be minimal, but it's an intrinsic quality tied to sound production without a reed or without the lip vibration used with brass instruments. See the Maclagan quote. Commented May 23 at 18:37
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Worth a +1 for the research. (I'm a fan of Tull and Galway, anyway.) Commented May 23 at 18:53
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I was a concert flutist and the very last thing I or my peers would want their tone to be described as is breathy.– RobustoCommented May 23 at 23:15
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In fact, I and my peers would prefer their tone to be described as centered and silvery. Any breathiness in the first octave would be only heard up close, and would be completely subsumed by the centeredness of the tone.– RobustoCommented May 23 at 23:55
I would probably call it a tone - this would be particularly appropriate for a flute without keys. This is also the most appropriate word used for a number of flute-like "instruments" including trains' whistles (maybe also a single pipe-organ's pipe).
In a more general case, you could refer to the noise made by a flute as a tune(/melody/song/air/whatever synonym you like). Although there's no grammatical reason you couldn't call it one of these, I think it's missing the point of your question.
To my mind the word 'flute' is onomatopoeic. So, although it sounds tautologous, I think the most fitting adjective to describe the sound of a flute is ...'fluting'.
"the silvery fluting of a blackbird"
"the golden, fluting voice filled the room"
