Fa’atete – Tahitian short drum covered with a tight, single membrane. It is played with two sticks.
Fandromboa – Two pieces of wood struck together. Madagascar.
Fiddle – The term used in traditional American music (bluegrass, country, blues, old time, etc.) for a violin.
Firikyiwa – Thumb bell. A round hollow iron shell worn on the finger. It is struck by a heavy ring worn on the thumb. Ghana.
Fisarmonica – Accordion in Italian.
Flageolet – Six-hole recorder developed in France.
Flauta – Flute in Spanish.
Flauta de millo – hort flute, with a reed, played horizontally. It is made out of millet or sorghum cane. Colombia.
Flautas de Carrizo – Small flutes made out of bamboo or reed grass. They come with 3, 4 and up to 5 or 6 finger holes. The three hole version is the most common and produces the seven sounds of a major scale. They are used in Mexican traditional dances, in the Nahoa region and other states such as Tabasco, Chiapas, and Oaxaca.
Flauta rociera – A three-hole flute used in the El Rocio pilgrimages in southern Spain. Also known as pito rociero. Spain.
Flejguta – Maltese cane whistle flute.
Flojere – Kosovar Albanian end-blown flute.
Flowerpots – Ordinary flowerpots tuned with water and played with the hands or with mallets.
Floyera – Shepherd’s flute. Originally, the flutes were made out of a branch or bamboo. More recent versions are made out of metal and plastic. Also spelled flogera, phlogera, floghera, and fluera. Greece.
Flute – A wind musical instrument made out of wood, bone, metal or some other materials in the form of a tube with various round holes that are covered by fingers or keys. The instrument is played by blowing a stream of air into the tube through a sharp edge opening. Variations of the flute include the transverse concert flute, piccolo flute (pitched an octave higher), the alto flute and the bass flute.
Fotutu – Conch shells used as horns by the indigenous tribes in pre-colonial Cuba.
Frame drum – Ancient percussion instrument with a drum head width greater than its depth. It has a single drum head that is usually made of rawhide. Typically, it comes in two forms: round and square. The frame drum is found in many cultures worldwide. Read much more about the frame drum.
Frula (фрула) – A six-hole shepherd’s flute made out of wood. Also known as svirala (свирала) or jedinka. Serbia.
Fue – Fue means flute in Japanese.
Fuelle – Argentine slang for bandoneón.
Fujara – Shepherd’s flute, approximately 1.80 meters long (6 feet). The fujara was inscribed in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. Slovakia.
Fujara bezotworowa – Polish shepherd’s flute without holes.
Fujara trombita – Slovak mountain horn, 2-6 meters long.
Fyell – Kosovar Albanian end-blown shepherd’s flute.
Updated May 5, 2021