What is the difference between a flute and a recorder?

Answer 1

Modern Flute is used in music composed after 19th century.

The standard concert flute is pitched in the key of C and has a range of three octaves starting from middle C. The flute is mostly used in Classical Music composed after 19th century and in pop music and other modern music styles.

Beginner's flutes are normally made of nickled copper, and sometimes silver plated, while professionals use solid silver, gold, and sometimes platinum instruments.

There are music composed for recorder from 11th century onwards and also some contemporary composers have made music for the recorder.

There isn't a standard recorder although someone might know the recorder from its elementary school use (plastic soprano C recorder). Recorders come in 12 different sizes and professionally most commonly used would be the alto recorder in F. Recorder has a range of two and half octaves. The recorder is mostly used in early music composed in 11th century to 18th century.

Recorders are made from different species of wood like boxwood, olive, grenadilla, rosewood etc. There are also recorders made out of plastic but those are only usable for practicing (you can play wooden recorder for only an hour straight then you need to let it dry - a plastic recorder can be played all day)

Answer 2

Flutes are played horizontally. Recorders are played vertically.