Its range is from G3 (the G below middle C) to G6 (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to D♭7.

It uses the same fingerings as the C flute and piccolo, but is a transposing instrument in G (sounding a perfect fourth lower than written).

The new flute design by Boehm had rational key systems and levers that were created in order to shorten the length that fingers needed to stretch.

[5] The head joint is slightly tapered (conical bore) to accomplish precise tonal quality and it includes an embouchure hole.

The following lists are not intended to be complete, but rather to present a representative sampling of the most commonly played and well-known works in the genre.

In the classical literature, the alto flute is particularly associated with the scores of Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, and Gustav Holst, namely in The Rite of Spring, Daphnis et Chloé, and The Planets respectively.

[12] The alto flute is also called for in Franco Alfano's opera Cyrano de Bergerac, Sergei Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and the original version of Webern's Six Pieces for Orchestra.

Shostakovich used it in his operas The Gamblers (left unfinished), Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (also known as Katerina Ismailova), as well as in his Symphony No.

Olivier Messiaen used it in his only opera, Saint François d'Assise, as well as some of his later concert works, such as Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà... and Des Canyons aux étoiles....

[13] Even before 1940 it had been used occasionally in Hollywood; early Broadway pit orchestrations using the instrument include Jerome Kern's Music in the Air (1932) and Very Warm for May (1939), both scored by Robert Russell Bennett (the manuscript orchestrations are in the Jerome Kern Collection, Music Division, The Library of Congress).

Florian Schneider-Esleben of the German Electronic Group, Kraftwerk, played an alto flute in the first few years of the band's tenure.

In doing so, she was connected with other flute players like Carla Rees, and the two specialists put their information together and created a compiled list of music.

Potter had the opportunity to perform at a convention in Chicago showing how the alto flute could be considered a low solo instrument.

Potter has commissioned thirteen pieces since then that feature the low flute as well as produced a number of her own arrangements and compositions.