piccolo

The piccolo (; Italian for "small", but named ottavino in Italy) is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave rise to the name ottavino (Italian for "little octave"), the name by which the instrument is referred to in the scores of Italian composers. Piccolos are now only manufactured in the key of C ; however, they were once also available in D. It was for this D piccolo that John Philip Sousa wrote the famous solo in the final repeat of the closing section (trio) of his march "The Stars and Stripes Forever".