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Piccolo (literally "small flute").
The French label for the piccolo, abbreviated Pet. Fl. or Petite Fl., plural Petites flûtes; the ordinary flute is then Grande flûte. Like every piccolo it is written an octave below the sound. A flutist’s change to it appears in the flute part.
Abbreviations: Pet. Fl., Petite Fl.
Also spelled: Petites flûtes
French orchestrators use the piccolo for color as much as for power: in Boléro Ravel sets two piccolos with horn and celesta in a famous high mixture, and in Ma mère l’Oye he writes delicate piccolo solos. Use its top octave for sparkle, its middle register only in thin textures, and give the doubling flutist time to change.
Petite flûte is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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