G'day Teresa,

The whistle (no need to be "tin") is just a simpler case of the blockflute - only 6 holes, all on the front and octaves are simply "jumped" by over-blowing. This would have been favoured by peasant musicians, who stayed in a simple set of "keys" for rhythmic, traditional music.

The recorder was the same whistle ... "tweaked" for better chromatic playing ... for the wealthier types who could afford printed music and who played with the wider range of keys that orchestral music introduced.

A simple transverse flute is just that: simple. The bore needn't be tapered (conical) ... but simple boring tools would tend to have some taper ... dead cylindrical is hard! On the question of simplicity, I have (admittedly starting with a section of bamboo ... already almost cylindrical) made a transverse flute with a pocket knife - and it works.

It's more work to construct a tight fitting fipple (block) and shape a wind-cutting edge (labium) in a whistle than it is to push in a suitable cork and carefully whittle a neat embouchure (hole) in a transverse flute. However the playing skill for the flute starts a bit higher.

Your peasant boy might well have played either type of flute - depending on local tradition and opportunity. A peasant flute would, most likely, have had the basic six holes - just like a modern tin whistle - that play a 'diatonic' scale ... the sort of scale most European peasant music fits into. Unfortunately, "simple peasant" instruments are not the sort that were put in museums back then ... so you need to consult writers that base their knowledge on less direct evidence - and the surviving traditions.

Regards,

Bob Bolton