The piccolo is almost identical to the flute, therefore the physics of the two are vastly similar. All instruments in the flute family are constructed according to the Boehm system and have the same fingering. There are two commonly played flutes and two piccolos: the C and alto G flutes and the C and D piccolos. The characteristic which differentiates the piccolo from the flute is that it is smaller in size, the consequence of which is that it has a higher pitch (one octave to be exact). The piccolo is half the length of a flute, 33 cm.