The piccolo 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 western flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. Since the Middle Ages we have evidence of the use of octave transverse flutes as military instruments: their penetrating sound was in fact audible above the roar of battle. In western classical music, however, the first piccolos are used in some works by Jean Philippe Rameau in the first half of the eighteenth century, but the instrument begins to spread, and therefore to have a stable place in the orchestra, only at the beginning of the 19th century.
Now days, piccolos are staple used in orchestral, concert band, and marching band settings. Often times they are played by flute players, but sometimes, the position in the ensemble is solely for playing piccolo.