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The end-blown flute is a simple woodwind instrument where the player directs air against the end of a pipe or tube. Although the required embouchure is difficult to master — many hours of practice are required to even produce a single tone -- once acquired the player can make music on even the simplest tube or pipe from a hardware store. Unlike pan pipes, both ends of the tube are open, and unlike a recorder or tin whistle, there is no fipple. There are many variations of the blowing edge running from a slight rounding (Ney), a slanted cut edge (shakuhachi) or a groove (quena).
End-blown flutes are widespread in folk music. In the Mediterranean and Middle East the ney is frequently used, constructed from reed. Depictions of early versions of the ney can be found in wall paintings in the pyramids of Egypt, indicating that it is one of the oldest musical instruments in continued use. In Turkey the nai and kaval are both end-blown. China has the xiao, Japan has the shakuhachi and hocchiku, and Korea has the danso. People of the Andes play the quena, the Hopi and their predecessors the Anasazi and the Chaco culture of the American southwest have and had a flute similar to the ney.
Quena
(quechua: qina, sometimes also written "kena" in English) is the traditional flute of the Andes. Usually made of bamboo, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole and is open on both ends. To produce sound, the player closes the top end of the pipe with the flesh between his chin and lower lip, and blows a stream of air downward, along the axis of the pipe, over an elliptical notch cut into the end. It is in the key of G/So.
The Quenacho (or "kenacho") is a larger, lower-toned version of the quena and made the same way. It has a root note of D4/Re.
xiao
xiao
The xiao (Hanyu Pinyin: xiāo) is a Chinese vertical end-blown flute. It is generally made of dark brown bamboo (called "purple bamboo" in Chinese). It is also sometimes called dongxiao, dong meaning "hole."
ney
ney
The ney consists of a piece of hollow cane or reed (ney is an old Persian word for reed) with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. More modern neys may be made of metal. Pitch differs, depending on the region and the finger arrangement. A highly skilled ney player can reach as many as three octaves, though it is more common to have several ney players in a traditional orchestra to cover different ranges
The palendag is a type of Philippine bamboo flute, the largest one used by the Maguindanaon. A lip-valley flute, it is considered the hardest of the three bamboo flutes (the others being the tumpong and the suling) to use because of the way one must shape one's lips against its end to make a sound.  The construction of the mouthpiece is such that the lower end is cut diagonally to accommodate the lower lip and the second diagonal cut is make for the blowing edge. Also called Pulalu (Manabo) and (Mansaka), Palandag (Bagobo), Pulala (Bukidnon) and Lumundeg (Banuwaen). A smaller type of this instrument is called the Hulakteb (Bukidnon). I have Tboli and Lubagan-Kalinga versions of this flute.
For the Maguindanaon, the palendag was used for intimate gatherings for families in the evening. [4]
Tboli Slendeg
The flute slendeg came from the Muslim, Tboli learned how to play it, they made their own music on it. It is made from the (small bamboo called) seben, but they choose the one that is mature and has long sections. They always get the bamboo during the month when they plant rice so that its sound will be beautiful. It’s length is from one’s fingertips to one’s throat. But it is one section of the bamboo (with the section dividers cut off at either end), and the top end of the section is cut off at an angle, then very carefully they carve the pointed end into a curve where they will blow into it. There are four holes they make there below, the fifth one is a hole in the back of the four holes, but a little bit higher so that the thumb reaches it.
Shakuhachi and Hocchiku (also hochiku or hotchiku) is a Japanese end-blown flute, crafted from root sections of bamboo. After cleaning and sanding, the heavy root end of the bamboo stalk reveals many small circular knots where the roots formerly joined the stalk. The same part of the bamboo plant is also used to produce the shakuhachi but, unlike the shakuhachi, the hocchiku's inside (bore) and outside surfaces are left unlaquered and its mouthpiece is not inlaid. The membranes at the nodes inside a hocchiku bore are generally left more intact than those of a shakuhachi. Together, these characteristics make for a visibly and audibly raw and organic instrument. Hocchiku are sometimes referred to as jinashi nobekan, meaning "without ji (a paste made of clay and lacquer, used to smooth the bore on shakuhachi), one-piece" (hocchiku are not cut in two pieces for crafting or storage, unlike shakuhachi).
(from http://www.mejiro-japan.com) The average shakuhachi has five tuning holes; four tuning holes in the front and one in the back. There is a shakuhachi that has seven tuning holes for playing folk songs as well.
The name "Shakuhachi" originates from its length which is expressed as being "isshaku hachi-sun" (one "shaku" and eight "hachi"sun) long, and based on this length, the D note will be played when all the tuning holes are covered. When the length increases by one "sun" (3.03 cm), the pitch will decrease by a half tone, and when the length decreases by one "sun", the pitch will increase by a half tone. Kinko-ryu and Tozan-ryu are the two practiced schools. The Kinko-ryu goes back approximately 200 years to the middle of the Edo Period and carries on the shakuhachi music that is unique to its respective regions. The Tozan-ryu was founded in Osaka during the Meiji Period and developed notes and modern exam systems that are unique all to its own. The major difference between the two styles can be seen in these shakuhachis' mouthpieces
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