I know how to play / blow a flute.

[Tan Elaine]

I know how to play a flute.

Would it be wrong if I used 'blow' instead of 'play'?

Thanks.

[billmcd]

Dangerous!

[Barb_D]

Totally wrong.

[emsr2d2]

Apart from anything else, one does not blow a flute. One blows across the mouthpiece using "embouchure". Stick with "I know how to play the flute".

[Tan Elaine]

What about 'trumpet'? Is it the same?

I play the trumpet.

Using 'blow' is dangerous too, I assume.

Thanks.

[HanibalII]

Stick with "I know how to play the flute".

I was going to comment on this. Should it not say 'the' instead of 'a'?

[emsr2d2]

We generally use "the" when talking about the ability to play a musical instrument.

I can play the flute.
I play the guitar.
He plays the piano.

Some people omit the article completely.

As far as the original question goes, I would avoid using "to blow" when talking generally about musical instruments. Even though that is how some of them are played, we don't use it that way very often.

[HanibalII]

We generally use "the" when talking about the ability to play a musical instrument.

I can play the flute.
I play the guitar.
He plays the piano.

I was thinking more of removing 'the' and using 'a', because to me, in some cases, 'the' sounds like they are referring to a specific flute/guitar/piano.

[Rover_KE]

The common idiom 'blow your own trumpet' has made 'blow the trumpet' sound acceptable as an alternative to 'play the trumpet'.

There's also a Christmas song called 'Blow the trumpet and bang the drum'.

Rover

[BobK]

Yes - 'blow' is fine for 'trumpet'; it can be used for unskilful playing (though that's not the only use). But for a flute it would only work if you had a number of flutes hung up like wind-chimes.

(And, Rover, I see your Christmas song and raise you the Chorus of Peers in Iolanthe - 'Blow the trumpet bang the brasses' - an odd thing to bang, but WSG wanted a rhyme for 'lower-middle classes')

b