FAQ about Native American Flutes (Frequently Asked
Questions)
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For more Native American flute information, click
here
To see what my customers say about my flutes
and accessories click here.
For FAQ about Band
Flutes,
click
here.
What key should I get?
As far as the key, I would suggest you get the lowest key (biggest flute)
you can use. The dimensions and finger hole spacing is noted with each
flute and they are listed in order of size. Even people with small
hands can play a flute in the key of A or higher (smaller) and "normal" size hands can
play flutes in the G & F# keys as well. These have a deeper
sound.
Even if you've never played a woodwind
before you should quickly adapt to most any key except the lowest ones. If
you have any woodwind experience you will be able to master any native
American flute. Flutes in the highest range (High D, High C) have a
piping, Irish whistle quality, while flutes in the lowest range have an
airy, hollow mellowness to them. Experience has shown us that people
usually want the deepest tone that is comfortable to play.
The A and G flutes are good middle of the road flute keys, still very easy
to play and have a deeper sound than the smaller ones. The F#, E,
low D and lower, being larger flutes, need more practice to master. They are
not so difficult to play as it is a matter of breath control. Again, most
players I know have many flutes of different keys and woods.
I would recommended the key of A or G for people who never played an
instrument before. All the flutes listed on my web site have sound
clips so you can hear the different keys.
Click
here to enter.
If price is the only consideration the Quite Bear student level flute in
key of A or G is the way to go. They are a wonderful bargain.
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What wood should my flute be made in?
For a beginner the main thing to consider about wood is the durability.
The harder woods - walnut, birch, cherry - hold up well to the elements and bumps.
Generally hard woods have a clearer tone and are more
responsive. Softer wood like cedar is fragile, but smells nice and
creates a warmer, mellow tone. But for beginners subtle tone differences
like these are not really an issue. You can also have a flute made of special
woods to your wishes, see the Flute
Store.
It is a personal preference as to which is better, and many
or most Native American flute players have some of each.
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What is the best flute to start with?
After you read the FAQ page click
here for help in choosing a flute.
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5 Hole or 6 hole flute?
The High
Spirits flutes with a few exceptions are 6-hole flutes and come with a leather tie that
easily converts them into a 5-hole flute. When comfortable, just remove
the leather tie and experience the use of the 6-hole. You are not
faced with this choice with one of our flutes.
The Quiet Bear & and other flute makers are all 6 hole and do
not come with the hole cover.
All the flutes are based on the minor pentatonic scale.
When used as a 5-hole flute it is in the minor pentatonic scale.
When the 6th hole under the leather tie is exposed, the flute will play
the relative major key in both the Diatonic and Chromatic scales.
A 5-hole flute is easier to play because it is based on the pentatonic
minor scale. (5 notes to the next octave)
A 6-hole flute allows for an extended range of the instrument and
different scaling.
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How does one piece construction compare to the traditional method?
Traditionally Native American flutes are made from 2
pieces of wood where the two chambers are routed out and glued together.
One piece construction on the other hand uses a solid one piece of end-bored
wood to create the chambers. Each has its advantages and
disadvantages.
The one piece method does not have glue joints that might separate. It
tends to have thicker walls making it heaver and better able to take a
fall down the stairs or being sat upon. The thicker walls
makes for a "darker" sound than the 2 piece construction that
tends to have thinner walls giving it a "brighter"
sound.
A two piece construction method also allows for finer shaping of the air
ways inside. Which is better? I have many of each and I like
the different tone and feel ach type brings. It is like trying to
answer which wood or key is "better" - it is just a personal
preference.
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How come I cannot see through my flute to the mouthpiece?
The Native American flute is unique in that it has two
separate air chambers.
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My flute developed a check line, what should I do?
What happens is that the
moisture from your breath condenses in the mouth piece, expanding the
wood in the inside, putting pressure on the outside grain and sometimes
it gives & creates a check line. From our experience the check line
closes back after it dries up on the inside. When playing again it will
open up again but will not open up more then it did the first time. It
does not continue to open any larger. This
is not as bad as it sounds. I have a flute I really like and it
has had a check line in the mouthpiece end for a long time, and only I
know about it. It plays great. Oiling the inside will help.
See the question on "How do I take care of my Flute?"
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Where do I get fingering charts?
Every flute my wife & I sell comes with fingering
charts. Fingering charts are also included in every one of
our song books.
Click
here to see the song books.
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Are Native American Flutes hard to play?
No, you can make notes in tune the first time you pick it up, see question below.
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What if I have no musical experience and just want to play for fun?
If you cannot read music
and have never played an instrument consider the Native
American Flute. They have
some great advantages over other musical instruments. They are very easy
to play, and they are inexpensive. You do not have to read music to
play one as the Native Americans, like all tribal cultures, never had a
written music language. They developed instruments that were naturally
harmonic. No musical background is necessary to play these flutes. To produce
the sound, one simply blows into the instrument; the unique design easily
creates the music. They are also
inexpensive allowing you to own and enjoy various models made from different
woods and in different keys. The Native American flute is constructed with two
chambers, one you blow into and the air flow is directed out a hole into the
other chamber which makes the sound. The length of the flute determines the
key. It is a wonderful tool for self expression requiring
very little maintenance. To see and hear our Native American Flutes, click
here.
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If I need help playing are there instructions?
The High Spirits flutes come with an instructional CD and booklet. The
Native American flutes by other makers do not but we have several very good and informative instructional
DVDs at various levels of play. We even have a "Play Along"
CD. To
see these DVDs & CDs, click here.
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How are Native American Flutes like potato chips?
 It is hard to only have one.
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How do you take care of a native American Flute?
There is very little maintenance to a Native American Flute. When finished
playing, just suck air in backwards through the mouthpiece to remove the humid
air & moisture. If it is very wet, remove the bird or block to allow more
air to circulate and shake it out. Keep your flute out of direct sunlight and
store in a bag when not in use for a long period. You can also apply a
natural oil to the inside once a year or so, especially in the mouth piece end
as that is where the most moisture builds up. We have a natural
oil for wooden flutes in our shopping center.
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How do I learn to play with vibrato? (By
Elisabeth LaForet)
The easiest way to think about how to make vibrato is this: vibrato uses the
very same muscles that you use when you whisper "ha ha ha." It
should sound very free and relaxed, but to make it sound natural, you have
practice it like anything else on the flute, until it becomes second nature.
This way, you will be able to control every aspect of your vibrato,
including both speed and depth.
Some vibrato practicing tips:
Speed:
First, get comfortable whispering "ha ha ha" very evenly. It's
not like great huffs of air as in belly laughing, but more gentle. Think
of a dog panting - that shallow kind of ha ha-ing, nothing too big or
disruptive. Feel what muscles are involved in this: you should feel
your throat pulsing the air rather than huffing it from your stomach (or your
diaphragm, as some flutists prefer to think).
Then, if you have a metronome
(click here to see our metronomes), set a very slow tempo at first, maybe around 80
or 90. Using triplet groups, do three pulses to a beat. Work for absolute
control and evenness. In performance, you won't want machine-like vibrato,
but the more you can control it and make it sound exactly alike now when you
practice it, the more you'll be able to vary it the way you want to in the
future.
Speed up as you get comfortable... the average vibrato speed is generally around
116-120 on the metronome (using 3 pulses to a beat). Vibrato speed can
also vary depending on the style of the piece you're playing. Despite how
technical creating vibrato is, using it is entirely an artistic judgment, so
it's up to you how fast or slow you want it to be for everything you play, but
just be careful that you don't get TOO slow, or else it will sound like "waah
waah waah"... And too fast, and you'll sound like a nanny goat. :)
Depth:
Once you have more control over the speed, you want to think about the depth of
the vibrato, too. Vibrato is actually made by pitch bending, although it's fast
enough that we don't perceive it as a bad kind of pitch bending.
To visualize what vibrato is, try thinking of the note you're playing as a
straight line and the vibrato as a wavy line juxtaposed on the straight line.
You can have several different types of vibrato:
A) Vibrato that spikes above the note (so the wiggles of the vibrato line would
push above the straight line).
B) Vibrato that dips below the note (wiggly parts going below the straight line)
C) Vibrato that's in between (wiggles bisecting the straight line to wave both
above and below the line)
It's good to be able to use all kinds of vibrato as there'll be different
situations in which a certain kind is better than the others. What vibrato
you'll use will vary from piece to piece, and from musical character to musical
character within each piece. Some pieces will call for full, rich vibrato,
others will need fast, brilliant vibrato, others shallow, barely-there vibrato,
etc.... the varieties you can create are endless! Always be creative
with it. :)
Vibrato that pushes the pitch up rather than down (type A), is good for low
register notes, when we have a tendency to go flat. Vibrato that dips below the
main pitch of the note (type B) is good for high register stuff, to keep us from
going sharp. This type of vibrato makes a very rich, warm sound, and
is the kind that flutist Julius Baker often used. And type C vibrato is
your general, in-between kind.
So, thinking of vibrato as both speed and depth, you should be able to get
vibrato that you can control to beautify and vary your sound.
When to use it:
Next, there's the question of when to use vibrato. Your goal is to have vibrato
that you can bring in and out of notes, so it's not like you have an
"on" and "off" switch. Vibrato on every note is too much, so
choose when to use vibrato very carefully. Sometimes on long notes, you might
try adding vibrato late, or starting with vibrato and taking it out... there's a
whole world of possibilities to try, so try switching it up a lot, according to
what sounds right for the kind of music you're playing.
Imitation:
The best way to learn when to use vibrato and how it should sound is by
imitation, so I highly recommend checking out some CDs of Native American flute
players like Jan Michael Looking Wolf Reibach, Charles Little Leaf, etc.
To see and
hear these CDs, click here.
Flutists aren't the only ones to listen to, either. Violinists always have
great vibrato (although it's typically faster than what sounds good on the
flute, but listen to how they use it). And singers, too - jazz singers are
great for this, as well as popular singers, too.
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My flute is not playing properly, what should I look for?
This could
be caused by a number of things:
Moisture:
If it you have been playing the flute when it happens, moisture build up is the
most likely cause. As you play any wind instrument (flute, sax, trumpet,
etc.) the moisture form your breath builds up in the instrument. This is
just condensation caused by temperature difference and is a
normal part of playing any wind instrument. You can just shake out the
moisture or blow into the fipple hole (square hole) to clear it out.
Bird Block alignment:
The air flows thru the bird channel in the bottom of the bird block. If it
is not positioned just right it will cause the flute to play improperly.
The ideal position is a little behind the fipple hole (square hole). It
should also be right in the center and aligned to the length of the flute, not at an angle. You can move the bird block back and forth to find the ideal
spot. Also the bottom of the bird block should fit tightly to the top of
the flute. Even a slight space would cause air leak.
Obstructions:
Hold the flute so light shines thru the finger holes and look in the end to see
if you can see clearly to the fipple hole. See that no foreign objects are
blocking the bore. Now the Native American flute does have 2 chambers so
you will not be able to see clearly thru out the other side, but to the fipple
hole. You can get a better look if you untie the bird block
and check both directions, toward the mouth piece and toward the body end. Look
down the barrel and mouth piece with a flash light. One flute
performer who will remain anonymous took a flute out of storage and found it
would not play right. It had a small nest of spiders inside!
Structural:
As you can see the Native American flute is very simple
and if there is no obstruction or moisture build up it must be something
physical.
A warped bird block bottom, or a major split or crack. Some flutes do
develop a crack or check line from moisture but the flute will still play fine for generations and
this would
not normally be a cause a flute playing poorly.
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What is the thing (bird, animal, etc.) on the top called and what does it do?
It is called a bird, a block, a fetish, or bird block. It can be a simple
stylized shape or an artistically carved animal. It is more than decoration. The
native American flute has two chambers that are not directly connected, one at
the mouthpiece end and the other larger one where the finger holes
are. Air blown into the mouthpiece chamber goes up a hole
to the bottom of the bird block. The bird block has a groove cut into it to
channel the air over the fipple hole where the air stream is split creating
sound. The 2nd chamber with the finger holes gives the flute its key and
tone.
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Where can I compare the flute features?
See the Native American flute features comparison page.
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What is the danger of buying a Native American Flute?
Warning: Most
people who purchase a Native American Flute love it so much they buy
more flutes in various keys & woods. You can't say I did not warn
you.
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Who is this?
 This is Missy, our
new dog rescued from a local shelter. She has had a rough early life but
now lives like a queen and is enjoying life thoroughly. She always runs up to me and sits when
I play the flute. She wants to play herself but cannot overcome the reach
problem.
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Walt LaForet, PO Box 166, Fountainville, PA
18923