PLAYING YOUR FLUTE

You do not need any technical knowledge about music or sound dynamics in order to play and enjoy your Native American Style flute. But, I assume, that as you progress deeper into your playing you may want to broaden your understanding. The Native American style flute, though a simple instrument, opens the door of the musical world. In that world are all kinds of new experiences and, if you want, lots of new information. In order to help you better understand I am including a few guides and a complete Tutorial.

Below you see a graphic representation of the many flute keys. The key of the flute is shown in the far left hand column. To its right in ascending order are the different notes that can be played on that flute. The notes in red type are the notes of the mode one pentatonic scale for that flute. These notes can be played easily without using half holing and cross fingering. They are all you need to know in order to make beautiful music. The notes in black are the other notes of the chromatic scale that can be obtained by cross fingering and in the case of the first two ascending notes half holing. These are the notes that you may eventually want to explore as you go deeper into your instrument and your music.

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

#D

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

D

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

C#

A#

B

C

C#

D

D#

E

F

F#

G

G#

A

A#

B

C

/a/

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2

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5

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8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

At the bottom of each column of the chart you seen a representation of a flute and its six tone holes. This is a fingering chart for your flute. The bottom hole is the lowest hole on your flute. A solid black circle indicates a closed hole. A half blackened circle indicates a half open hole. A circle with a white center indicates an open hole. Below the flutes are numbers for these notes. Twelve notes make a complete chromatic scale. Below these numbers in spaces 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 you see the position of those notes which make up a major, or typical do re mi scale for each flute key. I know for those of you without any previous musical experience this looks a bit confusing but, don’t be intimidated. You don’t need to know this stuff to play your flute.