learn to play the native american flute

I think I’m figuring this out! :)

I’ve been playing little tiny pieces at a time, stringing random notes together. Now I’m getting a sense for which fingerings sound nice together on this flute. All of the ones made by lifting the lower three fingers in sequence – first the lowest, then the second lowest without closing the first hole, and then the third – give me tones that sound nice together. I can string them together any way I please and they sound like a song! :D

I just played for a couple of minutes. The melody is very simple and very repetitive, but it’s a SONG! :D

I’ve also learned to imitate a particular bird that often sings around my house. I wonder if it ever hears me?

Still haven’t looked at a note of sheet music. I wouldn’t know which fingerings make which tones, anyways. :p

So- thank you, Flute Maker, wherever you are! I’m learning so slowly, but I think I’ve accomplished my goal. I can make up songs on my Native American flute!

and I got the DVD with it and I’ve also got another CD telling me how to play it, now I just need to do it!

I just want to learn to play the Native Maerican flute

I’d like to do this, but in a specific way. I want to play by ear, imitating noises and making up songs, rather than learning sheet music!

(I can read sheet music. I just don’t want to for this particular flute. :) )

I love the Native American Flute with all of my heart, as it brings me great joy and pleases all who hear it. But I want to be much better at it than my meanderings will allow and so I am going to find a teacher and take formal lessons. I have been working on some simple songs, or seemingly simple may be the more accurate thing to say. Songs like Amazing Grace, the fingering chart for which I have included with this entry. It is the difficulty I have had mastering this seemingly easy tune that has helped convince me that if I am ever going to be as good as I want to be, formal lesson are going to be required!!!

I just love the Native American flute. It is so easy to learn even though it does take a bit of getting used to. Of course it must be more difficult when you have no musical background whatsoever. I have been practicing everyday for about a week, but today is the first day that I have been able to tell that I am indeed getting better at this. I have been practicing my scales, both 5 and 6 hole pentatonic scales that is. I have been practicing playing with my eyes closed to learn the fingering positions and more quickly gain muscle memory. I have been practicing breathing at normal intervals and increasing my lung capacity. I have been practicing tonguing, which is to say that I am experimenting with creating a staccato effect by making a motion with my tongue while I am creating a note that is the same as when you make a T sound, but instead of making the sound, I simply make that motion with my tongue and create different effects. I have been studying embouchure, which is to say that instead of putting the tip of the flute in my mouth as one is apt to do, I place my lips on the end of the flute in a whistling type pucker that prevents excess moisture from entering the flute and allows me to do some more advanced manipulation of the air entering the instrument. Finally, I have been practicing rhythm, which on a flute is created when you mimic a melody tonguing more rapidly and to a particular rhythm that you want your notes to emulate. I am having a good deal of success with this and I am having a lot of fun as well. I would strongly recommend this to anybody that is looking for a meditative and educational use of their time.

It is certainly taking some getting used to, and there are many seemingly insignificant things that one can do that create variations in the outcome. Even if it seems like you are doing everything the same, the force of your breath, the position and force of your fingers over the holes, even how deeply you are breathing in when you take breaths can affect the sound produced. The Native American Flute is such a wonderfully peaceful instrument to play though and you will hear people refer to it as musical meditation as well as many other equally sublime descriptions. I have been at it for only three weeks and am becoming more and more determined to master it. I have begun to get more serious though and have stopped trying to simply mimick the music I have heard others play. I guess I have gotten tired of the limmitations inherent in not knowing how the fingering arrangements are properly performed, what notes work best in conjunction with other notes and in particular, how to read sheet music, as it is difficult to find fingering charts for pretty much any song except Amazing Grace. I would have liked to include all of the image based tools that are helping me to learn, just things I’ve gathered up around the internet over the past few weeks. Unfortunately I can only upload one and so I have uploaded a chart that will help you no matter what note your flute is keyed to. I would love to hear from you others out there that are becoming flute freaks like me… If you are just starting like me and want to get a sense of what the pros can really do, go to myspace.com and search for “Native American Flute”. Then just play some of the titles that pop up. I recomend anything by an ausy named “WhiteWolf”, or “Mark Holland”, or “WindthatSings” and too many to list really, just check them out and try to find ones where you can see their fingers dancing!!!

I have been playing for a couple of years and I own two Butch Hall flutes and I made one myself.

To do this properly you need to go into the countryside and play the hills, trees, and clouds.