Playing Your Flute

Sharing My Gift - by Waking Spirit

The 6 Hole Pentatonic Native American Flute

Note to all Flute Makers, Tutors and Students of Native American (Style) Flutes:

It is a genuine and paramount mission in my lifetime to help progress, educate and preserve the continuance of the Native American inspired Flute. In keeping with this I freely offer (and at no cost) any of the flute image files on this page to anyone who wishes to use them. If you are a Tutor and wish to copy the flute images set out on this page for duplication onto tablature sheets, please feel free to do this. Should you use any of the images for the development of web pages pertaining to a mission in keeping with mine, again, please feel free to do this. All I ask in return is that credit for the images be given to Waking Spirit Flutes and that you copy and paste (or download) the images onto your own computer and not link them directly to this web site.

Waking Spirit - Being true to himself and his mission by continuing to share 'The Gift'. . .

Welcome to the wonderful world of playing the Native American inspired Flute! The instructions and information contained in this page have been written to help you on your journey and quest for knowledge and I hope you find the contents both informative and useful. Whereas these instructions will help you commence your journey into playing your flute, they are by no means complete. Further study will be necessary and I have recommended additional reading and literature at the foot of this page.

The first thing you need to do is to understand how your Native American Flute works. This will help you set up your flute for maximum playing ability and tone.

When you first receive your flute it is more than likely that the BIRD (or Block) may have been moved from its original position and this needs to be checked and rectified before commencing to play your flute. This can be done very quickly and simply! First, make sure the block is sitting squarely on the bridge and that the front edge of the block is close to the edge of the sound hole without covering any part of it. Also, make sure the leather thonging that holds the block onto the flute is tight. Cover all the FINGER HOLES with the first three fingers of both hands with the fleshy part of your fingers - the fleshy part being the soft cushion area between the end of your finger and the first joint. Next, place the BLOW HOLE end of the flute to your lips taking care NOT to insert the end of the flute into your mouth but merely place the flute gently upon your bottom lip and allow your top lip to surround the blow hole to a gentle seal.

With all the finger holes covered, blow gently into your flute. If the note you hear is crisp, clear and steady, begin lifting your fingers off the finger holes starting from the lowest hole - the hole farthest away from the bridge. Continue to do this for every note checking to hear that each note is clear and crisp. If any notes are not playing correctly, adjust the Bird by sliding it back towards the blow hole. The adjustment necessary will be very slight so be very careful when you do this! An adjustment of just one sixty-fourth of an inch can make all the difference to the playing ability of your flute. Once you have the flute set you are ready to begin playing it.

There are several techniques that you will need to learn in order to play your flute effectively (breath control, finger control, note bending, tonguing, slurring, double tonguing and vibrato) but, for now, we will just concentrate on making your flute play some basic notes using two simple techniques.

The first is the simple technique of blowing a gentle and constant stream of air into your flute.

Practice this for a few moments or until you feel comfortable that you have mastered this technique.
The second technique is called 'tonguing' and is achieved by blowing into your flute with a soft 'dooo' sound.

Again, practice this technique for a few moments or until you feel comfortable that you have mastered it.

Now let's learn some scales:

Minor Pentatonic Scale

1	2	3	4	5
The black holes are those you have covered with your fingers. The additional fingerings, as in note 5, will depend on your flute and how the flute maker has created it. Experiment with your flute to establish the correct sound.

This sound file will help you establish the correct notes that should be heard although they may be in a different key to the flute you have.

The first sound file utilizes the steady blowing method. The second sound file utilizes the 'dooo' method.

Here are some more scales for you to learn and practice your fingering with:

Major Scale

1 Do	2 Re	3 Mi	4 Fa	5 Sol	6 La	7 Ti

Diatonic Scale

1 Do	2 Re	3 Mi	4 Sol	5 La

Once you have practiced and mastered the above scales you may feel you are ready to practice playing your first tune. Below is a fingering chart to the tune Amazing Grace. You will notice that notes 8 and 27 are played by covering only half the hole. This requires a certain amount of both fingering and breath control so don't be too disappointed if you cannot manage it the first time you try. Keep practicing and you will soon master it!

Basic Fingering Chart for the Song ‘Amazing Grace’

Black notes are covered holes.
Notes half black and half white are 'half- holed' notes which are difficult to play accurately and are seldom (if at all) used by even the most experienced of players and professional musicians.
Notes either side of half-holed notes can be used in any arrangement to replace half-holed notes.

(Also, see note at the foot of this chart)


A...	ma...	zing...	...	grace


How	sweet	the	sound


That	saved	a...	...	wretch


like...	...	me...	...


I	once	was...	...	lost...	...


But	now	I'm	found


Was	blind	but...	...


now	I	see

Native American inspired Flutes are tuned differently as each maker has their own method and desire as to how a flute should sound. Originally, flutes were not tuned to anything other than how the maker constructed them and this tradition, to some extent, is still carried on to this very day.

If your flute is not tuned to the above, slight variations of the fingering will produce the sounds you need and are very easily found.

Other Recommended Reading

There are many books available that will help you learn to play your Native American inspired Flute but the one I have found to be the easiest and most informative is by John Vanes and is entitled 'The Native American inspired Flute - Understanding The Gift'. The book comes with a CD which contains simple to follow instructions, sound files etc and is available by clicking on the book title above. It is also available from www.flutejourneyworkshops.com (or by calling 1-888-884-9604).

Good luck with your journey and may you find peace and happiness through the music you play.

Should you have any questions, need advice, or are not sure about anything please feel free to contact me at waking-spirit@waking-spirit.com and, please always remember, you do not need to own a Waking Spirit flute to ask for advice. My sole aim is to promote the Native American inspired Flute for both you and future generations to play and enjoy.