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Summary: Learn how to maintain a good sound in making Native American flutes with expert music training tips in this free online instrument instruction video clip.
Views: 3,499 | Tags: repair, flute, wooden, flutes, nativeamericanflute, indianfluet, nativeamericanflutes, musical instruments
About the Expert
Werner John When Werner John was introduced to a small wooden flute at age 11, it was love at first note! Now, 40 years later, you'll find Werner in his workshop creatin... read more
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Questions & AnswersSo when you're making your flute the most important area is the wind way area. I'm going to be sharing a little bit of information now that's going to help you more than anything else on these whole series of videos if you want to make a flute that sounds good. As well as the channel that you make being parallel as I've mentioned before, you also need the right dimensions. When I use the ceramics the dimensions are kind of built in because the little ceramic piece is 3/8 of an inch across and the top piece is a 1/2 inch across and so the width of your wind way here I have found and flute makers will differ, but I have found that 3/8 works really well for even small flutes and even really big flutes. The more width you put into the wind way the more air you'll need to play the flute, so I've found that this is a good balance between volume and use of air. The other dimension that's really critical is the distance between the end of the wind way and this edge here and that distance I have found the optimum distance to be 7.5 millimeters. The reason I say this dimension in inches and the other one in millimeters is that the millimeter dimension is the more critical and I find that I can measure it easier in millimeters. So, between those factors you should get a good sound with the flute and the other, there's one more really critical factor and that is the way the edge impacts on the air. What you want there is for the air stream as it comes out to hit this edge in a certain way and what I have found to be the optimum is for the edge to be about 1/3 up from the bottom of the air stream. If you glance along the flute and you see the bottom of the wind way and you'll see the edge out beyond it and for the edge to be 1/3 of the way up in that as you can imagine that wind stream coming out, it's just about optimum. These particular dimensions are critical. The wind way areas is the heart and soul of the sound of the flute. So if you follow those directions you might get a really good flute the first time.
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