How to Play a Native American Flute With Random Tuning

Most Native American flutes are tuned to play a pentatonic scale and can have a Western scale coaxed out of them. Tuning is not always standardized, however, and sometimes you get a flute with a pretty random tuning. Just because your Native American Flute isn't set up to play songs doesn't mean you can't make pleasing music on it.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Native American flute

1. Cover all six holes with your fingers. The easiest way to do this is to cover the top three holes with the middle three fingers of your left hand and the bottom three holes with the middle three fingers of your right hand, or vice versa. If your Native American flute only has five holes, you can cover three with one hand and two with the other.

2. Put your mouth on the mouthpiece. Take a deep breath in through your nose and blow out slowly through your mouth. Try varying how hard you breathe to make the tone waver.

3. Try different combinations of fingering. Uncover one of the holes at a time, starting from the bottom. The tone will go up with every hole you uncover.

4. Try different ways to voice notes. Say "ta," "ha," and "ka" to play a note. "Ta" and "ka should make sharply defined notes, whereas "ha' should make a softer start.

5. Try trilling a note. Role an "r" on the back of your tongue to get a sharp, staccato sound.

6. Try an overtone. Blow hard into the flute to get a loud note a lot higher than the one you were playing.

Tips & Warnings

• Overtones are loud, and some people find them unpleasant. Don't play an overtone inside or near someone's ear before you hear how it sounds.