Materials for Making a Native American Flute

Video Transcript

"So if you're going to make a Native American flute you need to consider what materials to use. The woods that you can use can be just about anything. I use the softer woods because I do so much of it by hand and they're easier to work. You can use hard woods, you can even use plastic. There are plastic native flutes out there that really sound pretty good and that's because most of the sound really comes from the dimensions of the instrument and not so much the material that it's made of. So when you decide what wood to use and one factor in your decision can be the color of the wood and how the little fetish that goes on top, the little animal fetish can contrast in look and color with the body of the flute. When you decide what wood you want, then it's just a really of matter getting wood that's dry and so that it's not going to change shape later. You'll want just a piece of leather to wrap on the fetish when it's finished and just hold the finish on there. Really between the wood and the leather, that's all you need. I also use ceramics in my flutes and I'll tell you more about that later."