BLOCK FLUTES

This flute style is easier to play than Rim-blown flutes like the Pueblo Flute. They require a slight breath to make a sound, and all you have to do is blow into the flute while holding the holes closed with your fingers. These flutes have become very popular and more standardized, because this flute is so easy to learn. The mechanisms of this flute are what makes it so easy to produce its unique and calming sound. Many different keys can be made, many woods are used, and many makers can be found. Other makers will call these flutes, "Native American Flutes (NAF) or Native American Style Flutes", but I choose not to use these terms because they generalize Native American People and their flutes. I explain this a little in My Flutes.

For more information on this type of flute, go to the link below:

• Native Flutes Walking

CONSTRUCTION 

This Flute is constructed with two air chambers: The Slow Air Chamber (SAC) and the Sound Chamber. A small stop or plug separates the two chambers (see diagram above). The SAC (the blowing end) serves as a secondary resonator, which gives the flute its distinctive sound. There are holes at the bottom of the SAC and at the top of the Sound Chamber. The hole in the bore is the True Sound Hole (TSH); it can either be round or square, but it must have the fipple and is where the sound vibrations occur. A block (or "bird") is tied on top of the flute, and can be made into many different shapes.

There must be a flue , or wind-way, underneath the block in order for sound production to occur. A flue allows air to pass from the SAC, across the stop, to the TSH and fipple. There are several methods to create the flue: the first method is to carve the flue into the block, the second method is to carve the flue into the flute itself, and a third method is to use a thin flat spacer, with a slit cut-out for the flue, between the block and the flute. I try to utilize all methods of flues into my flutes' design. I generally make these flutes with two pieces of wood. The center sections of each half will be removed with a gouge chisel or a router so that when the two halves are glued together, they will form a tube. Some tubes I will drill out with a long drill bit so that there are no glue lines on the side of the flute.

TUNING

I tune most of my flutes to the Popular Pentatonic Minor Scale, modes 1 and 4, with an electronic tuner (A=440hz). I will also place holes using measurements that will place them equidistant from each other and will not be in any modern scale.

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