I am selling one of my bansuri flutes :
1 flute in F (Low C when all holes closed), professional GD Sachdev model made by Jeff Whittier : $ 100
this flute is 2 months old.
Sylvain
???
How many holes does this flute have? Is the convention for telling the flute key different for bansuris from what we’re used to (the lowest note)?
g
Bansuri pitch is what note sounds when the top 3 holes are closed. So an Irish flute in D would be in G by bansuri reckoning. A bansuri has 6 or 7 holes. Six is traditional but in modern times a 7th has been added for increased range and improved intonation.
Sylvain’s flute is tempting but I’ve got enough on my plate right now.
Cheers,
Aaron
The flute has 7 holes.
6 holes, and 1 hole at the bottom which is for tuning purpose ( but you can also close it on your leg, with the F flute it gives you a low B)
the flute is in F, it means that the reference note “SA” is played when 3 holes are closed with the left hand.
If it was an irish flute we would say that the flute is in low C…
the scale of this flute is :
Sa= F, Re=G, Ga= A, Ma=Bb, Pa=C, Dha=D, Ni=E, Sa.
You can get 2 octaves and a half, the flute is fully chromatic with half covering techniques which are very specific to the bansuri…
Sylvain
Thanks for the reply, it makes sense now. I have a pretty decent bansuri in G, then. So that’s Re, which coincidentally is also the name of the lowest note (D) in Portuguese. This could get confusing…
Not exaclty,
the indian music scale (Shuddh notes) don’t refer to particular notes.
Sa is not F at all, Sa is the starting note of the scale, if you have a G bansuri then the scale of your bansuri is :
Sa: G, Re: A, Ga: B, Ma : C, Pa: D, Dha: E, Ni: F#, Sa: G’
the half covered notes are notated : r, g, d, n, on a G bansuri it is :
r : G#, g: Bb, d: Eb, n: F
the Ma is always half covered, if you play a full open Ma, it is written M and it is called Teevra Ma.
And that’s not Portuguese, but what’s called “solfege.” D is “Re” or “Ré” in just about every Romance-language country.
We use it in English very rarely. Our version is (starting with C) do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do.
Just a different system. I think in French (Zooob . . . calling Zoooooooooooob . . . ) the “ti” is “si.” And I know in German that the note “B” is “H.”
So Bach’s B minor mass is la messe en si-bémol, or Messe in H-moll. 
But back to bansurii . . .
Stuart
Really? Wow! 
Thanks, this was very interesting. It’s amazing how much we learn once we start really learning how to play any particular style of music. I’m still trying to learn Irish music, maybe i’ll do Indian music in a future life…
g