Greetings all!
This message will most likely turn into an incoherent ramble, but those of you who have a bit of time and care to, please read on.
My father brought back a small bamboo flute (which looks to be a bansuri) from bangladesh as a gift to me, and after fooling around with it for a few months (and finally learning to blow the thing correctly!) my interest in flutes was sparked.
As with anything, I began researching flutes of all kinds, and came across the tinwhistle and the Irish flute. I love their simplicity in design, and I’ve always wanted to try Irish music, so I decided to give it a shot.
Of course, first, I needed an instrument. After making several flutes out of PVC pipe and cheap bamboo that I managed to obtain, I finally made a “decent” (at least, by my standards) low-D bamboo flute. My breath control, though by no means “good,” has also improved enough that I was able to tune it fairly accurately. If anyone is interested, I might upload a picture and recording so someone more knowledgeable can look at it and give me some pointers.
The bamboo I used for this flute is rather cheap and thin. The instrument isn’t particularly loud, but the tone isn’t bad. Also, the I positioned the lowest hole a little too low, and it’s very uncomfortable to play with my third finger. However, I found using my pinky to work just as well. Is this an unforgivable flaw in technique? At any rate, I’ll try to position the hole a little higher on my next flute… but I find that smaller holes tend to be harder to half-hole correctly (even with a large hole, I can barely get a D#)
I recently purchased some thicker, denser bamboo which I think would work better. However, I have a problem! The nodes are much closer together, and there will have to be at least one or two nodes along the body. I don’t have any extremely long drill-like tools to clear the bore, however. Would it be a very bad idea to cut the flute into sections, drill out the nodes, and then glue it back together with a good wood glue?
The last thing I wanted to ask about was wall thickness, and notes in the higher octave. On all of the PVC flutes I’ve built, the higher octave notes are 20-40cents flat. However, my thin-walled bamboo flutes don’t have this problem at all. Of course, there are other things which may be involved, such as using a plug vs. a node to stop up the embouchure end, and I have fiddled with hole positions a little. So, what is most likely the cause of this problem, and how can I avoid it on future flutes?
I apologize for such a large number of ignorant questions, but thanks for taking the time to listen to them! I’m venturing into this entirely on my own, as I have no teachers nearby, so I appreciate any advice to help me in the right direction!
Ah, and, if anyone knows of a place where I can find good information on playing and technique, I would be very grateful! I’ve learned a little about embouchure, breathing and ornamentation online, but I still feel my knowledge is a bit lacking.
