I’ve been playing whistle now, going on nine years in September. I, like many have wanted to try Irish flute. I did have one for a bit, but couldn’t get the hang of it. Anyway, I recently became interested in Indian music. I researched and found a maker in the USA with a good reputation. I asked for a recommendation on where to start and bought an A flute. That would be an E in Irish music. In Indian music the key is determined by covering the top three holes only. So if I’m correct, you would want a G flute to play Irish.
So the flute arrived this morning and that aroma of bamboo filled the air. I was anxious to see if it fingered the same as the whistle. It does.
And this flute is pretty easy to play. The holes are rather big, but my skinny piano fingers did well using piper’s grip with the right hand. The flute has good volume and the first octave is clear and stong. Second octave gets a little airy, just like whistle.
Overall, for $100 delivered, it was an excellent purchase. I would highly recommend the maker and his flutes.
So don’t be afraid to jump in. I’m glad I did.
Mike
Note: I paid for this flute and have nothing to gain by this recommendation. Just passing along what I’ve learned.
Yeah, didn’t see that. I guess I could assume that the flute was a bansuri or a veenu and that the bamboo was probably really the proper stuff, cane. But still and all I get paranoid…these days, even with the above in a nigh-anonymous internet post otherwise scant of detail you never know who’s been marketed what as which for why. Ebay and pop culture took care of muddying those waters rather nicely. I just did some Googling and - surprise - there are makers of Native American-style flutes out there who, in addition to the traditional cedar, are making 'em out of cane - marketed as bamboo whatever the reason. So I still don’t know which end’s up. Sigh.
But I thought it was a good question…it sure was simpler than the materials-could-tell-us-but-probably-don’t-after-all one, anyway. I’ll just trundle along, now…
Not to hijack the thread, but river cane (sometimes referred to as American Bamboo in ads) is, indeed, a traditional material for Native American flutes. In fact, some of the oldest flutes found in what is now the US were made from cane.
Oh, right. The endblown flutes found at the Anasazi site confirm that. Good point. I tend to think of NA flutes in the chamber-fippled Plains-type context that’s so highly represented in the market, and woods, particularly cedar, as being the historically traditional material for those.
See? Yet more to clear up.
Sometimes. In the ads I was looking at, the cane - which it was - was referred to simply as bamboo. Sometimes I wonder if cane is supposed to be thought of as an inferior material - which it isn’t - or if “bamboo” is supposed to be easier on our poor brains.
I realise that these fine points are probably of little import to a lot of people, but hey…I’m a details sort of guy.
Slowair has been a member longer than yerself, 'e 'as!
might be easier to get these days… (ignoring the better’n a day job bit)
I didn’t think that NAF key was determined by XXX OOO pitch (actually the whole A440 tuned to western scale thing is fairly recent)
Yes, and I bow with all due honor to slowair’s Chiffly seniority. But I don’t know him. Or her. But that wasn’t my point. My point was about info. Info, my man, info.
Goes without saying, I’d say. Certainly makes for cutting shorter one’s time in the shop. But my “whatever the reason” was about marketers calling cane “bamboo”.
Oh, dear. This thread is descending into all sorts of species of nitpickery, when all I ever really wanted to know was just this one little thing: what slowair meant by “Indian”. Jeez, you guys.
Maybe I’m prescient. Or maybe I live life in the fast lane. I dunno.
Wait, was it near dead? This one sure had tubes and grafts and drips and transplants in quick order. Good work, staff. Now let’s go see if there’s any insurance.
Since this thread seems to be in a handbasket headed somewhere very warm…
Using river cane for “chamber-fippled” type flutes has a long tradition in the US Southeast, particularly among the Cherokee and Choctaw. I have a couple of river cane NA flutes that have a lovely sound.
When I said Indian, I was referring to India. Native American flutes are pentatonic and not fingered like our beloved whistle. I was very happy to discover the Indian flute is diatonic, like the whistle.
Everything I have read about the Indian flute refers to the material as bamboo. It is my understanding that Mr Whitter obtains his bamboo from India and Hawaii.
As far as a link, Mr Whittier does not have a website. You can email him at Bansijeff@aol.com.
There is plenty of information on the net regarding Jeff Whittier and his flutes, as well as retailers. You can also do a search in Chiff and Fipple. He has been mentioned several times.
bamboo 
But that wasn’t my point. My point was about info. Info, my man, info.
