Q: Will Woodsounds be in my area sometime this year?
A: Every year we attend festivals and events all of the United States. Below are some of the events we will be attending.
January:
Colorado Indian Market (Denver Colorado)
May:
Gathering By the River (Warm Springs Oregon)
June:
RNAFF Convention (Traveling locations)
July:
World Flute Society Convention - Every even year (Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
August:
National Flute Association Convention aka NFA (Traveling locations)
Flute Quest (Seattle Washington)
Native American Music Festival (Townsend Tennessee - 28th and 29th)
September:
Medicine Park Flute And Art Walk (Medicine Park, Oklahoma)
November:
Native Rhythms(Melbourne Florida)
Q: Are there any schools where I can advance my flute playing?
A: Most definitely! There are a number of flute schools and clinics across the country. When possible, Woodsounds likes to have our flutes present so that the flute students can use our flutes during the school. It is a wonderful chance to play a lot of flutes with no commitment to purchase.
June:
Solstice Flute School (Park City, Utah)
September:
Flute Haven (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania)
October:
Vashon Flute Gathering (Vashon Island, Washington)
Flute Harvest (Encino, CA)
Q: Do I need to be a musician to play the Native Flute?
A: Not at all! Many of my clients have never played any instrument before and yet find the Native Flute to be very easy for them to play! They often have come to a time in their lives when they would rather not waste any more time and have decided to do the things they have always wanted to do. Having always wanted to play an instrument, they find the Native Flute and how easy it is to play.
Q: Why are your flutes so easy to play?
A: My flutes are designed to play with an enormous range of breath pressure. This means that the new player can approach my flutes with nearly any breath pressure and the flute sounds awesome.
It is easy as a flute maker to make a flute that plays the lowest note soft. Hard to make a flute that plays the lowest note loud. Conversely, it is easy to make a flute that plays the octave note loud and hard to make one that plays the octave note soft.
As a flute maker, my desire is to create a wonderful sounding instrument that allows my clients to play their flutes soft and loud and everywhere in between. This dynamic range allows the artist to create music with the most emotion. It also allows the newest player the ability to easily play the instrument because regardless of the breath pressure, the flute performs excellently. Of course as they grow with the flute, this ability allows them to emote to great effect.
Q: How do you tune your flutes?
A: Please read the question and answer above in preperation of this answer.
Breath pressure affects the pitch of the flute. This is what allows you to blow softer at the end of a phrase while holding a note and create that plantive thoughtful sound. The softer you blow on a note, the flatter the note will be. As you blow harder, the pitch sharpens. I have chosen to tune my flutes with a breath pressure that is roughly half of the dynamic range of the instrument. Additionally, I have chosen to tune the flute with a constant breath pressure. Tuning in this fashion allows the player to blow harder and softer for emphasis and emotion.
Q: Can the tuning of a flute be adjusted?
A: ABSOLUTELY! We can adjust a flutes tuning by a great amount. In fact, I have retuned flutes to an A 432 and A 444. Tuning to a new note is not possible without putting inlays in the flute body and other drastic changes.
Not everyone plays the flute with the same breath pressure. Some musicians may want their flute tuned specifically to their breath pressure and I can do this very easily. Re tuning to meet a particular clients breath pressure needs is possible. Retunings of this nature are FREE if it is done in the first 90 days of purchasing the flute from Woodsounds or one of our authorised Resellers. The client does need to cover the shipping costs.
If your flute is older than that we can still retune for breath pressure and we can still retune for adjusting to 432 or 444. However, I do ask that the client cover the shop costs and shipping. The actual cost will be be deternmined on the time it takes to accomplish the retuning and other work you may want done. A tyhpical cost for retuning is \$25 to \$50.
Q: Do I need to read music in order to play the flute?
A: Absolutely not! Many of my clients have never played an instrument in their lives let alone read music. For those who want to read from music that is certainly available as well!
Q: Is there music written for the Native flute? If so where can I find it?
A: There is a lot of written music for the Native Flute. Written music is available for familiar tunes as well as books of CDs from famous artists. Quite a bit is free and there is music available that can be purchased. Below are some links to some great options.
Duets From Around The World For Native Flute (produced by Woodsouds)
Flute Tree website (Produced by Robert Gatliff)
Flutopedia website (Produced by Clint Goss)
Oregon Flute Store website (great location for many flute related items)
Q: What is Nakai Tab?
A: In 1996 R. Carlos Nakai wrote The Art of the Native American Flute in which he introduced a tablature system for writing music for the Native Flute. There are other systems, but Nakai Tab has become the standard method of writing Native American music. The tab is simply the music staff in the key of E Major. Each note starting at the F#4 represents a finger position. For example the F#4 represents all holes covered. Were as the F#5 represents all holes open except for the third hole down.
Q: Where can I find a hard case for my Native Flute(s)
A: There are two main companies who specialize in cases for the Native Flute. There are also case companies who make great water proof cases for many products. Pelican Cases is the company that I personally use. I really like their case #1700. Amazon has this case available. I have had clients who have used pool que cases and camera tripod cases as well.
Oregon Flute Store
The Flute Case Store
Q: What key Flute best plays with guitar
A: Any flute can be used with the Guitar. This said, not all guitar players are going to know what to play to work with your flute. There are some easy ways to give them some chords that will work.
For playing flute with guitar with the first position chords an A flute works best. To understand why lets look at the basic scale on the A flute.
| Finger Position | Note |
Guitar Chord |
|---|---|---|
The fundamental note: |
A |
A minor |
First Hole note: |
C |
C chords |
Second Hole note: |
D |
D chords |
Third Hole note: |
E |
E chords |
Fifth Hole note: |
G |
G chords |
Sixth Hole note or octave: |
A |
A minor |
Chords a guitar player can use that will work with a Mid A or any A flute: A Minor, C, D, E, and G
All of these chords are first position chords on a guitar. So you could also use a Capo on a guitar to change the base tuning. For example if you had a A# flute, you could put the capo on the first fret and you now can play the first position chords and be in A# minor. Or capo up two frets and be in a B minor. And so on up the flute. This is one way.
| Finger Position | Note |
Guitar Chord |
|---|---|---|
The fundamental note: |
G |
G minor |
First Hole note: |
Bb |
Bb chords |
Second Hole note: |
C |
C chords |
Third Hole note: |
D |
D chords |
Fifth Hole note: |
F |
F chords |
Sixth Hole note or octave: |
G |
G minor |
The fundamental note: G
First Hole note: A#/Bb
Second Hole note: C
Third Hole note: D
Fifth Hole note: F
Sixth Hole note or octave: G
So chords that will work good with a G flute are G minor, A#/Bb, C, D, and F.