Learning to Play the Wood Flute
Also Great Lakes Tuning vs Plains Tuning
Learning How To Play is As Easy As 1-2-3!
Step 1 - The wooden flute plays very similar to a recorder. The hardest part about learning how to play this instrument is making sure that you get a good air seal over the holes with your fingers. For most people, this is just a matter of repetition. Once you’ve practiced for awhile, you’ll get to the point where your fingers intuitively know where each hole is.
Step 2 - Once you get past this initial hurdle, then it’s a matter of learning the scale. The scale is simple. You just open one hole at a time starting from the bottom. Open all the holes and you’ve played a scale! Now do the same thing going back down. Practice just playing this simple scale for a few days.
Step 3 - Now your ready to make your own songs! You just move up and down the scale, pausing and holding notes whenever you feel like it. For beginners, I teach one simple rule, If you want to play a note say on the 5th or 6th hole, you have to open all of the holes below that note as well because that’s how you get to the 5th or 6th note in the scale - you open all of the holes below it.
I provide instruction sheets with all of my flutes. The images below are some examples of what comes with the flute. You can also attend a Central Virginia Wood Flute Circle gathering
I will also send you audio tracks that will help teach you how to play. By listening to me play on these tracks, you can imitate what you hear. You will also learn some more advanced techniques.
I also provide the option of doing a one-on-one video lesson on playing the flute for those who are beginning
Lakota/Plains tuning vs Great Lakes/Woodlands tuning
This image shows the difference in how to play the basic pentatonic scale for the Great Lakes (Ojibwa) tuning style as compared to the more common Plains (Lakota) style.
The advantage of using the Great Lakes / Woodlands tuning is that the flute player does not have to keep the 5th hole covered either with the finger or with a strap of leather. To play the scale, you just open one hole at a time from the bottom up. The 6th note at the top (on 6 hole flutes) is a “bonus” note that is one full step above the octave.
An experienced flute player will discover that this extra note can add a great deal of emotion to his/her playing.
Because the Great Lakes tuning is easier for the beginner, and because this style is part of the flute makers learning heritage, all of Steve Wyse’s flutes are tuned using this technique.
