Glossary of Native American Flute Terms
and Related Musical Terms

This glossary provides definitions, background information, and explanations for terms that relate to the Native American flute and its music. Some of the entries are common terms currently used in the Native American flute community. Other terms are specific terms used on this web site. I also include music theory terms that are commonly used for the Native American flute.

There is a balance here between precise definitions and comprehensible and helpful descriptions. Rather than provide exhaustive definitions and cite references, I've provided (what I hope is) an explanation of the practical use of the terms. In some cases, I am giving preference to a relatively new term for a concept, because I think it better represents the concept. For example I use the term “woven scale” rather than “broken scale” or “scale ladder”.

Pronunciation for some words are provided, based on the Flutopedia Pronunciation Guide.

If you have issues, questions, or suggestions on this information, or have suggestions for additions to this list, please contact me.

Absolute Pitch

A rare auditory phenomenon characterized by the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone (from [Deutsch 2013a]).

Also (and more commonly) called “perfect pitch”.

Acoustic Length

The length of the resonating column of air inside the sound chamber of the flute when the fundamental note is played. The acoustic length determines the pitch or frequency of the note that is produced.

The acoustic length is typically longer than the physical length of the sound chamber, because of physical effects that take place at the foot end and at the sound hole of the flute. The effects of the end corrections can be calculated by formulas and, when added to the physical length of the sound chamber, produce a theoretical acoustic length for the flute.

See Acoustic Length of a Flute.

Air Chamber — see Slow Air Chamber

Demonstration of a compression wave moving in two dimensions from a source. Graphic by Christophe Dang Ngoc Chan

Air Pressure Wave

A compression wave of air particles with alternating high pressure (more tightly packed) and low pressure (less tightly packed) that radiate out from a source. When the wave reaches our ears, it begins the process of being perceived as sound.

The graphic at the right helps visualize the air pressure changes moving out from a central source.

See Intervals / Air Pressure Wave.

Alto Clef

A C-clef placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate that middle C (C4) passes through the center of the clef, or the middle staff:

AMAPFALAP

“As Much As Possible From As Little As Possible” – a technique of music practice developed by W. A. Mathieu in The Listening Book for reducing music to it's basic elements in order to enhance how each note is played.

See Getting the Most out of Each Note / AMAPFALAP .

Anasazi Flute

[ah-nah-sah-zee floot] A type of indigenous flutes from North America that have historical context (back to about 625 CE) and are produced by some flute makers today.

See Indigenous North American Flutes / Anasazi Flute.

Anterior Air Chamber Port — see SAC Exit Hole

Articulation

The general area of how notes are begun and how they are separated. These techniques can involve the breath (breath articulation), the mouth and tongue (mouth articulation), and even the finger (finger articulation). Another area, called vocal articulation, involves how musicians use articulation while singing. Experimenting with vocal articulation is a great way to find new techniques to use on the flute.

See Articulation on the Native American Flute.

Attack

The way that a note is begun.

See Articulation on the Native American Flute.

Back-Pressure

The amount of air pressure that a player feels when he or she breathes into a flute. This is typically a matter of flute construction, but could possibly be due to obstructions in the flue or slow air chamber. This term is equivalent to breath pressure, but this term is often used in situations when discussing the design of a particular flute.

See Checking Out a New Flute / Back-Pressure. For a look at back-pressure from a flue-design viewpoint, see Back-Pressure on the Flute Crafting Dimensions page.

Baffle — see Plug

Bark

A classic ornament for the Native American flute that emulates animals barking.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Bark.

Baroque Flute

Flutes made in the tradition of the European line of Western Concert Flute development from about 1600–1760.

See The Western Concert Family of Flutes / Baroque Flute.

Bass Clef

An F-clef placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate that the pitch F3 passes between the two dots of the clef, on the second staff line from the top:

Beak — see Breath Hole

Beat

The unit of musical rhythm (from [Springer 2009] ).

Also called the “pulse”.

Bell Note — see Fundamental Note

Bend — see Pitch Bend

Bird — see Block

Bird Tie — see Strap

Location of the block

Block

A separate piece from the body of the flute that is almost always removable. The block plays a critical role in creating the sound of the flute, since it directs air from the slow air chamber to the sound chamber.

Also called the “bird”, the “effigy” ([Olsen-L 1979], pages 38 and 41), the “fetish”, the “saddle”, the “focusing device” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 37, Figure 1b), the “flue cover” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 37, Figure 1g), and the “totem” (Tom Cramer).

Note that the term “slide” has also been used to denote the block ([Skinner 1915], page 356).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

See also How to Tie the Block on a Native American flute.

Blowing Edge — see Splitting Edge

Boehm Flute — see Western Concert Flute

Bore — see Sound Chamber

Bottom End — see Foot End

Branch Flute

A type of Native American flute that is made from a tree branch and which retains at least some of the physical shape and look of the original branch. Crafting methods vary widely.

Note that flutes made from bamboo or cane are not typically considered branch flutes.

See Branch Flutes.

Breath Chamber — see Slow Air Chamber

Breath Hole

Where you breathe into the flute. Air flows from the breath hole in to the slow air chamber. There are many possible configurations for the breath hole, varying widely in size and shape.

Cut-away image of a Native American flute

Also called the “mouth hole”, the “fissure” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 41), the “throat” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 41), and the “beak” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 37, Figure 1g).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Looking Inside the Flute.

Breath Mark

A symbol placed above the music staff that indicates a pause between musical phrases or passages. This marking is used particularly in parlando style of notation for the Native American flute ([Nakai 1996], pages 41–44).

See also the glossary words caesura and fermata.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Breath Mark.

Breath Pressure

The pressure over and above ambient air pressure that is experienced inside the mouth. High breath pressure generated when playing some wind instruments, such as trumpets and oboes, has been linked to a variety of health issues.

Also called “intraoral pressure”. Another equivalent term is back-pressure, which is often used in situations when discussing the design of a particular flute.

For the physiological effects of breath pressure, see Breath Pressure in Ethnic Wind Instruments. For a look at breath pressure from a flue-design viewpoint, see Back-Pressure on the Flute Crafting Dimensions page.

Broken Scale — see Woven Scale

Buzz — see Warble

C Flute — see Western Concert Flute

Caesura

The caesura [seh-zoor-ah] symbol (also spelled “cesura” and “cæsura”) can be placed above the music staff to indicate a pause between musical phrases or passages. This marking can be used particularly in parlando style of notation.

See also the glossary words breath mark and fermata.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Caesura.

Call and Response

A classic duet or ensemble technique that is used in many forms of world music. Calls by one player are returned, as closely as possible by the duet partner or by a group of responders.

If you are doing a duet with two Native American flutes, call and response is one of the few improvisation structures that do not need the two flutes to be a harmonic pairing (see Harmonic Pairings, or … Which Flutes Go Together?).

Cent

A small unit of measure of musical intervals. The span of an octave — two notes that have a frequency ratio of 2:1 — is divided into 1,200 cents using a logarithmic scale. In the equal temperament system, each of the 12 semitones in an octave is divided into 100 cents ([Ellis 1885]).

See also savart and millioctave.

Channel — see Flue

Optional chimney on the block

Chimney

A block shape where the block borders three sides of the sound hole. The sides, or wings, give some protection if you are trying to play in a breeze.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Shape of the Block.

Chirp

When you use a Taaa attack, some flutes will chirp at the start of the note. This effect varies dramatically from flute to flute, but once you know a flute well, you can get this chirp effect whenever you want with just the right amount of breath pressure.

See Articulation / Chirp.

Choke

A constriction in the diameter of the sound chamber at the foot end of the flute. The constriction can be constructed into the design of the bore of the flute, added while tuning the instrument, or might be a perforation in the natural node of a bamboo flute that is smaller than the bore diameter. These are often used by flute makers to attain desired pitches on the lower notes of the flute.

According to Michael Prairie:

A choke is commonly found in the Japanese shakuhachi and the South American quena, and some Native American-style flute makers employ the design element as well. It results in a shorter flute and tends to strengthen the resonance of the fundamental note, but it also affects the relative tuning of the first and second register. Changing the choke dimensions causes varying tuning between the first and second registers.

Also called a “choked bore”.

Choked Bore — see Choke

Chord

A combination of three or more tones sounded simultaneously (from [Springer 2009] ).

Chromatic Scale

A musical scale with twelve pitches, each one semitone apart ([Benward 2003], Volume 1, page 47).

In an equal tempered tuning system, all the pitches of a chromatic scale are the same distance apart (as a ratio of their frequencies). This makes all intervals between pairs of notes in the chromatic scale the same distance apart, allowing arbitrary transpositions of melodies without changing the apparent intervals.

Because of the symmetry of the equally spaced musical tones in the chromatic scale, there is no root note or tonic.

Circular Breathing

A technique used on wind instruments for producing a continuous tone without interruption. Air is taken into the lungs periodically by breathing in through the nose while simultaneously maintaining air pressure on the instrument by pushing air stored in the cheeks using the cheek muscles ([Dick 1987]).

Also called “permanent exhalation”.

See the video showing the satara flute for an excellent demonstration of circular breathing.

Clamp

An ornament that is used at the start of a note or a musical phrase that uses a short grace note just prior to the main note. The grace note is typically higher than the primary note.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Clamp.

Classical Flute — see Western Concert Flute

Classical Staff Notation — see Modern Music Notation

Clef

A symbol placed at the beginning of the upper staff to indicate the pitch of the notes on the staff (from [Springer 2009] ).

The most common clef encountered by flute players is the treble clef (also called the G clef). See also the alto clef, bass clef, and neutral clef.

Color — see Timbre

Compound Meter

Meters such as 5/4 and 11/16, where the top number is not divisible by two or three. Compound meters can be broken down into components of duple and treble meters.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Compound Meters.

Compression Chamber — see Slow Air Chamber

Demonstration of a single compression wave moving from left to right. Graphic by Christophe Dang Ngoc Chan

Compression Wave

A wave of displacement of a medium that moves in the same direction, or in the opposite direction, to the direction of travel of the wave itself. The wave produces compression (higher pressure) and rarefaction (lower pressure) as it travels through the medium.

An air pressure wave and a seismic wave are types of compression waves.

Also called a “longitudinal wave”.

See Intervals / Air Pressure Wave.

Concert-Tuned

An instrument where all the notes are tuned in relation to a given pitch standard, typically A4=440 Hertz. If you intend to play a flute with other contemporary instruments, it can help to have it concert-tuned.

Contemporary Native American Flute (Contemporary NAF)

A Native American flute tuned to what has become the predominant tuning arrangement since about 1980. If the flute is described as a “minor key flute”, “pentatonic minor flute”, or is “in the key of [something] minor”, then it is likely to be a Contemporary Native American flute.

This term is not currently in wide use in the community, but is useful in describing a class of flutes that all play basic songs using the same finger patterns.

A large collection of scored music is provided on FluteTree.com for Contemporary Native American flutes.

Continuous Double Tongue

A tonguing technique where the effect of a double tongue embellishment is carried through the note rather than just at the beginning. This can be used as a texture effect.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Continuous Double Tongue.

Courting Flute — see Native American Flute

Cross-Fingering

The standard definition of a cross-fingering is where one or more finger holes are closed before an open hole. For example, , , and are cross-fingerings while is not a cross fingering. Cross fingerings give you access to more pitches than the straight-fingered sequence.

However, on most contemporary Native American flutes the player keeps the third hole closed to get the primary scale, so and are commonly played. By the standard definition, these two fingerings are cross-fingerings. However, they are not typically considered cross-fingerings on the Native American flute.

Also called “forked fingering” and “split fingering”.

Cutting Edge — see Splitting Edge

Demitone — see Semitone

Diaphragm — see Plug

Diatonic Scale

The phrase “diatonic scale” is used in two ways:

• The most common usage relates to a single scale, referred to a “the diatonic scale”. In this context, the term “diatonic scale” refers to the “the diatonic major scale” or simply “the major scale”.
• A less common, but more correct use of the term “diatonic scale” refers to a set of seven related scales, described below.

On Flutopedia, when I say “the diatonic scale”, I'm referring to the major scale. When I say “a diatonic scale”, I'm talking about the set of seven related scales:

A diatonic scale is a seven-tone, octave-repeating scale that has these characteristics:

• All the scale steps are either one or two semitones
• There are
  • five scale steps of two semitones and
  • two scale steps of one semitone.
• The scale steps with one semitone are surrounded by at least two scale steps with two semitones.

Given all these restrictions, it turns out that there are seven possible diatonic scales, which are all modes of each other:

In the table above:

• The Modern Mode Names were names that were borrowed from ancient Greek mode names. However, the modern use of these Mode Names produces different notes than the original Greek modes.
• The Mode # column show the mode relative to the Major scale.

The word “diatonic” is from the Greek διατονικός (literally “progressing through tones” in English).

Diatonic Flute

A flute where the primary scale is the diatonic scale.

Most six-hole diatonic flutes get the diatonic scale with the primary fingering sequence .

Direction Holes

One or more holes nearest the foot end of the flute that are not intended to be covered during normal play. Makers often use four direction holes to honor the four directions. The size, location, and number of direction holes alter the pitch of the flute when all the finger holes are closed.

Also called “tuning holes” and “wind holes” (Dr. Richard W. Payne in [Bee 2006]).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Design Variations.

Location of direction holes at the foot end of the flute

Distal End — see Foot End

Distal Mouth Opening — see Sound Hole

Downbeat

The accent that occurs regularly in most rhythms. It usually corresponds to the first beat of each measure in written music. Sometimes the “The One Beat” (if you like counting “One two three One two three …”).

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Downbeat.

Double Flute

A flute with two sound chambers.

The typical arrangement is where one chamber (the “melodic chamber”) provides a standard five- or six-hole flute and the other chamber (the “harmonic chamber”) has no finger holes and provides a single drone note. The drone note is often tuned to the lowest note of the melodic chamber.

Aside from that typical arrangement, there are many other possibilities, including two chambers that each have three finger holes.

A double flute is also called a “drone flute”.

See Double Flutes Techniques.

Double Tongue

An attack at the start of a note where a single grace note precedes the main melodic note. Unlike a typical grace note which is done with fingering, the double tongue grace note is done with articulation.

See also Continuous Double Tongue.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Double Tongue.

Drone

A steady tone. Typically a drone provides the background or underpinning for another instrument to solo over, creating a solo-drone song form. The drone could be provided by another Native American flute or any number of instruments that can hold a steady tone, such as a cello, a shruti box, or a tamboura.

See Solo-Drone Song Form.

Drone Flute — see Double Flute

Duct Flute

A type of flute where a narrow duct, or flue, directs the stream of air to the splitting edge. A Native American flute is a type of duct flute.

Contrast with Embouchure Flute.

See Classification of Flutes / Duct Flute.

Duple Meter

Meters such as 2/4 and 4/4 that are divisible by two. They are by far the most common rhythms heard in the Western tradition of music.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Duple Meter.

Duration

An amount of time or a particular time interval, such as the length of a note. A duration is a property of a note that becomes one of the bases of rhythm.

A tone may be sustained for varying lengths of time and it is often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music, encompassing rhythm, form, and even song structure.

See From Scales to Songs as well as Getting the Most out of Each Note / Duration.

See also musical tone.

A Summary of Dynamics

Dynamics

The loudness (or softness) of the a sound, a musical note, or the music being played.

The term dynamics often refers to changes in loudness or comparative loudness within a piece of music.

The table at the right shows the markings in Modern Music Notation the Western classical music tradition.

From [Springer 2009] : “Varying degrees of loud and soft”.

See From Scales to Songs as well as Getting the Most out of Each Note / Dynamics.

East Indian Classical Music Tradition

The classical music of India, which includes Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of spiritual inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects, having distinct cultural traditions.

Edge Tone

One of the two types of acoustic tones produced on a flute (both duct flutes and embouchure flutes). An edge tone is generated by the interaction airstream with the splitting edge and is not coupled to pressure waves or sonic vibrations in the sound chamber. An edge tone can be produced and demonstrated by creating a focused airstream across the edge of a tautly-held piece of paper.

Edge tones can be generated on many Native American flutes by breathing extremely softly into the instrument. Edge tones are often produced at the attack of the note, as the airstream first arrives at the splitting edge. These edge tones typically produce frequencies that are much higher than the pipe tone that eventually results. Unline a pipe tone, the frequency of edge tone vibrations are proportional to the velocity of the airstream. Based on the design of the instrument, the edge tone may quickly transition into a pipe tone ([Fuks 2002], [McIntyre 1983]).

Here is a slightly more physics-oriented description from [Maclagan 2009], page 51:

The sound that is produced, in the absence of a nearby resonator, when a moving stream of air directed at an edge—such as at the edge of a tautly held piece of paper—divides in such as way that it moves continuously from one side of the edge to the other. In the case of paper, the sound produced is a feeble, high-pitched, airy whistle. The initial sound that a flute produces when a flutist blows at the blowing edge is an edge tone, but in this case, the pure edge tone is not usually sustained, because the resonances of the bore influence the air jet. Instead, the jet is “captured” and amplified by a resonance in the tubing that has a similar frequency.

Also called a “pre-whistle”.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Sound Hole.

Effigy — see Block

Eighth Note / Rest

Half the length of a quarter note/rest and an eighth the length of a whole note/rest (from [Springer 2009] ).

Here are four eighth notes and an eighth rest as shown in modern music notation:

Embellishment — see Ornament

Leta Slupik playing an embouchure flute

Embouchure Flute

A flute where the player's lips direct a stream of air to the splitting edge.

An example is show at the right of Native flute player Leta Slupik playing an embouchure flute (photo by O. K. Mohammed Ali from [Joseph 2014]).

Contrast with Duct Flute.

See Classification of Flutes / Embouchure Flute.

Embouchure Hole — see Sound Hole

End Correction

A calculated length caused by an opening in a sound chamber, such as open finger holes, the sound hole, or the end of the chamber. When you add all the end corrections of a sound chamber to the physical bore length of that sound chamber, you get the acoustic length.

It is customary to denote the end correction at the foot end of the flute as k1 and the end correction at the sound hole as k2.

See Acoustic Length of a Flute for a full description of this phenomenon, including detailed calculations.

Equal-Tempered Tuning (Equal Temperament)

A system of tuning the notes of a scale where the frequency ratio between each pair of adjacent notes is the same.

Equal temperament has several advantages. If you have an instrument tuned to equal temperament, you can transpose a melody from one key to another and the notes will have the same relative tuning when played on that instrument (i.e. the instrument does not need to be re-tuned for the transposed melody to sound the same as the original melody).

However, equal temperament involves compromises. The tuning that sounds best to most people's ears involves using frequency ratios between notes that are simple ratios, sich as 2:1, 3:2, 4:3, 5:3, etc. The notes in an equal tempered scale are always slightly off from those ideal ratios, except for the octave interval, which is fixed at 2:1.

In Western countries, the term equal temperament by default means a 12-note scale. However, in other musical cultures the scale of notes within an octave could be divided into 24 musical tones (Arabian music, see [Marcus 1993]), 19 musical tones ([Mandelbaum 1961]  and [Bucht 2004] ), or 31 musical tones ([Keislar 1991]).

Often abbreviated as “ET” or, for 12-tone Equal Tempered Tuning, “12-TET”.

See the article Right in Tune.

Ethnomusicology

A branch of musicology defined as “the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts” ([Pegg 2008]).

Ethnopoetics

A poetic movement and also a subfield in linguistics and anthropology that is based on two interrelated concepts:

On one hand, it refers to non-Western poetry, often that of indigenous people (although it could apply to the study of all-kind/source folk poetry), and on the other hand, it is poetry showing such influence and written in manner to manifest the qualities of indigeneousity; ethnopoetics also refers to the study within the field of linguistics of poetic structures particular to specific culture.

It is also defined by Dennis Tedlock as “an attempt to hear and read the poetries of distant others, outside the Western tradition as we know it now.”

Extended Mordents

Two ornaments that involve playing four grace notes before the main note. The main note is played briefly, then the next lower or higher note, then the main note, then the next lower or higher note, then back up to the full main note. If you use the lower note, it is an extended lower mordent and if you use the higher note it is an extended upper mordent.

It is represented in modern music notation as for the extended lower mordent and for the extended upper mordent (Dolmetsch Online ([Blood 2011])).

Also called a “lower mordent” to distinguish it from an upper mordent.

See also the glossary terms for upper mordent and (lower) mordent.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Extended Mordents.

Extended-Range Flute

A flute that has been designed specifically for play up into the second register.

See Scales for the Native American Flute.

Extended Vertical Turn

A sequence of four grace notes before the main note, in a particular pattern. This ornament travels a total of two notes in the scale.

See also the glossary terms for turn, inverted turn, and vertical turn.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Extended Vertical Turns.

Face — see Flat Face

Fall Off

A drop in pitch at the end of a note. Unlike a slide, it is typically not done with the fingers, but with reducing breath pressure gradually to let the pitch (and volume) fall.

Also called simply a “fall”.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Fall Off and also the page on Ending Notes for more description and sound samples.

Fermata

A fermata [fur-mah-tah] symbol can be placed above a note on the music staff or below the staff to indicate a long pause before the next musical phrase or passage. This marking is used particularly in parlando style of notation.

From [Springer 2009] : “A hold or pause; to hold a tone or rest beyond the written value at the discretion of the performer”.

See also the glossary words breath mark and caesura.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Fermata.

Fetish — see Block

Finger Holes

The holes on the body of a Native American flute where you rest your fingers, or lift them off of, when playing.

Also called “note holes”, “tone holes” (Dr. Richard W. Payne in [Bee 2006]), “toneholes” ([Lefebvre 2010]), and “playing holes”. Also called “stops”, as in “a flute with two stops” meaning “a flute with two finger holes”. The use of the term “stop” is often in archaeological contexts when talking about simple flutes and whistles.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Finger Layout

The finger layout for a particular flute says which fingers you place of which holes on the flute.

See the Flutopedia Finger Layout page.

Finger Vibrato — see Flattement

Fipple — see Splitting Edge

Fipple shield as part of the nest area

Fipple Shield

A common variation in the design of the nest area that was common on traditional flutes of the Kiowa culture. A thin plate, often made of metal, is fixed to the body of the flute distal to the block. It forms the splitting edge of the sound mechanism.

Note that the fipple shield is typically tied onto the body of the flute, similar to the strap that holds the block onto the flute, but that is not shown in the diagram above. Also, no wings are shown on the sides of the block — if they were present, the proximal edge of the fipple shield would typically line up with the distal end of the wings on the block.

Also called a “lip plate” ([Hensley 2002]).

See the Fipple Shields section of the Anatomy page.

First Chamber — see Slow Air Chamber

Fissure — see Breath Hole

Flageolet

A type of duct flute developed in 16^th century Europe and in wide use until being largely replaced by the tin whistle in the 19^th century. A wide variety of styles of flageolets were developed, with various configurations of finger holes (including thumb holes), with and without key mechanisms, and in a wide range of keys. A specific variety of flageolet with six open finger holes became popular in England in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, probably leading to the development of the tin whistle.

Because of the similarities in design to the Native American flute, there are descriptions in various source of Native American flutes as “a type of flageolet” or “in the class of flageolet flutes”. For example, from [Kroeber 1922], page 277 ¶7:

The only true musical instrument in our sense is the flute, an open, reedless tube, blown across the edge of one end. Almost always it has four holes, often more or less grouped in two pairs, and is innocent of any definite scale. It is played for self-recreation and courtship. The Mohave alone know a flageolet.

In this context, the intended meaning of “flageolet” is likely to be a synonym for “duct flute”. A search on this web site will show a number of quoted sources that refer to Native American flutes as flageolets.

Flat Face

A block shape where the portion of the block near the sound hole is straight across, without any wings.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Shape of the Blocks .

Flattement

A technique for producing a vibrato-like sound by trilling with the fingers ([Manning-DC 1995] ).

Flourish

A complex, fast run played before or between melodic notes.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Run.

Also see Blue Feathers, the original composition by Christopher Alan Mink, which uses many flourishes.

Location of the flue

Flue

The space formed by the top of the plug and the bottom of the block. This is a very shallow (but often wide) channel that routes air to the sound hole. The shape of the flue is very important to the creation of the flute's sound.

The flue is a primary place where condensed moisture collects. When this happens the shape of the flue is changed, which has a dramatic effect on the sound of the flute, even to the point of silencing the instrument.

Also called the “channel” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 37, Figure 1g), the “focusing channel” (Timothy Jennings of 3 Feathers Flutes), the “furrow” ([Russell 1908]), the “throat” ([Ahrens 2005] , figure 4, item 52) (although “throat” is also a term used for the breath hole), and the “windway”.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Under the Block.

Flue Cover — see Block

Flute

A musical instrument where the player's breath is directed either by the player or by the instrument against a splitting edge that causes the air to vibrate.

Note that this definition may differ from usage in other places — in particular where a writer will reserve the use of the term flute only for an embouchure flute.

See Classification of Flutes / Flute.

Flute Bore — see Sound Chamber

Flute-Lore

Traditional beliefs, legends, customs, ceremonies, and music centered around the flute ([Buss 1977] , page 19).

Flutter Tongue

An ornament on wind instruments that is done by “rolling your R's” while breathing into the flute.

Also called “rolled tongue” or “rolling the tongue”.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Flutter Tongue.

Focusing Channel — see Flue

Focusing Device — see Block

Foot End

Head and Foot ends of a Native American flute

Also called the “bottom end”, the “distal end”, and the “South End”.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Forked-Fingering — see Cross-Fingering

Frame — see Spacer Plate

Frequency

A measure of how many times some repetitive or cyclic action happens over some time period.

In the context of sound, which is often conveyed through the air as as cycles or waves of alternating higher and lower air pressure, frequency is a measure of how many cycles (or peaks of high air pressure) occur per second. When frequency is measured in cycles per second, it is typically called "Hertz", abbreviated "Hz".

See Intervals / Vibration.

Fundamental Note

If you close all the finger holes on a woodwind instrument and use a normally soft breath technique that avoids playing in the second register, you are playing the fundamental note of that instrument (or simply the “fundamental” of the instrument).

Playing the fundamental note on any particular Native American flute might be challenging: you might have trouble completely sealing the finger holes or the block might be adjusted so that it is difficult to play in the first register. However, those issues aside, you should be able to get the fundamental note of the flute fairly easily.

Also called the “bell note”.

See Intervals / Fundamental Note.

Furrow — see Flue

Gasket — see Spacer Plate

Glissando

A glissando [glis-ahn-doh] (sometimes called a “gliss” for short) connects two main melodic notes with a smooth pitch bend. The bend is often done fairly slowly to emphasize the effect.

This term is sometimes used as a synonym for portamento. However, when trying to distinguish between instruments without the ability to do smooth pitch bends, such as a piano or a harp, and instruments that can bend pitch smoothly, such as a cello or trombone, the term glissando is sometimes used for “discrete pitch bend” and portamento is used for “smooth pitch bend” (Dolmetsch Online – [Blood 2011]). However, [Nakai 1996] established the term glissando as the preferred term for this type of pitch bend in the context of Native American flutes.

In modern music notation, glissandos in the context of the Native American flute are indicated as based on [Nakai 1996], page 30. However, in a more general music context, they are often shown as (Dolmetsch Online – [Blood 2011]).

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Glissando.

Grace Note

A very short note played immediately before a main note. Grace notes are not typically part of the melody of the song … they just accent the main notes.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Grace Notes.

Grandfather Tuning

A traditional method of placing the finger holes and direction holes using the body measurements of the maker or player.

See Finger Hole Placement / Grandfather Tuning for a description of this method.

Haaa Attack

A soft attack at the start of a note, done using the entire volume of the respiratory system.

See Articulation on the Native American Flute / Haaa Attack

Haiku

A poem written in the form of 17 syllables divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables (from [Springer 2009] ).

Half-Hole Techniques

A technique where some portion of a finger hole is closed. The technique can be used to get a note that is between two notes, such as which can get you a pitch between and .

Half-hole techniques can also be used on the upper finger holes, such as the fingering, to get the flute to resonate in the second register.

The term does not imply what portion of the finger hole is covered. In some cases, a finger diagram might suggest how much to cover. For example, suggest just “cracking” the finger open a bit, might be used for uncovering a significant portion of the finger hole, and suggests covering only a small portion of the hole.

This technique is also referred to as “shading” the finger hole.

Half Note / Rest

Twice the length of a quarter note/rest and half the length of a whole note/rest (from [Springer 2009] ).

Here are two half notes and a half rest as shown in modern music notation:

Half Step — see Semitone

Harmonic Pairing

A pair of flutes where most combinations of notes from the primary scales of the two flutes sound consonant.

See Harmonic Pairings / Which Flutes Go Together?.

Harmony

Music than has more than one note at the same time is said to have harmony. Even two notes of the same pitch, played at the same time, create harmony (this is an interval that is called unison). One of the basic components of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and silence.

From [Springer 2009] : “The sounding of two or more tones simultaneously”.

See the general discussion on Intervals as well as Guitar Chords to accompany the Native American Flute.

Head End

The end of the flute into which you breathe.

Head and Foot ends of a Native American flute

Also called the “North End”, the “proximal end”, and the “top end”.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Heptatonic Scale

Any scale that has seven notes within the span of one octave.

Hexatonic Scale

Any scale that has six notes within the span of one octave.

Home Phrase

A short phrase that you build a song around, but taking excursions from the home phrase, but always returning back.

See Journey from a Home Phrase.

Improvisation

Creation of a musical composition while it is being performed, or embellishment of a written piece (from [Springer 2009] ).

While much of the present-day culture surrounding the Native American flute involves improvisation and playing “from the heart”, the traditional cultures in which the instrument is rooted did not necessarily improvise their melodies. This quotation is from the introduction of [Densmore 1915a] :

It is pleasant to think of an Indian lover trilling in the dawn an improvised song to his beloved, or an Indian hunter singing beside his campfire, but neither picture represents the custom of the Indian tribes whose music I have studied. Indian song, in my observation, is far from being a spontaneous outburst of melody. On the contrary there is around it the dignity and control which pervade the whole life of the race.

Internal Wall — see Plug

Intraoral Pressure — see Breath Pressure

Interval

An interval tells you the relationship between the pitch of two notes.

Two notes played at the same time provide harmony. The particular sound of that harmony is distinctive to our ear, and depends in large part on the relationship between the pitches of those notes.

Western music theory, which uses a twelve-tone chromatic scale, has a set of names for the relationship between any pair of notes in the twelve-tone chromatic scale.

Those names, and the topic of intervals in general, is explored on the Flutopedia Intervals page.

Inverted Turn

A sequence of four grace notes before the main note, in a particular pattern. An inverted turn can be represented in modern music notation as (Dolmetsch Online ([Blood 2011])).

See also the glossary terms for turn, vertical turn, and extended vertical turn.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Inverted Turn .

k1

A measure of the end correction at the foot end of the flute.

See Acoustic Length of a Flute.

k2

A measure of the end correction at the sound hole of the flute.

See Acoustic Length of a Flute.

Kaaa Attack

A medium-sharp attack at the start of a note, done from the back of the throat.

See Articulation on the Native American Flute / Kaaa Attack.

Konnakol — see Solkattu

Key

The key of a Native American flute is the lowest pitch that is normally played on that flute, together with a general indication of the mode of the primary scale of the instrument.

The pitches are: C, C# (same as Db), D, D# (same as Eb), E, F, F# (same as Gb), G, G# (same as Ab), A, A# (same as Bb), and B. The mode of the primary scale on a Native American flute is typically “Minor”, but flutes can be made in “Major” (also called “Diatonic”), “Byzantine”, “Blues”, and many other tunings.

See Keys of Native American Flutes for sound samples of various keys.

Key Mechanism

Mechanical devices on a wind instrument that open and close the instrument's finger holes. The mechanisms are typically used to extend the reach of the player's fingers. Using a system of levers and keypads, keyed finger holes could be placed further apart than open finger holes. The idea began with a few key mechanisms on recorders to get a few lower notes, and gradually expanded to the instruments where all the finger holes used key mechanisms.

See Classification of Flutes.

Key Signature

The flat (b) and sharp (#) symbols at the beginning of each staff line indicating the key of music the piece is to be played (from [Springer 2009] ).

By convention, music written in Nakai tablature uses a key signature of four sharps:

Labium — see Splitting Edge

Lacing — see Strap

Languid Lip — see Splitting Edge

Languet — see Splitting Edge

Legato

A classical music term that means that the notes are played smoothly, without any breaks between the notes. This Italian word literally means “tied together”.

Sometimes music is written with a tie over the notes …

See Legato Articulation.

Location of the upper lip and lower lip

Lip — Upper Lip & Lower Lip

The two edges of the flue at the point where the air stream exits the flue into the sound hole. The upper lip is typically part of the block and the lower lip is part of the body of the flute.

Note that I (Clint Goss) proposed this use of the terms upper lip and lower lip on November 7, 2016. I was working with a flute maker and needed a term to describe these two edges. The terms were proposed to a group of flute makers on Facebook, and a majority of flute makers agreed that these were appropriate terms (although agreement was not unanimous).

A more descriptive phrase for “lower lip” might be “the South end (or distal end) of the flue floor” (suggested by Keith Stanford) or the “shelf at the back wall of the bore” (suggested by Tom Cramer).

Another phrase to describe the “upper lip” is the “totem heel” (suggested by Tom Cramer, using the term “totem” for “block”).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Transition from the Flue to the Sound Hole.

Lip Plate — see Fipple Shield

Longitudinal Wave — see Compression Wave

Loudness

The quality of a sound that relates to the physical strength of the sound. Loudness is a subjective measure for the listener and is affected by the frequency, bandwidth, and duration of the sound.

There are a number of concepts from acoustics and physics that are beyond the scope of Flutopedia. They address various aspects of loudness, such as sound (or acoustic) intensity, sound power, amplitude, sound pressure, and sound pressure level.

See also musical tone.

Love Flute — see Native American Flute

Lower Lip — see Lip

Lower Mordent — see Mordent

Major Scale

A seven-tone, octave-repeating scale, with scale steps of 2-2-1-2-2-2-1. The major scale is one of the diatonic scales, and is often referred to a “the diatonic scale”.

For versions of the major scale that can be played on the Native American flute, see The Pentatonic Major Scale.

Major Second — see Whole Tone

Major Third interval in Nakai Tab Notation

Major Third

An interval of four semitones. The first two notes of “(Oh) When the Saints Come Marching In” are an ascending major third interval. the first two notes of “Summertime” as well as “Here Come the Sun” form a descending major third.

The fingering is sometimes called “the major third” because it is four semitones above the fundamental note.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of a major third:
to
to
to
to

Measure

A group of beats containing a primary accent and one or more secondary accents, indicated by the placement of bar lines on the staff; the space between two bar lines (from [Springer 2009] ).

Melody

The sequence of musical notes with pitches that makes up the predominant sound in a piece of music. One of the basic components of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and silence.

From [Springer 2009] : “A series of musical notes that form a distinct unit, are recognizable as a phrase, and usually have a distinctive rhythm”.

Mensural Notation

The musical notation system used in European music from the later part of the 13^th century until about 1600. “Mensural” refers to the ability of this system to notate complex rhythms with great exactness and flexibility. Mensural notation was the first system in the development of European music that systematically used individual note shapes to denote temporal durations. In this, it differed from its predecessor, a system of rhythmic modes, which had been the first way to notate rhythm. Mensural notation is most closely associated with the successive periods of the late medieval Ars nova (“The new art”) and the Franco-Flemish school of Renaissance music. Its name was coined by 19th-century scholars with reference to the usage of medieval theory, going back to the treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis (“The art of measured chant”) by Franco of Cologne in about 1280 CE.

See Membertou's Three Songs for an example of a song that was originally scored in mensural notation.

Meter

A perception of the rhythmic nature of a piece of music that “involves our initial perception as well as subsequent anticipation of a series of beats that we abstract from the rhythm surface of the music as it unfolds in time” ([London 2004], page 4).

Meter (also spelled “metre”) is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry, where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented. Hence it may also refer to the pattern of lines and accents in the verse of a hymn or ballad, for example, and so to the organization of music into regularly recurring measures or bars of stressed and unstressed “beats”, indicated in Western music notation by a time signature and bar-lines.

This perception and abstraction of rhythmic measure is the foundation of human instinctive musical participation, as when we divide a series of identical clock-ticks into “tick-tock-tick-tock”. “Rhythms of recurrence” arise from the interaction of two levels of motion, the faster providing the pulse and the slower organizing the beats into repetitive groups. “Once a metric hierarchy has been established, we, as listeners, will maintain that organization as long as minimal evidence is present”.

From [Springer 2009] : “The structure of notes in a regular pattern of accented and unaccented beats within a measure”.

See Meter for the Native American Flute.

Microtone

An interval smaller than a semitone.

Microtone Trill — see Flattement

Millioctave

An older unit of measure of musical intervals. The span of an octave — two notes that have a frequency ratio of 2:1 — is divided into 1,000 millioctaves using a logarithmic scale. In the equal temperament system, each of the 12 semitones in an octave is divided into about 83.3333 millioctaves ([Coul 2003] ).

See also cents and savart.

Minor Seventh interval in Nakai Tab Notation

Minor Seventh

An interval of ten semitones. Since it's such a large leap, there aren't a lot of songs that begin with this interval. The original theme from Star Trek goes up a minor seventh and the jazz standard “Watermelon Man” descends a minor seventh.

The fingering is sometimes called “the minor seventh” because it is seven semitones above the fundamental note.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of a perfect fifth:
to
to

Minor Sixth interval in Nakai Tab Notation

Minor Sixth

An interval of eight semitones. The first two notes of the Beatles song “Because” are a minor sixth jump. The first two notes of the “Love Story” theme descend a perfect sixth.

The fingering is sometimes called “the minor sixth” because it is eight semitones above the fundamental note.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of a perfect fifth:
to
to

Minor Third interval in Nakai Tab Notation

Minor Third

An interval of three semitones. The first two notes of the traditional melody “Greensleeves” are a minor third apart. So are the first to notes of “Hey, Jude”, in descending order.

The fingering is sometimes called “the minor third” because it is three semitones above the fundamental note.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of a minor third:
to
to
to
to

Mode

A musical scale that uses the same notes as some other underlying musical scale, but starts those notes in a different place. For example, if you start with an underlying seven-note scale with the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, then the scales B, C, D, E, F, G, A and F, G, A, B, C, D, E are both modes of the underlying scale.

The number of the mode tells you which note of the underlying scale begins the new scale. Mode two starts on the second note of the underlying scale, mode three starts on the third note, etcetera. The first example above (starting from B) is mode two and the second example (starting from F) is mode six.

See Modes.

Mode-shift — see Warble

Modern Music Notation

A system of notating aural music developed from the European classical music tradition and now in wide use throughout the world.

The system uses notes placed on a five-line staff to indicate pitch and duration. In addition, many special symbols are used to indicate the attributes of music, including rests, dynamics, tempo, meter, rhythm, articulation, and many other aspects of performed music.

The most common music notation system for the Native American flute, Nakai tablature, is based on (and is a subset of) modern music notation.

Also called “classical staff notation” and “modern staff notation”.

Modern Staff Notation — see Modern Music Notation

Mordent

An ornament that involves playing two grace notes before the main note. The main note is played briefly as a grace note, then the next lower note as a grace note, then back up to the full main note. It can be represented in modern music notation as: ([Nakai 1996], page 31 and Dolmetsch Online ([Blood 2011])).

Also called a “lower mordent” to distinguish it from an upper mordent.

See also the glossary terms for upper mordent and extended mordents.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Mordents

Mouth Chamber — see Slow Air Chamber

Mouth Hole — see Breath Hole

Mouthpiece

The opening where you breathe into the flute.

Also called the “Mouth Pipe” ([Nakai 1996]).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Museum Replica

A reproduction of another instrument, typically an artifact, that conforms to the highest possible standards of replication of the original in measurements, materials, and construction techniques.

In some case, these three criteria are in opposition — in particular, for instruments crafted of naturally hollow materials such as cane or bamboo. Crafting a museum replica that faithfully reproduces the original material as well as the exact bore dimensions and wall thickness of the original may not be attainable, and the “highest possible standard” involves a balance of these goals.

In the case of artifacts that are incomplete and no supporting evidence is available for the construction of the incomplete portions, a museum replica or working replica might not be possible.

Contrast with reproduction and working replica.

Musical Note

A term that can mean:

• a sound as played on an instrument, or
• a symbol in music notation that indicates the characteristics (in particular, the pitch and duration) of a sound to be played on an instrument.

Musical notes played on instruments, especially woodwinds, often consist of a musical tone with additional attributes such as the attack on the note, the use of vibrato and other effects, and dynamics (a change in loudness) within the duration of the note.

Musical Temperament — see Tuning_System

Musical Tone

A steady, periodic sound. A musical tone is characterized by its duration, pitch, loudness, and timbre ([Roederer 2008], page 4).

A musical note is more complex than a musical tone, since it includes additional attributes such as the attack on the note, the use of vibrato and other effects, and allows for dynamics (a change in loudness) within the duration of the note.

Nakai Tablature (Tab)

A system of writing music for the Native American flute developed by R. Carlos Nakai, as described in The Art of the Native American Flute ([Nakai 1996]).

The system is based on (and is a subset of) modern music notation. Note that Nakai tablature does not include finger diagrams, which are often added below the staves of the written music as an aid when playing the music.

Also called simply “tablature” or “tab” in a Native American flute context.

See Nakai Tablature.

Native American Flute (NAF)

As defined by R. Carlos Nakai in 2002: “A front-held, open-holed whistle, with an external block and an internal wall that separates a mouth chamber from a resonating chamber.”

There are many names for the instrument, and also issues of tradition. On this web site, I make no distinctions in the name based on who was the maker of the instrument (see Honoring the Tradition) .

See also: Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Native American Style Flute (NASF)

A term for a Native American Flute that is used in commercial situations, when a flute offered for sale was crafted by a person who does not satisfy the requirements of The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, to distinguish it from a Native American Flute.

See: Honoring the Tradition.

Location of the nest

Nest

The area of the body of the flute where the block rests.

Also called the “roost” (Todd Chaplin).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute as well as the section on how to diagnose a Leaky Nest.

Nest Plate — see Spacer Plate

Neutral Clef

A clef placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate that the notes on the staff have no precise pitch. This is typically used for written music for percussion instruments:

Nodal Interference

An acoustic situation that is sometimes encountered during flute design where the location of maximum change in air pressure inside the sound chamber is close to a finger hole. The finger hole “interferes” with the changing pressure in the sound chamber by allowing air pressure to “leak” in and out from the area of maximum pressure change through the finger hole. This tends to have undesirable acoustic effects such as weakening the resonance of the note.

See Nodal Interference as well as Finger Hole Size.

North American Flute — see Native American Flute

North End — see Head End

Note

The pitch and duration of a sound, and also a representation in musical notation of a given pitch and duration ([Nattiez 1990], page 81).

Note Holes — see Finger Holes

Octave interval in Nakai Tab Notation

Octave

An interval of twelve semitones. The frequency of the octave note is exactly double the frequency of the lower note.

See Interval / Octave.

Octave-Repeating Scale

A musical scale where the same intervals repeat as you go up and down by an octave. Most, but not all, scales are octave-repeating scales.

Open Finger Holes

An instrument with open finger holes allows the fingers of the player to directly contact the finger holes. Contrast this with a saxophone where the fingers generally touch keys or levers that connect to pads that close the hole on the body of the instrument.

Instruments with open finger holes allow a set of pitch bend expressions that are more difficult or impossible on instruments that use keys and pads.

Ornament

A playing technique that is used to enhance a melody. An ornament can be done with the breath, the mouth, with finger techniques or any combination of these.

Ornaments add a character to the music that (in addition to the pure sound of the Native American flute) gives the instrument its characteristic sound. They also bring the instrument closer to emulating the sounds of nature.

From [Springer 2009] : “Note or notes added to the original melodic line for embellishment and added interest”.

Also called “embellishments”.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute.

Ostinato

An ostinato is a repeated pattern – something simple that is played over and over. The word comes from the same root as “obstinate”, literally a musical passage that refuses to go away.

From [Springer 2009] : “A motif or phrase which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice”.

A piano or guitar are ideal instruments to set up an ostinato. If you have a willing piano player or guitar player, have them play a simple sequence of notes (an arpeggio) in the key of the flute player. Having them repeat that arpeggio sequence over and over is an invitation for a flute player to soar over the top.

Overblow

When a flute plays in the second register, especially if it is not intended or unexpected, it is called an overblow.

An accidental overblow can be caused by many things:

• Allowing one of the upper finger holes to become uncovered, such as
• A block that is positioned too far toward the foot end of the flute.
• Breathing too hard for the note, causing the flute to resonate in the second register.

Overtone

Any frequency higher than the fundamental frequency of a sound. The fundamental frequency and the overtones together are called partials. Harmonics are partials whose frequencies are whole number multiples of the fundamental frequency (including the fundamental frequency, which is (1 × itself)). These overlapping terms are variously used when discussing the acoustic behavior of musical instruments. Due to a translation error in its coining, Alexander J. Ellis strongly suggested avoiding the term overtone in deference to upper partial (simple) tones ([Helmholtz 1912]).

When a resonant system such as a blown pipe or plucked string is excited, a number of overtones may be produced along with the fundamental tone. In simple cases, such as for most musical instruments, the frequencies of these musical tones are the same as (or close to) the harmonics. An example of an exception is a circular drum, whose first overtone is about 1.6 times its fundamental resonance frequency ([Prestini 2003], page 140). The human vocal tract is able to produce a highly variable structure of overtones, called formants, which define different vowels.

Overtone Flute

A type of flute that is designed to play primarily in the upper registers, often above the second register. Overtone flutes have few or no finger holes.

Examples of overtone flutes include the Slovakian fujara, the Slovakian pistalka / koncovka, the Russian / Ukrainian kalyuka, the Scandanavian seljefløyte (“willow flute”), and the Choctaw overtone flute.

Parlando

A style of notating music that is to be played with very free meter. The overall durations of notes (whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, etc.) are maintained in relation to each other, but the notes are not confined to an overall rhythm. To represent a pause between passages, a caesura symbol is placed above the music staff.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Parlando .

See also the Zuni Sunrise song for an example of the parlando style of music notation.

Partition — see Plug

Passive Air Chamber — see Slow Air Chamber

Pentatonic Scale

Any scale that has five notes within the span of one octave.

Pentatonic Minor Scale

A five-note scale with scale steps 3-2-2-3-2. The pentatonic minor scale is the primary scale for most contemporary Native American flutes.

See The Pentatonic Minor Scale and The Pentatonic Minor Extended Scale.

Perfect Fifth intervals in Nakai Tab Notation

Perfect Fifth

An interval of seven semitones. The first two “twinkle”s in “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” are a perfect fifth apart. The first two notes of the song “Feelings” descend a perfect fifth.

The fingering is sometimes called “the perfect fifth” because it is seven semitones above the fundamental note.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of a perfect fifth:
to
to
to

Perfect Fourth intervals in Nakai Tab Notation

Perfect Fourth

An interval of five semitones. The first two notes of “Here Comes the Bride” are a perfect fourth apart.

The fingering is sometimes called “the perfect fourth” because it is five semitones above the fundamental note.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of a perfect fourth:
to
to
to
to

Perfect Pitch — see Absolute Pitch

Permanent Exhalation — see Circular Breathing

Phrase

A relatively short portion of a melodic line which expresses a musical idea, comparable to a line or sentence in poetry (from [Springer 2009] ).

Physical Bore Length

A gross measure of the length of the sound chamber. The location of the center of a finger hole is sometime shown as a percentage of the physical bore length, for gross comparison purposes.

Care is needed in using these measures, because of the variations in the way the length of the sound chamber can be measured (eg. from the plug versus from the splitting edge versus from the center of the sound hole; and to the end of foot of the flute versus to the center of the direction holes). Also, the measurement of the physical bore length has limited use in flute design, since acoustical effects that occur at the ends of the sound chamber (both at the sound hole and at the foot of the flute) are not taken into account.

Pipe — see Whistle

Pipe Body — see Sound Chamber

Pipe Tone

One of the two types of acoustic tones produced on a flute (both duct flutes and embouchure flutes). A pipe tone is generated when an air pressure wave is created in the sound chamber of the instrument. The creation of a pipe tone is highly dependent on the design of the instrument, particularly the sound hole and sound chamber ([Fuks 2002]). A pipe tone may be preceded by an edge tone, which is the other type of acoustic tone produced on a flute.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Sound Hole.

Pitch

The quality of a musical tone that relates to the frequency of the sound. Various muscal traditions and assign names to discreet frequencies of sounds, so that they can be dealt with more easily by musicians. For example: C, C#, D, …; Do, Re, Mi, …; Ga, Ma, La, …; Ro, Tsu, Re, ….

Pitch is a primary attribute of musical notes that create melody.

Also called the “tone”.

See also musical tone.

Pitch Bend

A class of ornaments that includes the slide, the fall off, and the glissando.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Pitch Bends.

Pitch Standard

A standard frequency that is fixed to a given pitch.

There have been many pitch standards over the years, and the use of pitch standards is a major rabbit hole topic. One very prevalent standard is to assign the note A4 to the frequency 440 Hertz. This is often written as A4=440 or simply A440.

Plains Style Flute

A term intended to describe style of Native American Flute construction, in contrast with Woodlands Style Flute. However, there is no general consensus on the specifics of what these two terms mean.

See Plains Style and Woodlands Style Native American Flutes.

Playing Chamber — see Sound Chamber

Playing Holes — see Finger Holes

Plenum Chamber

A pressurized chamber containing gas or fluid at a higher pressure than its surroundings. One function of a plenum chamber is to provide for even distribution of the gas or fluid, because of an irregular supply. Note that a plenum chamber can act as an acoustic silencer device.

The slow air chamber of a Native American flute acts as a plenum chamber.

Location of the plug

Plug

Part of the body of the flute that separates the SAC from the sound chamber. This may be constructed of the same material as the body of the flute, or it may be another material such as a cork that is inserted late in the construction process. In bamboo or cane flutes, the septum often serves as the plug.

The top of the plug is often used to form the bottom of the flue.

Also called the “baffle” ([MIMO 2011] ), the “diaphragm” ([Russell 1908]), the “internal wall”, the “stopper” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 41), the “solid block area” (Timothy Jennings of 3 Feathers Flutes), or the “partition” ([Wolf 2001], page 5).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Looking Inside.

Pop

An ornament that is typically used at the end of a phrase or song. It is a very short, emphatic grace note that is usually higher than the note before it.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Pop.

Portamento

A way of connecting to melodic notes smoothly. This term is sometimes used as a synonym for glissando. However, when trying to distinguish between instruments without the ability to do smooth pitch bends, such as a piano or a harp, and instruments that can bend pitch smoothly, such as a cello or trombone, the term glissando is sometimes used for “discrete pitch bend” and portamento is used for “smooth pitch bend” (Dolmetsch Online – [Blood 2011]).

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Portamento.

Pre-Whistle - see Edge Tone

Primary Chamber - see Slow Air Chamber

Primary Fingering Sequence

Each flute has a sequence of fingerings that is most natural on the instrument, or produces the most commonly used scale or the primary scale. The primary fingering sequence is typically the first sequence that is taught to new players.

On contemporary Native American flutes, that sequence is .

On on diatonic flutes, the sequence is typically .

Primary Scale and Primary Intervals

Each flute has a sequence of notes that is most natural on the instrument. It corresponds to the primary fingering sequence and is usually the first scale that is taught to new players.

Since Native American flutes are a large family of flutes with many different sizes (or “keys”), the actual notes of the primary scale change from key to key. However, the intervals between the notes are consistent across most contemporary Native American flutes.

The primary intervals are the intervals between the notes of the primary scale.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, the primary intervals are: root – minor third – fourth – fifth – minor seventh – octave, corresponding to the primary fingering sequence .

On diatonic flutes, the primary intervals are typically: root – major second – major third – fourth – fifth – major sixth – major seventh – octave, corresponding to the typical primary fingering sequence .

Primary Source

A document, speech, or other sort of evidence written, created or otherwise produced during the time under study. Primary sources offer an inside view of a particular event. Examples include: original documents, creative works or artifacts. (This definition is from [Smithsonian 2004], page 29.)

See Sources for more information.

Proximal End — see Head End

Pulsation — see Warble

Pulse — see Beat

Quarter Note / Rest

Half the length of a half note/rest and one quarter the length of a whole note/rest (from [Springer 2009] ).

Here are two quarter notes and a quarter rest as shown in modern music notation:

Quarter Tone

A pitch halfway between the notes of a Western classical chromatic scale. A quarter tone interval is about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which is half of a whole tone.

Location of the Ramp

Ramp

The part of the plug that directs airflow out of the SAC and into the flue. The shape of the ramp affects how turbulent the air is in the flue, and has a substantial effect on the flute's sound.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Under the Block.

Register

One of a variety of modes that describe how the air column on a wind instrument resonates inside the sound chamber. The first register is the lowest mode of the vibrating column, with hither registers produced by overblowing. The timbre of different registers tend to be markedly different on wind instruments.

Renaissance Flute

Flutes made in the tradition of the European line of Western Concert Flute development from about 1400-1600 CE.

See The Western Concert Family of Flutes / Renaissance Flute.

Replica — see Museum Replica and Working Replica

Reproduction

An instrument crafted to be similar to another instrument, typically an artifact.

Contrast with museum replica and working replica.

Resonating Chamber — see Sound Chamber

Rhythm

Any aspect of music having to do with time. At the simplest level, rhythm may be thought of as the distribution of strong (or accented) and weak (or unaccented) beats in a piece of music.

From [Springer 2009] : “The term which denotes the organization of sound in time; the temporal quality of sound”.

One of the basic components of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and silence.

Rhythmic Chirping

A technique for using brief grace notes to play a flute rhythmically as well as melodically at the same time.

See the Rhythmic Chirping page for a complete description, as well as a video.

Rhythmic Double Tongue

A technique for using the double tongue ornament repeatedly and continuously to create a rhythmic structure.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Rhythmic Double Tongue.

Rhythmic Grace Notes - see Rhythmic Chirping

Rhythmic Mode

Set patterns of long and short durations (or rhythms) used in medieval music.

The value of each note is not determined by the form of the written note (as is the case with more recent mensural notation and modern music notation), but rather by its position within a group of notes written as a single figure called a “ligature”, and by the position of the ligature relative to other ligatures. Modal notation was developed by the composers of the Notre Dame School from 1170 to 1250 CE, replacing the even and unmeasured rhythm of early polyphony and plainchant with patterns based on the metric feet of classical poetry, and was the first step towards the development of modern mensural notation. The rhythmic modes of Notre Dame Polyphony were the first coherent system of rhythmic notation developed in Western music since antiquity ([Apel 1961]).

Rim-Blown Flute

A flute where the player's lips direct a stream of air to the splitting edge that is formed by a sharp rim at the upper open end of a single tube.

The term is synonymous with class HS 421.111 Individual End-blown flutes.

See Classification of Flutes / Rim-Blown Flute.

Rolled Tongue - see Flutter Tongue

Roost - see Nest

Root Note

The first note of a scale is the root note. The root note of a scale might be the same note as the fundamental note of the flute, but there are many scales on the Native American flute that do not begin on the fundamental note.

Also called the “tonic” or “tonal center” of the scale.

See Intervals / Root Note.

Rubato

An Italian word meaning literally “stolen time” in English. The core idea of rubato is to adjust tempo and feel by accelerating some areas of a piece or phrase and retarding others, but the idea basically boils down to a free interpretation of the written rhythm.

From [Springer 2009] : “The term used to denote flexibility of tempo to assist in achieving expressiveness”.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Rubato.

Run

A sequence notes in a scale, typically played very quickly. When used as an ornament, a run is a sequence of grace notes that ascend or descend a ladder of notes in a scale, before landing on the main note.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Run.

SAC — see Slow Air Chamber

Location of the SAC Exit Hole

SAC Exit Hole

The path that the air takes out of the SAC and into the Flue.

Also called the “Anterior air chamber port” ([Nakai 1996]).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Under the Block.

Saddle — see Block

Savart

An older unit of measure of musical intervals. One savart is about 3.9863 cents and 3.3219 millioctaves ([Coul 2003] ).

Scale

A sequence of increasing musical intervals, an optional root, an optional terminus, and an indication of how the scale repeats. The musical intervals all have ratios greater than 1:1. The terminus may be specified only if a root is specified, and the terminus must be distinct from the root.

The sequence of musical intervals define relative pitch relationships between the degrees of the scale. By convention, the musical intervals are listed so that the resulting degrees of the scale are in strictly ascending order. The musical intervals may be given as a ratios from the root (e.g. “5:4 4:3 3:2 5:3 2:1” for Minor Pentatonic using a Just Intoation Temperament) or ratios from the each of the prior scale degrees (1:12 root of two for the Chromatic scale in 12-tone Equal Temperament). The musical intervals may be given as degrees selected from an underlying musical temperament (e.g. “{0, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12} from 12-tone Equal Temperament”) or steps between the degrees of an underlying musical temperament (e.g. “3-2-2-3-2 from 12-tone Equal Temperament”).

The root and terminus are designated degrees of the scale, and are often thought of a the “starting point” and “ending point” of the scale, respectively. The root is most often the first degree of the scale and the terminus is often the last degree of the scale. The interval relationship between the root and the terminus is the “extent” of the scale. The extent is most often an octave (a ratio of 2:1), but may be a tritave (a 3:1 ratio), or any other ratio. The interval relationship between the lowest and highest degrees of the scale define the “range” of the scale.

A scale may have a root and a terminus, just a root, or neither. If the scale has no terminus, it has no extent. However, all scales have a range.

If the root and the terminus are both specified, they imply a direction to the scale. The direction is either ascending (if the terminus is above the root) or descending (the terminus is below the root).

A scale may be Repeating or Non-Repeating. To be Repeating, the scale must have an extent (i.e. both a root and a terminus). If the extent is an octave, the scale is said to be Octave-Repeating. If the extent is some other interval, the scale is said to be Non-Octave-Repeating. Most scales are Octave-Repeating. Non-Repeating scales may be used to specify harmonic "chord" relationships or scale fragments (e.g. a Jins (pl. Ajnas) in Arabic Maqam music theory).

Specifying a pitch for a given scale degree (typically the root) fixes a scale to a given sequence of pitches. For example, "Minor Pentatonic (12TET) rooted at C4 (A4=440)" indicates a particular sequence of tones (3-2-2-3-2) based 12-Tone Equal Temperament starting a C4, using a pitch standard of A4 = 440 Hz. In practice, the temperament and pitch standard are often omitted and assumed based on context. Some contexts consider the Minor Pentatonic scale to be the same regardless of the pitch used for the root, and other contexts (eg. East Indian) would consider them different scales.

See The Evolution of Music / Scales and the Comprehensive Scale Catalog.

Scale Ladder — see Woven Scale

Scale Song

A technique of moving from playing simple scales to beginning to improvise melodies in that scale.

See From Scales to Songs.

Scale Steps

The number of semitones between each of the notes in a scale. Since virtually all scales repeat when they move into upper octaves, by tradition only on octave worth of scales steps are given.

For example, the scale steps of the Pentatonic Minor scale are 3-2-2-3-2.

On many flutes, particularly Native American flutes and recorders, the entire octave's worth of notes can be played in the low register of the flute. However, other flutes such diatonic Irish whistles and East Indian bansuris need to go into the second register to get the last note in the sequence. On these flutes, the last interval of the scale steps is shown in red, such as this: 3-2-2-3-2.

See Intervals / Scale Steps.

Second Register

A situation where the flute is resonating at approximately twice the frequency of playing in the first register. This is sometime called an overblow.

Note that some woodwinds, such as clarinet, will tend to resonate at a different frequency, such as an interval of a twelfth, when playing in the second register.

Also called the “the upper register”.

Semitone

The smallest interval in the Western classical chromatic scale. When using equal temperament, all other intervals can be composed of semitones. On most contemporary Native American flutes, the two notes and give you an interval of one semitone.

Also called a “half step” and a “demitone”.

See Intervals / Semitones.

Septum

Awall dividing a cavity into two smaller cavities.

Typically used in the context of biology and, in particular for flutes, in the context of the natural nodes in stalks of bamboo or cane that are used for the construction of flutes. The septum can serve as the plug, providing the separation between different chambers of a Native American flute.

Shade — see Half-Hole Techniques

Side-Blown Flute — see Transverse Flute

Silence

The absence of sound. Silence can be a powerful element in music.

One of the basic components of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and silence.

Silver Flute — see Western Concert Flute

Simple System Flute

Any flute with open finger holes — finger holes played by the direct application and removal of fingers — as opposed to key mechanisms. This includes flutes from pre-historic bone flutes to modern Irish whistles and Native American flutes. However, the presence of key mechanisms does not preclude categorization as a “simple system” flute, as long as the primary tone holes are not keyed.

Sixteenth Note / Rest

Half the length of an eighth note/rest and a sixteenth the length of a whole note/rest (from [Springer 2009] ).

Here are four sixteenth notes and a sixteenth rest as shown in modern music notation:

Slide

A pitch bend up to or down to a main melodic note

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Slide.

Note that the term “slide” has also been used for the block ([Skinner 1915], page 356).

Location of the slow air chamber

Slider — see Spacer Plate

Slow Air Chamber (SAC)

The first chamber in a Native American flute to receive the player's breath. The slow air chamber sits between the breath hole and the SAC exit hole and serves many functions:

• it provides a place for condensed moisture to collect;
• it acts as an air bladder to regulate air pressure as it proceeds down the flue;
• it acts as a plenum chamber – in this case taking an air source that may be irregular or turbulent and evening out the flow through the exit orifice (the SAC exit hole).

Also called the “SAC”, the “mouth chamber”, the “compression chamber”, the “breath chamber”, the “first chamber”, the “passive air chamber”, the “primary chamber”, the “wind chamber” ([Olsen-L 1979], page 41), or simply the “air chamber”.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Solfège

A technique for learning sight-singing where each note of the melody is sung using a syllable. Common syllables for the diatonic scale in English-speaking cultures are do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti (or si).

From [Springer 2009] : “Technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable”.

Solid Block Area — see Plug

Solkattu

The vocalizing of rhythmic and drum using syllables. The is a common technique used by East Indian vocalists.

Also called “konnakol”.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Solkattu.

Solo-Drone

A song form that combines a melody playing with a drone. The drone could be provided by another Native American flute or any number of instruments that can hold a steady tone, such as a cello, a shruti box, or a tamboura.

See Solo-Drone Song Form.

Song Form

A structure for a song, often laying out what parts are repeated using letters 'A', 'B', … such as "A/B/A".

See Composition Techniques and Song Forms — Overview.

Sound Chamber

The tube that controls the pitch of the sound being played. Native American flutes are designed to create a vibrating wave of air, and the length of the sound chamber determines how fast the air vibrates. Opening and closing the finger holes effectively changes the length of the sound chamber, changing the pitch of the note. Note that the direction holes shown also change the effective length of the sound chamber.

Cut-away image of a Native American flute

Also called the “pipe body”, the “resonating chamber”, the “tone chamber” (Dr. Richard W. Payne in [Bee 2006]), the “playing chamber”, the “bore” or “flute bore” (Timothy Jennings of 3 Feathers Flutes), and the “variable tube” ([Nakai 1996]).

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Sound Chamber Aspect Ratio

The ratio of the length to the diameter of the sound chamber has a dramatic effect on the playing characteristics of any wind instrument. Flute makers typically call the diameter of the bore (which forms the sound chamber) “D”. The length of the sound chamber that is called “L”. However, this length is really the acoustic length of the sound chamber — a number close to, but not exactly, the physical length of the sound chamber.

The ratio L:D is called the sound chamber aspect ratio of the flute. For example: 18.6:1 is a typical ratio. It is often expressed as a single number by calculating L/D … for example: 18.6.

Native American flutes tend to have lower sound chamber aspect ratios (i.e. fatter sound chambers for their length) than other wind instrument designs … typically in the range of 12 to 22 with a sound chamber aspect ratio of 18 typically quoted as a good starting point in for novice flute makers. In contrast, the Western concert flute has a sound chamber aspect ratio of about 38 and the fujara, an ethnic wind instrument from Slovakia, typically has a sound chamber aspect ratio of about 55.

Generally speaking, here are some effects of the sound chamber aspect ratio:

• Higher aspect ratios allow for higher registers to be reached by the instrument, increasing the overall range of notes that can be played by the instrument.
• Wind instruments with higher sound chamber aspect ratios typically produce higher overtone frequencies in their first register, producing a timbre that many listeners say is “brighter”.
• Instruments with higher sound chamber aspect ratios tend to overblow into the second register more easily.

For more on acoustic length, see Acoustic Length of a Flute.

Sound Edge — see Splitting Edge

Location of the sound hole

Sound Hole

The sound hole is the most critical part of the flute in terms of creating sound. On a Western concert flute, the sound hole serves the same function as the breath hole that the player breathes into. If the sound hole is damaged, the sound of the flute will be substantially affected.

Also called the “distal mouth opening”, the “whistle hole”, the “window”, and the “true sound hole” or “TSH”. On transverse flutes, the sound hole is often called the “embouchure hole”.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Sound Hole.

South End — see Foot End

Location of the spacer plate

Spacer Plate

This is a common variation in the design of the nest area. A plate, often made of brass, sits between the block and the nest. In this design, the splitting edge is often part of the spacer plate, rather than part of the body of the flute, and the flue is formed by a slot in the spacer plate.

Also called the “frame” ([Conlon 1983], pages 30–31), the “slider” ([Olsen-L 1979], pages 37 and 41), the “gasket” ([Wolf 2001], page 5), or the “nest plate”.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Spacer Plate.

Split-Fingering — see Cross-Fingering

Location of the splitting edge

Splitting Edge

Your breath travels through the slow air chamber, down the flue, and across the sound hole, and then hits the relatively sharp splitting edge. The job of the splitting edge is to set the air vibrating … alternating between going above and below the splitting edge. This is similar to what happens when a flag flutters in a stiff breeze.

Also called the “blowing edge”, the “cutting edge” (Joe Nulph), the “fipple”, the “fipple edge”, the “languid lip”, the “languet” (see the Wiktionary terms for Flue and Languet), the “labium” ([Fuks 2002]), and the “sound edge” (Dr. Richard W. Payne in [Bee 2006]). The corresponding component on a shkuhachi is the “utaguchi” (Japanese: 歌口) where the player directs their breath directly against the splitting edge.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Under the Block.

Splitting Edge “Lift”

Splitting Edge Lift

This dimension describes where the splitting edge sits vertically in the airstream exiting the flue. Specifically, this is a measure of how high the splitting edge (if it is completely “sharp”) or the edge between the Bottom Bevel and the Face Bevel is elevated above the plane extending from the floor of the flue.

If you were able to cite down the flue, you would see the splitting edge or the Face Bevel positioned at some location vertically in your view.

See Flute Crafting Dimensions / Splitting Edge Lift.

Staccato

An Italian word meaning literally “detached” in English. Staccato notes still hold their musical length (quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes, etcetera), but are played briefly and with tonguing articulation between each staccato note.

From [Springer 2009] : “Detached sounds (the opposite of legato)”.

See Articulation / Staccato.

Stalk Flute

A type of Native American flute that is made from a plant stalk such as yucca, sunflower, sotol, or agave.

Note that flutes made from bamboo or cane are not typically considered stalk flutes.

Stalk flutes made of yucca, from [Stanford 2012], page 3

Standard Pitch — see Pitch Standard

Station

A longitudinal location along the length of the sound chamber or bore of the instrument. The station may be measured from either end of the sound chamber, or may be given as a percentage of the overall bore length. When the term is used for the location of finger holes or direction holes, it is usually referring to the center of the hole.

See also Physical Bore Length.

Steady-state Warble

An ornament that is possible on some flutes, especially flutes make with certain characters of the construction of the nest area that were common on flutes constructed in traditional styles. The warble is typically obtained only on the fundamental note of the flute and involves a rapid oscillation between the fundamental note and a tone approximately an octave higher.

This kind of a warble is generated by some flutes when they are played with a forcefully, but steady breath pressure. Although a steady-state warble does require increased breath pressure to initiate the effect, once in that “zone” the physics of the flute take over and the steady-state warble continues.

Flutes that can produce a steady-state warble are called warbling flutes.

See The Warble.

See also vibrato-induced warble.

Also called “true warble”.

Stopper — see Plug

Stops — see Finger Holes

Story Stick

A device whose size, shape, and markings tell the story of how to construct an instrument. They are like a three-dimensional plan that provide key markings and measurements.

See Physical Methods for Flute Construction.

Straight-Fingering and Straight-Fingered

A colloquial term for a flute where the primary scale on the instrument is played by picking up one finger at a time, from bottom to top. The primary scale on a six-hole straight-fingered flute would have the fingerings: . Most contemporary Native American flutes are not straight-fingered, since their primary scale keeps the third or fourth hole closed.

Location of the strap

Strap

Part of a Native American flute that ties the block onto the nest. Traditionally made of leather. It's a good idea to remove the strap and block on your flute to examine how the flute is constructed. Doing this creates one of the first practical challenges of flute playing, tying the block back onto the flute.

Also called the “bird tie”, “lacing”, or “lashing”.

See How to Tie Your Block.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute.

Syncopation

A characteristic of some rhythms which contain emphasized beats in unusual or unexpected places. Syncopated rhythms deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats. These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be stressed. If a part of the measure that is usually unstressed is accented, the rhythm is considered to be syncopated ([Benward 2003], volume 1, page 12).

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Syncopation.

Taaa Attack

A sharp attack at the start of a note, done with the tongue.

See Articulation on the Native American Flute / Taaa Attack.

Tablature — see Nakai Tablature

Temperament — see Tuning_System

Tempo

The pace or speed of speech and also the degree to which individual sounds are fully articulated or blurred together. The faster the tempo, the more likely sounds will blur or elide (from Dolmetsch Online ([Blood 2011])).

Tetratonic Scale

Any scale that has four notes within the span of one octave.

Texture

A word with several meanings in music. In Flutopedia, the use of the term relates to a sound that has no rhythm or pitch, such a a rainstick or sound of the wind.

One of the basic components of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, and silence.

See Getting the Most out of Each Note / Texture.

Throat — see Breath Hole

Timbre

[tahm-ber] The quality of sound that allows us to distinguish, for example, between a saxophone and an oboe, or a Western concert flute and a Native American flute.

From [Springer 2009] : “The quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production in voices or musical instruments. Also known as tone color”.

Also called “tone quality” and “color”.

See Getting the Most out of Each Note / Timbre and Checking out a New Native American Flute / Timbre.

See also musical tone.

Tonal Center — see Root Note

Tone — see Pitch

Tone Chamber — see Sound Chamber

Tone Holes — see Finger Holes

Tone Quality — see Timbre

Tonic — see Root Note

Top End — see Head End

Totem — see Block

Toubat

A given name of Dr. Richard W. Payne.

Toubat Flute

A particular flute design of Toubat, Dr. Richard W. Payne. The primary fingering sequence of Toubat flutes are the diatonic major scale, and all Toubat flutes are designed to produce the warble effect on the fundamental note.

Transposition

The process of moving a set of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval. One might transpose a melody, a harmonic progression or an entire musical piece to another key. Similarly, one might transpose a set of pitches such as a chord so that it begins on another pitch.

Transverse Flute

An embouchure flute where the player blows against the sharp rim of a hole in the side of the sound chamber of the flute.

Also called a “side-blown flute”.

See Classification of Flutes / Transverse Flute.

Treble Clef

A G-clef placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate that the pitch G4 passes through the curl of the clef, on the second staff line from the bottom:

Treble Meter

Meters such as 3/4 and 6/8 where the number of beats in each measure (the top number in 3/4 and 6/8) is divisible by three.

See Meter for the Native American Flute / Treble Meter.

Trill

An alternating pair of notes repeated many times. Trills can be played as grace notes leading into main melodic note, or as their own separate stand-alone part of the melody.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Trill.

Triple Flute

A flute with three sound chambers.

Also called a “drone flute” or a “harmony drone flute”.

See Double Flutes Techniques.

Triple Tongue

An attack at the start of a note where two grace notes precedes the main melodic note. Unlike a typical grace note, which is done with fingering, the triple tongue grace note is done with articulation.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute.

Tritone interval in Nakai Tab Notation

Tritone

An interval of six semitones. There aren't a lot of songs that begin with a tritone, but the ones that do are distinctive: “Maria” from West Side Story and the theme from “The Simpsons” both begin with an ascending tritone.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of a tritone:
to
to
to

Tritonic Scale

Any scale that has three notes within the span of one octave.

True Sound Hole — see Sound Hole

TSH — see Sound Hole

Tuning Holes — see Direction Holes

Tuning System

A rule that, given the frequency of a given pitch, specifies how to calculate the frequencies of all the other pitches.

The various rules for musical temperaments are also a major rabbit hole topic. One very common musical temperament is called equal temperament, which places each pitch so that the ratio of frequencies between any two neighboring pitches is the same. Equal temperament has various benefits and shortcomings.

For example, if you specify that the pitch for A is 440 Hertz, in equal temperament the pitch for the E above would be 659.225 Hertz. In a Just-intoned temperament, the E above would have a pitch of 660 Hertz.

Turn

A sequence of four grace notes before the main note, in a particular pattern. A turn can be represented in modern music notation as ([Nakai 1996], page 31).

See also the glossary terms for inverted turn, vertical turn, and extended vertical turn.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Turn.

Undercutting

A flute crafting and tuning technique of removing material from a finger hole underneath the external surface of the instrument. A finger hole that is undercut has a larger opening to the sound chamber than to the outside of the instrument.

Cut-away image of an undercut finger hole

Upper Lip — see Lip

Upper Mordent

An ornament that involves playing two grace notes before the main note. The main note is played briefly as a grace note, then the next higher note as a grace note, then back up to the full main note. It can be represented in modern music notation as: (Dolmetsch Online ([Blood 2011])).

See also the glossary terms for upper mordent and extended mordents.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Upper Mordent.

Note that [Nakai 1996], page 31 calls for the symbol to indicate a trill rather than an upper mordent. However, this is non-standard notation, based on Dolmetsch Online ([Blood 2011]) and other resources that I have seen.

Upper Register — see Second Register

Utaguchi — see Splitting Edge

Variable Tube — see Sound Chamber

Vertical Turn

A sequence of four grace notes before the main note, in a particular pattern. A vertical turn can be represented in modern music notation as (Dolmetsch Online ([Blood 2011])).

See also the glossary terms for turn, inverted turn, and extended vertical turn.

See Ornaments on the Native American Flute / Vertical Turns.

Vibrato

An ornament that involves a gentle, sometimes subtle cyclic change in volume and pitch. It is usually used on a long note. On Native American flutes, it is usually produced by a repeated change in breath pressure to the flute.

See Getting the Most out of Each Note / Vibrato.

Vibrato-induced Warble

A type of warble that is produced by the player using vibrato techniques. By varying breath pressure, the player can edge the flute close to an overblow, without letting the flute fully transition into the second register. The vibrato techniques can approximately mimic the sound of a steady-state warble, but not precisely.

See The Warble.

See also steady-state warble.

Also called “pseudo-warble”.

Vocable

Spoken or sung speech that has the sound and cadence of syllables and words, but without any meaning. Vocables can be mixed with meaningful speech (e.g. "Ta ra ra boom de-yay, Today's a Holiday, ...") or stand on their own (e.g. "bippity-bippity-doo-wop-razzamatazz-skoobie-doobie-bee-bop-a-lula-shabazz").

See Nudge, Nudge for references to vocables.

Vorsatz Flute

A term used by some European ethnomusicologists to denote a Native American flute. The German-language term "Vorsatz", literally "intent" or "intention" in English, might have been chosen because of the traditional use of Native American flutes in courting.

From [Hall-RL 1997], page 116:

The design of the body of the courting flute requires that a piece of cedar wood be split and hollowed, except for a narrow septum left behind the hole over which the slide will be tied, and then glued back into one piece. This does not have to be done if the flute is made of cane. Cane (American bamboo) is already hollow, and holes need only be drilled above and to each side of the natural septum within one of the many nodes. Karl Gustav Izikowitz [1903–1984, Swedish ethnomusicologist] calls this kind of instrument a Maraco whistle when it does not have additional holes or stops to produce other tones. With the addition of stops he calls it a duct flute. With the additional use of some movable object to partly cover the hole over the septum, for use in adjusting the flow of air over the septum, the instrument is called a vorsatz-flute by Izikowitz, following the terminology of Curt Sachs.

See [Izikowitz 1935] and [Conrad 2000].

Warble

An ornament or effect that involves a rapid oscillation between the fundamental note and a tone approximately an octave higher.

Also called “buzz” ([Coltman 2006]), “mode-shift” ([Coltman 2006]), or “pulsation”.

See The Warble.

See also steady-state warble and vibrato-induced warble.

Water Out

A situation where condensation forms in the flue to the point where the sound created by the flute is severely affected, or even silenced.

In this situation, it is typically necessary to remove and re-tie the block.

Also called “wet out” or “wetting out”.

For tips on designing flutes that reduce the water-out problem, see the FAQ Flute Crafting page.

Wavelength

The distance over which an oscillating wave, such as an air pressure wave, repeats.

Western Classical Music Tradition

The music tradition developed from Western liturgical and secular music beginning about 1000 CE and predominant in much of the Western world.

Also called the “Western European Music Tradition”.

Western Concert Flute

Present-day flutes that are descendants of the European line of flute development, played in classical music settings and orchestras as well as many other types of music.

Also called the “C flute” (because it is typically tuned to the key of C), the “classical flute” (although this term really refers to an earlier version of the Western concert flute), the “silver flute” (because it is often made at least partly of silver), and the “Boehm flute” (because of the huge impact of Theobald Boehm during the 19th century).

See The Western Concert Family of Flutes.

Wet Out or Wetting Out — see Water Out

Whistle

A flute without finger holes. The term is not always used precisely, even by researchers — we have many examples of Eagle-bone Whistles that have finger holes.

The term “pipe” sometimes means the same as “whistle”, but not always. There are Uilleann Pipes, which have finger holes.

See Classification of Flutes / Whistle.

Whistle Hole — see Sound Hole

Whistle Tone - see Edge Tone

This alternate name was suggested by Kathleen Joyce-Grendahl since it is often use in the world of classical music and the western concert flute.

Whole Note / Rest

Equal to two half notes/rests and four quarter notes/rests (from [Springer 2009] ).

Here are two whole notes and a whole rest as shown in modern music notation:

Whole Tone (major second) intervals in Nakai Tab Notation

Whole Tone

An interval of two semitones. The first interval of “Happy Birthday” is a major second, as well as “Doe a Deer” (both between “Doe” and “a” as well as between “a” and “Deer”). The first interval of “Eight Day a Week” (“You Know I need …”) form a descending major second.

On most contemporary Native American flutes, these pairs of fingerings give you an interval of one whole tone:
to
to
to
to

Also called a “major second”.

Wind Chamber — see Slow Air Chamber

Wind Holes — see Direction Holes

Window — see Sound Hole

Windway — see Flue

Winds on the block

Wings

The parts of a chimney that border the sound hole on each side.

See Anatomy of the Native American Flute / Shape of the Block.

Woodlands Style Flute

A term intended to describe style of Native American flute construction, in contrast with Plains Style Flute. However, there is no general consensus on the specifics of what these two terms mean.

See Plains Style and Woodlands Style Native American Flutes.

Working Replica

A reproduction of another instrument, typically an artifact, that is designed to reproduce the sound and tuning of the original instrument.

In the case of artifacts that are incomplete and no supporting evidence is available for the construction of the incomplete portions, a museum replica or working replica might not be possible.

Contrast with reproduction and museum replica.

Woven Scale

A way of playing a scale that involves changing directions rather than playing the scale in strict ascending or descending order. Woven scales make good finger dexterity exercises as well as providing a basic melody that is more melodically interesting that a straight scale.

Also called a “broken scale” and a “scale ladder”.

See Woven Scales.

Zoomusicology

The study of the musicality of animals as well as how music affects animals.

See The Evolution of Music / Zoomusicology.