FAQ

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How to play a minor pentatonic flute?

Assuming your flute is tuned to mode 1, If it's a five hole, you'll get the first note with all holes closed , and the next ones lifting fingers successively from the bottom to the top. The last note will be the one with all holes opened. If you have a six hole instrument , just keep the fourth hole (from the bottom) closed. If your flute is tuned to the mode 4 also, and you want to try it, do the same, but just keep the third hole closed instead of the fourth. To improve yourself, try to go up the scale, and down, slowly, several times during 10 minutes, trying to feel the holes rather than looking at them. Repeat the exercise as much as you want during a week, and when you’ll feel more comfortable, try to play the notes randomly, creating your own melodies…The journey has just begun.

What's the minor pentatonic scale ?

In modern music , there is twelve notes: A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# ... When you play all these twelve notes , you play the chromatic scale. But on some intruments , it's not easy (it would be difficult to play a twelve holes flute , especially if you only have ten fingers...)... So , flutemakers use often the minor pentatonic scale (based on five notes), easy to play on a six or five holes flute. Sure , it's possible to play the remaining seven notes too (using cross fingering or half holing) , but a pentatonic flute is made on five ones (using the holes basically)....

What's the mode 1, or 4 ?

When you tune a flute to the minor pentatonic scale , you can choose the mode. A specific mode determine how a note follows another, how much steps from one to the next ... For example , the mode 1 steps are 3-2-2-3-2 (From the first note , 3 half tones to the second , 2 half tones to the third , etc...), and the mode 4 steps are 3-2-3-2-2...

On some scale tables or music sheets, all the half tones are written with a "b" (flat), and on others only with a "#" (sharp), why ?

 The keys (full tones and half tones) are always the same twelve ones. But according to the scale or music sheet writer, some keys can by written differentely. Here is a little table with equivalences:

A#=Bb

G#=Ab

F#=Gb

D#=Eb

C#=Db

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