How to Make a Native American Drone Flute
- 1). Read a manual. The "Ki-e-ta Flute Making Manual," for example, which boasts photos and detailed instructions, also recommends which tools work best. Oregon Flute Store’s "Flute Shop Workbook" has details and illustrations for making six-hole flutes in the keys of G minor, B minor and F-sharp minor, and it provides information on crafting various Native American-style flutes.
- 2). Buy a kit if you’re daunted by the idea of building a drone flute from scratch. Stellar Flutes’ drone flute kit, for example, is constructed from two matched flute blanks joined by a walnut slat. It comes drilled with tuning to the pentatonic scale. The drone hole is optional.
- 3). Take a class. Some flute groups offer kits along with a flute-making workshop. At festivals such as Flute Quest, an annual gathering of flute enthusiasts in Washington state, participants make their own drone flute from a pre-tuned drone flute kit, and they learn advanced techniques such as voicing, balancing, and tuning a drone-style flute. Search Craigslist, flute forums, woodworking instrument forums, and local flute and world music instrument stores for more information.
- 4). Join an Internet group. Yahoo and Google both have versions of the Native Flute Woodworking group, in which forum members share information about making Native American style flutes, from tools to techniques and designs to other links and resources.
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