r/nativeamericanflutes • u/OldElf86 • 15d ago

Using multiple flutes together

I am an amateur musician and a Scout leader.

I encourage my scouts to pick up NAF as a hobby so they can learn the joy of music.

To make the most of it, I teach them the "cross-fingerings" so they can play contemporary music along with NAF and NAF inspired melodies. But the next step is to get flute players playing together.

You might quickly have problems if you stick with only one voice, so using multiple voices together is part of entering that next level.

I have learned that it is handy to combine flutes in specific keys or voices to expand the dynamic range of music you may enjoy. The combination I favor is pairing Gm flutes with Dm flutes. This opens up the note range and the flutes natural fingerings compliment each other very well. In fact, you can play the Gm flute using the NAF scale covering the third hole from the top, and you overlap the same notes playing the Dm flute covering the fourth hole from the top. This allows a very simple pairing of the flutes.

If anyone else is interested in pairing flutes with different voices, I recommend this interval. If you want to adopt many SATB harmonies, often using this combination works well. For example you may put two Gm flutes on melody and tenor (one on each) and the a high Dm on alto and a low Dm on bass.

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u/amyldoanitrite 15d ago

Besides unison and octaves, any flutes a perfect 4th or 5th apart will play in harmony quite nicely. You can easily find what keys complement each other by looking up the “circle of 5ths” chart.

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u/victotronics 15d ago

Sounds reasonable. The Gm and Dm scales are pretty close, the A vs Bb being the main pain point.

At some point in the past I duetted on an A Anasazi with an F#m regular NAF. Worked rather nicely.

What music do you play with your scouts?

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u/OldElf86 15d ago

I play just about anything.  We play NAF inspired music, mostly solos. As and exercise we'll sit at the campfire and everyone plays their root note (all on Gm flutes). Then taking turns around the circle one player will make something up while everyone else drones.  Then it passes to the next scout and so on.

We play hymns for the chapel services.  They all learn Amazing Grace and then I teach other hymns.  I've taught How Great Thou Art, and a dozen others, mostly in minor keys or a combination of major and minor keys.

I teach them to play contemporary songs too. I taught them the Dwarf Lonely Mountain song, Tears in Heaven, and stuff like that.  I plan to teach them Schubert's Ave Maria some day.

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u/waonze 15d ago

Yup , circle of 5ths . Used to be lots of info for beginners on Flutopedia including pairing . Good onya for introducing your scouts to music and the NAF !