Chiff and Fipple Forums

This is my first post in the World/Folk Winds forum and I would like to tell you that I am very happy to accept the Bansuri flute in my life’s journey.

I have two questions to start:


1. If I take lessons on the correct embouchure for the Western Boehm Flute, would those lessons teach me the correct embouchure to play the Bansuri?

2. What are the differences between the Bansuri embouchure and the Western Boehm Flute embouchure?


I would very grateful to receive any enlightenment on this subject.

Kind Regards,
Ricardo

I'm not a very experienced Boehm flute player at all, but I do blow them pretty consistently to test the Boehm head joints that I make. I also make and play a bit of bansuri. As far as embouchure goes, both flutes are closely related and the skills that you develop on one will certainly support the playing of the other. Embouchure is just about building up and controlling your facial muscles to allow you to direct the air stream, and playing different flutes will give you flexibility. There might be subtle differences in how you blow each flutes depending upon the kind of music you are making, but the easiest test is to simply experiment until you get the tone you want.

My own thinking is that if you study the Boehm flute, you will certainly find it helps the bansuri. The Boehm flute has a "rounded rectangle" embouchure cut, whereas the bansuri is more round (usually a nearly perfect circle with just a faint touch of ovaling, making it a slight ellipse, though this may not be visible at a quick glance). So you might blow them ever so slightly differently but I don't think I could undertake to characterize the differences in how one would approach them. When I play them it feels pretty much the same