Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have Scott August's excellent book, The Complete Guide to the Native American Style Flute. If you want to know everything about how to play the NAF, this is a must read. I'm still working through it, but one thing I don't yet understand is how to apply this knowledge to my Anasazi/Basketmaker style flutes.

Scott gives details on a number of different tunings and notation systems for NAF, and has a wealth of sheet music at the back, so you can learn a number of tunes. But since the pentatonic scale on my flutes is not the same as that of the NAF, I'm not sure how to attempt playing these tunes. Do I just use the fingering in the diagrams, knowing the tune will not sound the same? Or is there a way to transpose?

Any guidance appreciated.

If it's in a different key to yours, it should be OK to play the same finger holes, (it will just be in a different key to that which it is written), but if you have a different note layout, that's another kettle of fish.

(You might need/want to transpose the tunes for your particular flute.)

fatmac wrote:If it's in a different key to yours, it should be OK to play the same finger holes, (it will just be in a different key to that which it is written), but if you have a different note layout, that's another kettle of fish.

(You might need/want to transpose the tunes for your particular flute.)

Yes, it's not just a different key, it's a different scale (note layout).
NAF

Anasazi

Looks like you will have to half hole, or find the right holes for cross fingering, to get the missing notes & sharps - trial & error, maybe, but likely doable, as it is fairly close to the key of 'C' NAF.

According to your chart, the Anasazi is a pentatonic major scale, not minor, so anything notated for NAF will not work even remotely. Notes are notes so you might be able to play certain NAF songs on the Anasazi but the fingering will be completely different.

Your Anasazi will actually play a few different scales; major pentatonic, akebono, a different minor pentatonic than your NAF, and a couple more. None of them will sound like your NAF minor pentatonic. Scott also has out (or had out) a booklet on the Anasazi flute. When I attended one of his rim blown seminars, he covered much more than just the major pentatonic.

You may want to check out his Cedar Mesa website. He periodically offers various seminars, and also is a good Skype instructor. And he sells books and cd’s from the site too.

Chris

Hi4head wrote:Your Anasazi will actually play a few different scales; major pentatonic, akebono, a different minor pentatonic than your NAF, and a couple more. None of them will sound like your NAF minor pentatonic.

That's what I was thinking. Blame me for taking the road less traveled.

Hi4head wrote:Scott also has out (or had out) a booklet on the Anasazi flute. When I attended one of his rim blown seminars, he covered much more than just the major pentatonic.

I saw that booklet on his web site, but he has since taken it down. He told me it's out of date so he's stopped publishing it. I searched for an existing copy in vain. I will definitely check out his seminars though.

Hi4head wrote:You may want to check out his Cedar Mesa website. He periodically offers various seminars, and also is a good Skype instructor. And he sells books and cd’s from the site too.

I have taken a private skype lesson from him, which helped a lot. And I have his latest album and his book, "The Complete Guide to the Native American Style Flute" but it doesn't deal with the Anasazi variant.

I also have a book called "Native American Flute: A Comprehensive Guide ~ History & Craft" by C.S. Fuqua, which gives a lot of history and greater detail about the Anasazi style flute. I think I need to compare it to Scott's material and see what I can do to adapt the tunes.

jimhanks wrote:According to your chart, the Anasazi is a pentatonic major scale, not minor, so anything notated for NAF will not work even remotely. Notes are notes so you might be able to play certain NAF songs on the Anasazi but the fingering will be completely different.

Thanks, that's one of the things I needed to know.

When you play your NAF do you keep hole 3 covered, playing just the 5 holes? In other words, do you play with the minor pentatonic scale?

AuLoS303 wrote:When you play your NAF do you keep hole 3 covered, playing just the 5 holes? In other words, do you play with the minor pentatonic scale?

My NAF has only five holes. I know some have six, to facilitate playing with other instruments, but mine is strictly pentatonic. My Anasazi flute has six holes, but they don't produce the same notes as the NAF. (And actually, I have one Basketmaker style flute with a thumb hole, but it really only makes playing the second octave easier. It doesn't quite produce an additional note.)

michaelpthompson wrote: . (And actually, I have one Basketmaker style flute with a thumb hole, but it really only makes playing the second octave easier. It doesn't quite produce an additional note.)

Why are they called basketmaker style flutes?

AuLoS303 wrote:Why are they called basketmaker style flutes?

Basically, because of the dates given to different eras of Pre-Puebloan culture in the American southwest. The flutes discovered in a cave in Arizona in 1931 were dated to approximately 620-670 AD, which falls during the period labeled Basketmaker III. Archaeologists love to date these periods of cultural change by the distinctive pottery of each culture, and these dates fall during the transition from using baskets for cooking and storage, to the gradual introduction of fired pottery during this time.

Interesting, I didn't realise they went that far back!

AuLoS303 wrote:Interesting, I didn't realise they went that far back!

Early Basketmaker people date back to at least 1,200 BC, and were descendants of what were known as the Archaic people, who were hunter-gatherers. Basketmaker II begins a period when agriculture gradually supplemented hunting as a food source.