I can barely get to grips with orchestral flute embouchure yet I find myself looking at various flutes from around the world (and other aerophones) and I'm quite curious about this Indian flute which seems quite hard to play. You use varying breath pressure to ascend up to 3 octaves.

Oh dear I appear to be getting AAS,(Aerophone Acquisition Syndrome)

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You can play beautiful music on an ugly flute
My musical endeavours on my blog

I'm wondering if there are makers in the UK. I know someone in India that makes them but its a bit expensive to import.

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You can play beautiful music on an ugly flute
My musical endeavours on my blog

Hi @AuLoS303,

Are you looking to buy one (some...)? You can get complete rubbish instruments very cheap, of course. But a proper Bass bansuri in E made by a master craftsman will be about 400 Euros, that sort of figure. Like wooden flutes, they are not just a bit of bamboo quickly drilled out.

There are several really good online courses for learning bansuri now also.

Like whistle players, most pro bansuri players have a roll of a complete set of pitches they take to concerts. But my favourite is the Bass in E, generally considered the prinicipal solo member of the family. You will need big hands.

High end bansuri makers are particular about forming the tone holes. Because the walls are very thin, they believe that drilling upsets the grain structure in the bamboo, so the holes are usually burned in. You can see the blackened sides. Whether this has any basis in reality or not I do not know, but it's part of the tradition.

May I refer you to this useful site?

http://www.bansuriflute.co.uk/p/where-t ... nsuri.html

Parallel to the C&F thread warning people about rubbish flutes on ebay, Amazon is flooded with cheap bansuris, also all rubbish. Be aware!

Andrew

If you are willing to import and are looking for traditional bamboo bansuri, you might try Subash Thakur. I have one of his flutes and have played another belonging to a friend and they are excellent.

https://www.punamflutes.com/

The flute I have is a fusion bansuri that he made with a lip plate on it. It was about $125 USD at the time I bought it (maybe nine years ago?) but it's a great flute. Perfect tuning, strong, full voice. The other flute I tried was equally good, so that's promising.

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Geoffrey Ellis Flutes

I'm just curious really. Not able to get one yet.
I got contacted by this guy in India. Has some reasonably priced handmade bansuri. I just wasn't keen on their tendency to constantly ask you to buy one. It comes across as harrassment, when all I wanted was some info from them.

https://www.facebook.com/adharvenu

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You can play beautiful music on an ugly flute
My musical endeavours on my blog

Hi, I did not know if direct mention of a maker amounted to commercial advertising or not or whether that is allowed, but I would have recommended Punam Flutes, as has Geoffrey. A flight case with every size from them is my dream! They make left and right handed instruments.

Yes I see they have a nice medium sized one in A for £77, with free shipping.

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You can play beautiful music on an ugly flute
My musical endeavours on my blog