Firewind Flutes
The Pentatonic Scale
To play the flute, start by making sure you cover the tone holes firmly and completely with the pads, not the tips, of your fingers. Your left hand goes on top, the right below it. Cover the bottom three holes with the index finger, middle finger and ring finger of your right hand. The top two holes are covered by the index finger and middle finger of your left hand. Blow gently into the mouthpiece.
When all five holes are covered, you are creating the first note. The second note is made by lifting the ring finger of your right hand. Each time you lift a finger, keep it lifted. So the third note is made by keeping your ring finger lifted while you lift your middle finger. The fourth note is made by keeping both those fingers lifted while lifting the index finger. The fifth note is made by lifting the middle finger of your left hand. And when you have lifted the index finger of your left hand, you have created a sixth note which is exactly one octave above the lowest note.
To bend the notes and vary the volume and pitch, play around with your breath pressure.
Our goal is to produce flutes that our customers will find easy to play and beautiful to listen to. All our flutes are therefore tuned to the pentatonic scale. That scale is composed of five notes, all of which sound good when played in any order.
The pentatonic scale is one of the oldest and most enduring scales because its basic notes are so pleasingly simple to play. Because of that, the player can focus his or her talents on expression and ornamentation.
Players find almost limitless improvisational possibilities using this scale with flutes, due to the instruments’ natural tendency to trill and quiver, the ease with which notes can be ‘popped’, and the range of volume. The use of your own breath is the technical skill most favored. Emotion is easily magnified on the pentatonically scaled flute.
