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The Magical Flute IV: Designing the Sound Mechanism

By Lew Paxton Price

The sound mechanism can help determine whether the flute is to be loud or soft, fine-tunable or not, complex or simple, breathy in sound or clear, and easy or more difficult to make. You must make decisions about the focusing channel type, placement and size; the sound hole shape, placement and size; and the bird type and shape.

The focusing channel may be cut into the flute barrel itself, cut into the bird rather than the flute barrel, or cut into neither the barrel nor the bird. When the channel is cut into neither, a piece of material such as leather, brass, or copper must be used as a nest to form the sides of the channel.

A flute with the channel in the barrel is similar to the old slot flute. However, the slot of your new flute may be much more sophisticated than was that of the older variety of flute. Rather than a simple straight slot, it might be tapered so that it is wider and deeper toward the head (end you blow into) of the flute. This helps to make the flute more effortless to play as you need to blow less hard to make the sound. Only a very slight taper is needed, something close to a sixteenth of an inch in width for each inch of length of the channel and a bit less for the channel depth. Often, when using a router, it is best to make the channel perfectly straight in width and taper it only in depth. In any case, the channel is best kept straight in both width and depth (no taper at all) for the half inch preceding its termination at the sound hole.

The channel in the barrel allows you to eliminate the nest of leather or metal. It also allows you to use a hide wrapping in lieu of a bird that makes the flute easier to construct and to carry if you are hiking through thick brush. Or, if you wish, you may still use a bird—or sometimes use a bird and sometimes use a hide wrapping.

The channel in the bird may be tapered in the same fashion as the channel in the barrel, and for the same reason. When the channel is in the bird, the lower portion of the bird should have sides to help direct the air straight ahead. The sides may be very limited or go up some distance from the flute barrel. When the sides are lower, the sound from the flute will be louder and the pitch higher. When the sides are higher, the sound will be softer and the pitch lower. The pitch will ultimately be regulated by the length of the flute according to what you desire, so lower sides mean a longer flute and higher ones mean a shorter flute. Also, a piece of hide should be used as the splitting edge when the channel is in the bird, or as a tie to hold an edge on the flute (if you want a clear sound). If you want a breathy or somewhat hissing sound, then you may leave off the hide and make the edge a part of the barrel.

When a nest is used, the width of it may be tapered but the thickness of the channel is set by the thickness of the nest. All that the nest consists of is a piece of thin material (from about a thirty-second to a sixteenth of an inch thick) cut to fit the bottom of the bird and extended to also fit over the sound hole. It is cut out to fashion a channel for the air.

It might be best to point out that tapering the channel is a later development that is usually accompanied by lengthening the channel. A short channel does not allow much length for the air to develop a smooth flow, and turbulence leads to poor sound or no sound at all. Turbulence must be avoided and a short channel of exactly even proportions, small in both thickness and width, without taper, is one way of accomplishing this. Another way is with a longer channel that is wider and deeper, and tapered. The short, thin, narrow channel will produce a soft sound that is more like what the older flutes had when the player did not want an audience. The long, thick, wide channel will produce a louder sound that is more like what is on the audiotapes of today. Generally speaking, the channel may be as short as inch when it is no deeper than inch and no wider than inch. It may be as long as you like with a maximum depth of about inch at the sound hole end and a maximum width of inch at the sound hole end. Usually, the longest it needs to be is about 1 inch. And the last half-inch of it toward the foot of the flute should be almost without any tapering whatever.

The sound hole should be rectangular, no less than inch and no greater than inch in the dimension that is parallel to the length of the flute, if you want a clear sound. A lesser dimension will reduce the flute's volume and a greater dimension will make the flute sound less clear and more breathy. When the splitting edge is to be of hide or metal, the hole in the wood may have a dimension that is inch longer so that the hole formed by the hide or metal is now the dominant factor and does not exceed inch. The other dimension for the sound hole should be precisely the same as that of the channel width. A round hole of about inch in diameter or less will cause the flute to have what might be described as a pleasantly breathy quality.

In all cases, the sound hole should be tapered on the edge that splits the air stream. The taper should be on the bottom of the hole rather than the top, so that the top of the flute by the sound hole is kept perfectly flat. If the channel is in the flute barrel itself, the taper should be such that the edge is slightly less thick than the channel is deep. Otherwise, the edge should be even thinner.

The bird may be a bird shape or it may be that of another totem animal. On the older flutes, the bird was either a piece of hide to enclose the slot or just a block of wood. Whatever the bird is on your flute, it should have a flat bottom that will seal the top of the air channel; unless the channel itself is in the bird, in which case, the lowest part of the bird is still to be flat and to act as a seal against the nest or the roost.

If the air channel (nest) is made of a thin piece of hide or metal, the hide or metal also becomes the extended sides of the channel and the air-splitting edge. If the channel is in the bird, a piece of hide is tied around the flute barrel to act as a splitting edge. For flutes in which the splitting edge is hide or metal, the edge should come about inch closer to the head of the flute than the tapered wooden edge beneath it.

The hole that introduces the air into the channel should have a larger cross-section than the cross-section of the largest portion of the channel. Ideally, it should not be a hole so much as a transition from the low-speed air chamber to the focusing channel. It should be of such a shape as to prevent turbulence, which means that you must shape it to avoid sudden changes in air direction and velocity. There must be no protrusions or sharp angles. The air must go from a low velocity in the low-speed chamber to gradually higher speeds until it arrives at the part of the focusing channel that sends it against the splitting edge. This means that the cross-section of the route that is taken by the air must be largest in the low-speed chamber and then very gradually reduced to the smallest just before it leaves the focusing channel. This insures a smooth rather than turbulent airflow.

Your decisions should be based upon your personal preferences. Do you want a louder flute that will stand out when played with other instruments? A softer flute that will guarantee you privacy? Or a medium loud flute that will give you some of the abilities of each of the above? Do you want an old authentic sound from before the coming of the whites or a more modern sound? Do you want to use the flute to move through thick brush or in more open places? Ask yourself these questions, then decide what kind of sound mechanism you want to use and how large it is to be. Record your answers on paper, then you can move on to the next step.

1993 by Lew Paxton Price