Primitive music 2: Making a DIY elderberry flute 🎵
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- čas přidán 26. 04. 2020
- It took me a bit longer than anticipated, but it is finally completed: A fully primitive, functioning "native american" style flute. It is made from a particularly nice branch of Elderberry (sambucus) and only using primitive stone and wooden tools.
To build such a flute, you need a branch with a bore as wide as possible and a distance between the knots as far as possible. This is also the reason why this project took a bit longer to complete than I expected: I needed to find a suitable branch first.
I wanted a flute tuned to C5 (523 Hz). This calls for a sound chamber (the part of the flute below the sound hole) to be about 30 centimeters long. The ratio between sound chamber length and bore width is important: If the bore is too narrow, the flute won't play the base tone, but instead jump to the first overtone right away. Through several prototypes, I found out that for a flute to play a C5 cleanly, the bore needs to be at least 15 millimeters wide. My last prototype (that you see in some parts of the video and in the outro of the whistle video) only measures 13 millimeters and it really struggles with the lowest note.
If you can't find a branch with the right bore width, you can make a flute with a higher base note. This might force you to move the finger holes closer together, though.
Talking about finger holes: I worried and researched a lot about this before I started my flute project. But it turns out that finger hole placement isn't an exact science. That is because there are two factors that determine the frequency of the sound produced by a hole:
- The distance from the sound hole (the closer, the higher the note). This one is obvious.
- But also the size of the finger hole (the wider, the higher). This is what allows a musician to play half notes by covering holes only halfway.
So, to tune the flute, you can put the hole approximately where you want it, and then carefully widen it until it produces the sound you want. Just don't make them too narrow, or they will sound a bit weak.
A few more things I picked up along the way:
- Keep an eye on the wall thickness at the finger holes. If the wall is too thick, the holes higher up will produce turbulence that disturbs the notes further down. This is why I thinned the wall around the finger holes, forming small cups for the finger tips.
- Probably for a similar reason, tuning the higher notes affects the pitch of the lower ones slightly. This was also the only process I encountered that lowered the pitch produced by a hole. So, if you have tuned one of your lower notes a bit to high, don't despair: Tune the ones further up, the problem might just fix itself.
- When searching for an appropriate branch, look for the ones that grow straight upwards and that have a fresh, almost shiny bark. Check for the right knot spacing before cutting it off - you don't want a knot in the middle of the sound chamber.
- However, you DO want a knot where you will put the wind and sound hole. This is because the bore is slightly narrower at this point, allowing you to pressure-fit the plug right between the two holes.
Some helpful resouces I used for this project:
- Blue Bear Flutes ( / bluebeararts )
- Clint Goss ( / clintgoss )
- Far North Bushcraft And Survival ( / phreshayr )
- flutopedia.com (www.flutopedia.com/)
If you want to make your own flute, a good beginner project would be to make a whistle first. Check out my video on how to make one here:
• Primitive music 1: Mak...
#primitivemusic #bushcraft
I did not know there was so much behind a flute. And to see someone make it with only primitive tools, well done sire.
Ur profile is kinda scary ngl.
I am a branch flute maker and i am super impressed with your bushcraft talent,Kudos to you brother !
What a joy of a channel. Thanks for sharing the video with us!
This is absolutely amazing. Doing stuff is cool, but getting the tune right and using what you made is already the next level. Well done.
It's reminding my childhood. Great work, thanks for the share. Life is beautiful with the nature.
This was very fun to watch and very instructive! New Sub :D
Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Looks and sounds very cool, great job.
Awesome dude 👍
This is the coolest thing! Thank you!
It sounds Really nice , thank you.
Awesome!
Awesome video! Thx for sharing!
It's a soothing sound. Nice work.
Thank you - that was beautiful
Tolle Sache mit der Flöte. Ich habe eine aus dem Schafsknochen gebastelt, ist aber eher eine Pfeiffer. Wir sehen uns auf der Zeiteninsel.
the best diy ever!!
Love the boots
👏 that's awesome man
I was millimetres away from getting a sound out of my first flute when tragedy struck and it split when trying to add the air block. I'll try again tomorrow
Don't get discouraged, it takes a couple of attempts to get it right. If you're working with elderberry, try to put the block near a knot where branches used to grow of - the walls are a bit thicker and stronger there. Plus, the slightly narrower inner diameter makes it easier to press-fit the block in place, so you don't need any glue. Anyway, I'd love to hear how your flute turned out!
Awsome
New sub, just the video I wanted to see
it sounds amazing too! beautiful video! may i ask how you worked out the spacing between the finger holes? did you drill them all at 15mm (same as the diameter of the bore hole)?
Quick answer: Don't worry too much about finger hole placement. Put the lowest one roughly in the right position and start with a small hole, which will sound too low. Then gradually widen it until you reach the right frequency. Then continue upwards with the next hole. For more info, check out the video description and the resources I linked to there.
I did a pvc transverse flute... this is more elaborate.
How important is it that the branch be perfectly straight? Is it ok if there is a slight bow to it?
As long as it doesn't prevent you from getting all the pith out, the shape doesn't really matter in my experience.
Arigato my dude! Just so amazing! I now like build 5 or 6 of them and kinda getting the vibe xD thx for the vid!
1. If you want the flute to play a lower note, it needs to be longer. In order to sustain that tone, also the bore must be wider. Since 15 millimeters seems to be about the widest inner diameter of an elderberry branch, you would probably need to choose a different material, maybe something like bamboo.
2. Yup, I'm German, nothing too personal about that, it says so in my channel info ;-) In the beginning I also wrote video titles, descriptions and subtitles in German, but not a whole lot of people were using it. So I decided the time would be better spent building stuff.
@@MakeItPrimitive uuuu k thx for the infos xD
Thanks, good video. When starting out with green elderberry wood is it helpful to let the wood air dry as you're stripping off the bark and hollowing out the inside? About how wide should the interior of the piece be bored out to?
Yes, you should let the wood dry out well before proceeding. Elderberry wood shrinks a lot when drying. Try to find a piece with as wide a natural bore as you can - the wider the sound chamber, the lower a note the flute can sustain. Also check out the video description for more on this.
watching this while listening to Othar Turner
This is cool!
Is this elder (shrub) or elderberry (berries are cooked and turned into tea/or jelly)?
Is there a video on how to find the plant in nature?
This is sambucus nigra, the black elderberry. It grows as a large shrub with long, sometimes spidery branches, white flowers and black berries. It is one of the most common shrubs in my area, so it's not hard to find. But this may vary, depending on where you live. If it doesn't grow there, there may be some other hollow plant you could use for making flutes?
@@MakeItPrimitive ok, thank you so much! :D
Nice video. Thank you.
You could get better sound if you make square holes for the sound mecanism 😉
I actually tried this, but somehow the round hole worked better for me so far. Is there some kind of trick to the square hole?
@@MakeItPrimitive Here is a link to keep it primitive 🙂 : www.flutopedia.com/hole_placement.htm
This is where I found all the answers about crafting Native American Flutes (I make them with bamboo).
It is true that square holes produce a better sound in my experience. I work with a simple french traditional carving knife, I begin with a round hole in the center of the final hole and slowly make it square.
I also make the air channel between the two squares ON the flute, with a flat block. You could sand this channel with a stone, as well as the sides of your holes to smooth everything.
That's the resource I used as well. I'm currently working on other types of flutes (fipple, quena etc.) but I'll have to get back to the NAF sometime. Thanks for your input, it's really appreciated!
@@MakeItPrimitive Yes this website is wonderful, the "bible" for flute makers 😄 Did you notice that on the old Chippewa flute's picture a piece of birch bark is used as a spacer plate for the air channel ? No need to carve air channels, easy to find, cut and replace, waterproof and flexible (kind of elasticity). Indi-genius as always : simple and natural !
How did you hollow out the middle. Was a little confused on how you did it
Elderberry branches are filled with soft pith that you can pull out without drilling.
Is the length of my branch going to affect the sound or is it not gonna make sound at all? I picked a short branch bc that’s the only good one I found
The shorter the flute, the higher the base note. Shorter flutes are usually easier to get a sound out of, so this is a good piece to start with.
How you make the hole through the branch like what too you use to do that I can’t tell if that’s a wooden stick
Elder wood is hollow by nature. The hollow part is filled with a soft pith that can easily be scraped and drilled out.
@@MakeItPrimitivethere is a ton of that where I live
How long did it take you to make this?
I don't keep track of time on these projects, but all in all a couple of hours. Not counting all the failed prototypes that came before it. ;-)
@@MakeItPrimitive Wow, that’s really amazing
I'll try this using a dried cattail stem.
I think cattail stems aren't hollow, but reed works. The inner diameter of the reed in my area is smaller than that of a good elderberry piece, however, so these flutes are shorter and higher in pitch.
@@MakeItPrimitive Can't make that advanced of a flute, but perhaps something simpler. Like from your other vid. The cattail was to brittle for my clumsy hands. Gonna rry some hollow bush tree like you suggested. Not lokated in US so we have no elderberry, but maybe something like it.
@@nomadichunter2818 Where are you located? Elderberry is a pretty widespread group (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambucus#Distribution_and_habitat), but I'm not sure whether all species in this group are suitable for flutes.
Do you sell these?
Sorry, I don't. But it's much more fun to make one yourself anyway, give it a try! :-)
Poke a bore with WOODEN stick? How is that possible?
Elderberry wood is hollow, but the hole is filled with a soft, popcorn-like pith. This is what needs to be scraped out.
@@MakeItPrimitive thanks for quick and extensive respond!
I worked VERY carefully. Have been a fine worker for 40 years, yet I can’t get as much as a fart out of what I have done. Carefully made adjustments only to have gone too far and ruined my nice piece of elderberry shoot. RATS! It’s all in the sloped mechanism and the two holes. I have inserted a plug between them, made the little piece and hollowed it out underneath with the end still in tact…not even a toot will ensue…..any suggestions?
My suggestion would be to start with PVC pipes or store-bought bamboo until you get a feeling for the many parameters of a flute. Or some other material that allows you to prototype rapidly without sacrificing your rare good pieces. By the time I built the flute seen in the video, I had made about twenty non-working or subpar predecessors. Don't give up, it will take a few tries, but you will make progress eventually.
Experiment a bit with the size of the sound hole and the flue. Keep the sound edge sharp, and the surfaces in the flue straight and smooth. The point seems to be that a laminar "sheet" of air hits the sharp edge of the sound hole. Oh, and the higher notes are easier to produce, so maybe start with a shorter piece to get the "producing a sound" part dialled in.
By the way, now (autumn / winter) seems to be the best time to hunt for elderberry shoots. Look for places where the plants gets plenty of light, like on a strip between two fields. Under these circumstances, they sometimes grow long, straight shoots reaching for the sky. Since these are young, grew fast and haven't branched yet, they still have a wide canal, and the branching knots are far apart. And they are easier to find without leaves hiding them. I struggled for a long time finding and identifying good material, but now my workshop is full of nice elderberry branches. :-)
@@MakeItPrimitive hey thanks for your response! I have access to lots of elderberry. Have several sticks leaning on the wall of my living room. The one I messed up, I can make a shorter try at it. And your suggestion to use pvc is good advise. Being that I like to do things carefully and right the first time, your twenty looks pretty good to me. Have been a wood worker for almost five decades and it humbles me to have found something most challenging. Thanks and good luck to you hombre. I’ll send another comment when I succeed! LOL.
Manual breathing
I am at 69 percent