Experimental Tuning of Native American Flutes

Don't know whether this is within the scope of this group or not but .

I work a lot with Native American flutes - simple 6-hole fipple flutes which have a huge group of makers and a lot of variation in
instrument design. I've recently been working with an accomplished maker who had built me a pair of flutes in ET and JI.

There is general doubt in the Native American flute community that the differences can be heard, so I'm thinking of an experiment -
providing on-line versions of music in different tunings for people to compare and vote on. I believe I have techniques to
compensate / control for differences in timbre between the two instruments (long story there), got the procedures to double-blind
the test, and I've got the statistical tools to analyze results. So .

A) is this type of work within the scope of this group?

B) If so, we're thinking of the potential types of music to make comparisons with. Solo flute, solo over a drone, and solo over a
repetitive piano ostinato (both ET and JI) are our initial thoughts. Any feedback on this?

-- Clint Goss

Hi Clint,

> A) is this type of work within the scope of this group?

Yes, absolutely!

> B) If so, we're thinking of the potential types of music to make
> comparisons with. Solo flute, solo over a drone, and solo over a
> repetitive piano ostinato (both ET and JI) are our initial
> thoughts. Any feedback on this?

All of those could be interesting. What JI scale are you
targeting? Do you have any photos of the flutes?

-Carl

>> A) is this type of work within the scope of this group?
>Yes, absolutely!

Oh good!

Native American flutes (NAFs, although that TLA is frowned on by some ...) are predominantly tuned minor, with no m2 or M2. The
primary scale is pentatonic minor, but this particular maker is adept at getting most of the cross-fingered notes in tune. Here were
my targets, which were mostly achieved. The ** mark the primary scale:

** 1 1:1
** b3 6:5
3 5:4
** 4 4:3
#4 45:32
** 5 3:2
b6 8:5
6 5:3
** b7 9:5
7 15:8
** 8 1:1
b9 32:15
9 18:15
** b10 12:5

The b7 of 9:5 was chosen rather than 7:4 or 16:9 so that the interval from the b3 to the b7 would be a perfect fifth. These
instruments are played in major mode by rooting on the b3, and in that major mode, the b7 becomes the fifth of the scale, which
works out to 3:2 with the b7 set at 9:5 from the fundamental note of the flute.

I don't have pics of these particular flutes, but there are lots of NAF info on my (ludicrously large) web site:

http://www.Flutopedia.com/

These flutes were made by Steve Petermann, who can be found here;

http://www.spflutes.com/

-- Clint Goss

Thanks for the info. My guess is that, of the three options
you mentioned, the flute-and-drone would make the difference
from ET most apparent.

-Carl

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Clint Goss wrote:
>
> >> A) is this type of work within the scope of this group?
> >Yes, absolutely!
>
> Oh good!
>
> Native American flutes (NAFs, although that TLA is frowned on by some ...) are predominantly tuned minor, with no m2 or M2. The
> primary scale is pentatonic minor, but this particular maker is adept at getting most of the cross-fingered notes in tune. Here were
> my targets, which were mostly achieved. The ** mark the primary scale:
>
> ** 1 1:1
> ** b3 6:5
> 3 5:4
> ** 4 4:3
> #4 45:32
> ** 5 3:2
> b6 8:5
> 6 5:3
> ** b7 9:5
> 7 15:8
> ** 8 1:1
> b9 32:15
> 9 18:15
> ** b10 12:5
>
> The b7 of 9:5 was chosen rather than 7:4 or 16:9 so that the interval from the b3 to the b7 would be a perfect fifth. These
> instruments are played in major mode by rooting on the b3, and in that major mode, the b7 becomes the fifth of the scale, which
> works out to 3:2 with the b7 set at 9:5 from the fundamental note of the flute.
>
> I don't have pics of these particular flutes, but there are lots of NAF info on my (ludicrously large) web site:
>
> http://www.Flutopedia.com/
>
> These flutes were made by Steve Petermann, who can be found here;
>
> http://www.spflutes.com/
>
> -- Clint Goss
>