“The bansuri – the way you hear is the way you play.”
Getting in and staying in tune on the bansuri requires long and meticulous practice and I have a long way to go. Although the Indian scale system is the same as that used in the west, i.e. the octave divided into twelve semitones, equal temperament is not used. It is therefore a process of continual listening (hence the tanpura drone) so that the ear finally begins to discern exactly what the intonation of notes should be.
It is one thing to pick up a bansuri and be able to play a note in the correct pitch (or not), it is another to remain within the correct intonation throughout a melody or raga. By applying the following techniques, a bansuri player can play a specific pitch, as well as bend or shape it to cover everything in between, thereby enabling them to play exactly the pitch or frequency that they hear.
There are three methods of altering pitch:
- to tilt the flute towards or away from the lips,
- to press the flute closer to the lips or pull it away thus altering the distance from the lips to the blowing hole
- by increasing or decreasing the volume by altering the speed of air flowing into the flute
Today I am playing a G flute. In other words, Sa is tuned to G. The note G and the colour blue resonates with the throat chakra – a call to speak your truth.
I am playing and improvising around the following tunes: –
- Greensleeves
- Piet My Vrou (song of the Red-Chested Cuckoo)
- Al le die berge nog so blou (Roughly meaning, though the blue mountains lie far away, which for my own reasons I’ve dubbed “The Owl Song”)
- Sarie Marais (adopted by the French Legionnaires as their parade marching song)
This week I am celebrating the past 3 years which has brought much magic, mystery and change to my life, as well as a passion for feathers and flutes.
I’ll be online around 18:30 this evening and again on Friday morning, just after sunrise at around 06:00. Videos will be 10 – 15 minutes and will be saved and posted in case anybody else would like to follow at a different time.
Please like, share or comment – in which case I’ll reply in text after the video is complete.
Much love and many thanks – a celebration of feathers and flutes ❤️