The flute (also called “nozzle” or “tsevnitsa”) is one of the types of longitudinal flute, common in Rus'. According to Slavic legend, Lel, the son of the goddess of love, played the flute. Therefore, it was believed that the pipe could awaken mutual feelings.

Materials and tools for making pipes

To make a wooden pipe with your own hands, we will need a rather impressive arsenal:

• sandpaper
• small wooden sleeve (diameter 1.5 cm and length 4 cm)
• ruler
• pencil
• tuner
• small vise (not necessary, but much more convenient with them)
• something that can be drilled with (drill, drill, engraver) and drills of different diameters: from approximately 0.8 to 4.2 mm
• needle file
• semicircular incisor
• pair of clamps
• PVA glue
• two wooden blocks 30x2x1 cm.

Making your own pipes

First, we take wooden blocks and mark them. You need to draw the boundaries of the internal channel of the pipe, on one side of the bar this channel is 1.5 cm wide, and on the other, 1 cm, that is, the channel will narrow slightly towards the end of the pipe.

Now we clamp one of the bars in a vise and begin to cut out a semicircular channel. On my workpiece, the area that will need to be removed with a cutter is shaded.

Carefully and slowly remove the chips, watching the direction of the wood fibers. They may not always go along the workpiece, so be careful, otherwise the cutter may go crooked.

We try to cut the channel to an even semicircle along its entire length. We do the same with the second block.

Once both halves are cut, you need to sand them. Using a piece of sandpaper we pass along the inner surface of the channel, achieving smoothness.

After sanding, we move on to the whistle. Having retreated 4 cm from the top edge of the workpiece (where the wide end of the channel is), draw a rectangle 5 by 7 cm, preferably exactly in the center.

Using a 4.2 mm drill, we make three holes close to each other, so that we get an oval window.

Now we take a file and bring the window to a rectangular shape, according to the markings made.

After this, use the same file to grind one side of the window at an angle of approximately 30-45 degrees. This is the most important part of the work: the sound quality will depend on the sharpness and smoothness of the edge.

It's time to connect the halves. We coat them with PVA glue and fold them, carefully aligning the channel. Press with clamps and leave to dry for a couple of hours.

When the glue dries, unscrew the clamps and take a knife. We cut off the top of the small wooden sleeve, about 1.5 mm, so that we get a flat, even edge. Look at the photo and everything will become clear.

After this, lubricate the bushing with glue and insert it from the upper end of the flute, forming a whistle. With the cut edge up, exactly to the edge of the whistle window.

We wait until the glue dries and take the knife. Carefully planing the workpiece, we give it a rounded shape, then smooth it with sandpaper.

To make it easier to play, we will make a cut at the back of the upper end of the pipe.

Now the fun part is the setup. Try blowing into the pipe, listen to the sound and check with the tuner. If you did everything carefully, you will get A sharp. This is the lowest sound that our pipe can produce.
In total we will have seven notes and six playing holes. Let's mark them: the very first hole will be 6 cm from the lower end of the pipe, the remaining holes will be in increments of 2 cm.

Armed with drills of different diameters, we begin setting up. The pipe is often tuned in natural major. This means that we should have the following series of sounds: A sharp - Do - Re - D sharp - Fa - Sol - A.

The general principle of tuning is this: the larger the hole, the higher the sound. Therefore, first we drill a very small hole and listen. If you need the sound a little higher, drill it out more. The main thing is not to overdo it, because making the hole smaller will not work.

We start drilling from the lowest hole. When it is configured, we move on to the second. The second hole is adjusted when the first one is open, and so on. That is, when you listen to sound from a hole, this very hole and all the holes below it must be open.

OK it's all over Now! The flute is ready, you can start playing. And you can decorate it to your taste. I simply covered my pipe with stain.

I met a kind man who was totally interested in ethnic wind instruments. I had many, tried them, played some. Imagine, in the morning, after a night of sleep on the seashore, I slowly return to my parking lot, and he stands knee-deep in the sea and plays the shakuhachi. Plays calmly, effortlessly, quietly. Needless to say, after such a meeting an idea settled in my soul...

As time passed, we considered the options of “buying bamboo on the Internet,” ordering from a master in Russia, ordering from a master in Japan, buying plastic in Japan. In the end, I settled on the following: let me try to make a flute myself! What especially helped here was meeting people who have walked this path and are already playing.

Having listened to good advice, I easily found a site online that had simple step-by-step instructions. I had all the necessary tools at home, and I easily bought the starting materials in a plumbing store literally across the street from the house. I paid 159 rubles for a set from which I plan to make two flutes. These are two pieces of PVC water pipe, each one meter long (pipes are sold in multiples of a meter) + a simple straight coupling for each pipe (pipes have different diameters - 1/2" and 3/4", so each has its own coupling).

For comparison, the dimensions of my desktop are 80x120 cm. I decided to start with a half-inch (as advised on the site).

First of all, I glued the coupling to one of the ends, used polymer glue "Dragon" and a mallet (the coupling does not sit on the pipe itself - they are designed for a special soldering iron: when installing a water pipeline, the end of the pipe and half of the coupling are simultaneously heated, only then can they be joined).

The most important stage! One point eight shaku, 545 mm. Irreversible action! (Measured seven times, of course)

More precise finishing, a large file for metal - tuning to the note D of the first octave. This should be the fundamental tone of the flute. An empty tube of any material with this length makes this sound, for example, falling to the floor.

A strong thread attached with electrical tape to the pipe helps to mark the centers of future holes - on one straight line.

Marking the holes and tapping them with an awl requires care, although the task is not difficult.

To avoid damaging the opposite wall from the inside when drilling, it is recommended to place some kind of block in the tube.

I used wood drills (10 mm and 9 mm) and a screwdriver in screwdriver mode (i.e. at low speed). PVC drills easily; fast turns can ruin something uncontrollably. The third hole should have a diameter of 9.5 mm, but I didn’t have such a drill, and I didn’t bother, but simply flared it a little after drilling with the same nine.

The most difficult step was processing the holes. They need to be chamfered and burred. Breadboard knife, abrasive sponge, oval file + accuracy. To be honest, I couldn’t do it really well and beautifully. To the "four".

The flute is ready! And while I still don’t know how to play myself (I only make, and even then with difficulty, a few incoherent sounds), listen to a person who has been moving along this path for a long time. Of course, his shakuhachi is made from root bamboo, everything as it should be!

P.S. The whole process (excluding waiting for the Dragon glue to polymerize) took me about two hours. A wonderful two hours of leisurely manual labor! And yes, in parallel with this, I made a chess horse from plywood and cuttings for a camping set (which goes with me to Limanchik) . Initially, this chess came into my life with one white knight instead of two...

Flute How to make a flute with your own hands

If you want to learn to play the flute, but you do not have the opportunity to purchase the instrument itself, we suggest that you make it yourself from ordinary PVC pipes. You can learn detailed instructions for making a Bansuri transverse flute from the training video “How to make a flute with your own hands.” The presenter of the video will share his secrets with you, and will also tell you in detail and clearly how to turn an ordinary plastic pipe into a musical instrument.

How to make a flute with your own hands

A general name for a number of musical wind instruments from the woodwind group. It is one of the most ancient musical instruments in origin. Unlike other wind instruments, the flute produces sounds by cutting the air stream against an edge, instead of using a reed.

Origin, history of the flute. In Greek mythology, the inventor of the flute is considered to be the son Hephaestus Ardal. The oldest form of flute appears to be the whistle. Gradually, finger holes began to be cut into the whistle tubes, turning a simple whistle into a whistle flute, on which musical works could be performed.

The longitudinal flute was known in Egypt five thousand years ago, and it remains the main wind instrument throughout the Middle East. A longitudinal flute, which has 5-6 finger holes and is capable of octave blowing, provides a complete musical scale, individual intervals within which can change, forming different modes by crossing the fingers, closing the holes halfway, as well as changing the direction and force of breathing.

The transverse flute with 5-6 finger holes was known in China at least 3 thousand years ago, and in India and Japan more than two thousand years ago. In Europe during the Middle Ages, mainly simple whistle-type instruments (predecessors of the recorder and flageolet) were common, as well as the transverse flute, which penetrated into Central Europe from the East through the Balkans, where it still remains the most widespread folk instrument.

By the end of the 17th century, the transverse flute was improved by French masters, among whom Otteter stands out, who, in particular, added valves to the six finger holes to perform the full chromatic scale. Possessing a more expressive sound and high technical capabilities, the transverse flute soon replaced the longitudinal flute (recorder) and by the end of the 18th century it took a strong place in the symphony orchestra and instrumental ensembles.

You will learn more by watching the online video training " How to make a flute with your own hands» on our portal. Have a great result!

Watch this video tutorial on our portal on making a flute at a time convenient for you. Join our groups on VKontakte, Facebook, and Google+ and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Enjoy your viewing.

How unpredictable and ornate are the paths that lead us to life’s milestones! So my interest in the Shakuhachi flute came quite unexpectedly. What is even more unexpected (for myself) is what I want to offer you on this page. Namely, making a flute with your own hands from PVC. The Shakuhachi type flute is a fairly simple instrument, structurally speaking. If it could be made hundreds of years ago, now, having modern materials and tools, as well as means for calculations, anyone with such a goal can make a flute.

A PVC flute has a pleasant, deep, thoughtful, fairly strong sound (subject to all the recommendations outlined on this page). The nature of the timbre of PVC is of course different from babuk, it is no worse or better, it is just different. But for beginners, as well as for those who want to experiment with scales and keys, this is an excellent opportunity to realize their creative impulses. Besides everything, as has already been written a lot in other materials on PVC flutes, they are unpretentious to environmental conditions and can be a constant companion wherever you go. From my own experience, I can say that making a flute is no less enjoyable than actually playing it. This is already a game, this is already a sound, a melody of inspiration, aspiration realized in such a wonderful instrument as the Shakuhachi type flute.

Start

Having received my first flute (bamboo) in the key of F (Shakuhachi 1.5), I thought that this was not quite what I expected. It turned out that I ordered a flute before I figured out their sizes and tonalities. Oh, these sudden impulses of the soul!!! Well, okay, let's leave the lyrics for later. So, ordering a new flute was financially expensive, but I still wanted something more meditative. Thanks to Evgeniy's materials (), I became interested in the possibility of making a flute from a simple PVC pipe. “What, it’s inexpensive, accessible, you can experiment, it’s enough for the first time, and then, lo and behold, I’ll be able to buy a bamboo flute.” That's what I thought.

Practice?

Having purchased everything necessary, I proceeded to... What? For thoughts.

The fact is that the recommended flute sizes and hole locations varied greatly depending on the source. I am still more of a supporter of the European system of notes, and therefore the accuracy of sound, and therefore the accuracy of the size of the flute, is an important issue for me. This was especially felt after the first attempt (I still tried to use the recommended sizes) in the process of tuning the flute by cutting holes. I clearly noticed correlations between the holes, while I was adjusting one hole, the other immediately floated in tone, a little, but it floated. Bending the flute, of course, evened out the deviations of the notes, but all this seemed inconvenient.

Theory

If you want to do something, do it yourself.

I started by finding out about the resonance properties of air column oscillations. It turned out that the frequency of oscillations of the air column in a pipe open on both sides is equal to: the speed of sound divided by the length and divided by 2, and for a pipe closed on one side, divided by 4.

Having cut out a piece of pipe corresponding to the calculations and turned it out, I discovered that I had not hit the right note. The Shakuhachi flute is not a doubly open pipe and is not closed on one side! She is something “in the middle”. Empirically, it was possible to calculate the division coefficient; it is equal to 2.20031. Now my trumpets sounded exactly on the right note. But what to do with the holes?

Having calculated the holes according to the required frequencies (notes), it turned out that something was clearly wrong. It became clear that the position of the holes needed to be calculated differently, taking into account their diameter and, possibly, the thickness of the pipe wall. After all, the hole also forms a small pipe. I’ll omit the tedious descriptions of my ordeals in this field, although they really captivated me and were about to threaten to give birth to a “eureka”... The materials helped again, to whom I am very grateful!

Now it's practice

Pipe

In a plumbing store I came across a pipe with an internal diameter of 21 and a wall thickness of 5.4. It allows you to immediately grind utaguchi without additional, thickening attachments, which has a very positive effect on the aesthetic appearance of the flute.

Flute "2.9" in the key of F (F) with standard Minie tuning. Pipe 22.5 internal diameter, 6.7 wall thickness. The sound is deep and quite loud. The holes are located in places convenient for spreading. Grooves were made for the holes to reduce the wall thickness. Sound sample

Happy making and happy playing!!!

A self-made flute is a wonderful gift! She will give you many minutes filled with enthusiasm in attempts to blow out the sound! Especially when the subject heard and saw how they had just played it, and how wonderfully it sings, and how easy everything looks!!! ;-) I have already given away almost all the flutes, except those that I play myself, and the number of people who want them is not decreasing. Go for it!!!

Gift copies

From left to right:
1. Flute "1.8" key D(Re) with standard Minie tuning; Sound sample
2. Flute “2.0” in the key of C (C) with standard Minie tuning.

I have already written several times that I really appreciate the rare master classes on our site. Therefore, I am pleased to present to you Dmitry Dubrovsky’s story about how to make a musical instrument Flute of Pan (Kugikly) with your own hands. Now, of course, is no longer the time to collect reeds in our latitudes, but it may come in handy next year, keep it in your bookmarks.

DIY children's flute made of reed

“Reed is an amazing natural material. Just a treasure trove for all sorts of things. Since ancient times, many peoples on Earth have used it in agriculture and art. The hollow structure of the stem itself suggests the making of a wind instrument. One of the simplest tools - kugikly. Different peoples call such a wind instrument in their own way: nai, skuducai, samponyo, syrinx, etc. The tool is also known as pan pipe or flute(in honor of the ancient Greek goat-footed god). It's not difficult to make it yourself. Essentially this is a set of tubes of different sizes.

This pipe will definitely please your child. It’s better if you make kugikly together with him. From a pedagogical point of view. Especially at the first stage.

And the first stage is collecting material. Take one day off for a walk in the fresh air. Reed grows along the banks of rivers and ponds. You should take a knife, gloves and rubber boots with you. Reeds must be collected in the fall, in October. At this time it is already fully matured.

So, you are in a reed thicket. It is necessary to choose even stems of approximately the same diameter.

You need to “mow” a lot, since during the cleaning process some will inevitably go to waste. In order not to take home excess organic waste, it is recommended to clear the stem of leaves on the spot.

After cleaning, it is much easier to identify crooked stems. It is also advisable to cut them off. Take the remaining armful of quality raw materials home.

The reed must be allowed to dry. At home, find a comfortable place where your “prey” can lie quietly for a couple of days (sometimes a week). You should not put it on the radiator or dry it with a hairdryer.

Well, the reed is dry. As you can see, the reed consists of tubes connected to each other by “knees”. Identify five such tubes. They need to match in diameter and length. Now let's separate the reeds. If you cannot masterfully work with a knife, then it is recommended to take a jigsaw. Do the subsequent manipulations yourself, without the participation of the child.

Carefully cut exactly in the middle of the elbow. The resulting tubes are protected on both sides by membranes. You need to pierce them. A knife or a large nail will do.

Then we clean the core of the tube from the pulp. You will need a flat, round stick of slightly smaller diameter.

Or a round file. You need to be extremely careful with the needle file, do not overdo it. The inner walls should be smooth. Blow it out.

The first tube is the longest. Using it we measure the length of the other four. Then we cut each one smaller than the first one. The width of your thumb will serve as a measurement.

This is a folk instrument, and precision is not required. We clean the ends with sandpaper (low grit) to remove any unevenness. You can check the sound. Pinch one end of the tube with your finger and blow on the other. But you need to blow not like into a balloon or an ordinary pipe, but casually. We make a “Mona Lisa” half-smile, lean the free edge of the pipe vertically against the lower lip and blow.

The final stage. All tubes must be connected “in a row”. The classic folk method is quite labor-intensive. You need to tie all the tubes in pairs, and then together with a thread. Secure it all with the same reeds split in half. There is an alternative option - cold welding.

Any hardware or auto parts store has it. It's quite inexpensive. It consists of two components that need to be mixed, kneading in your hands like plasticine. But it is not necessary to mix all the contents of the package. Leave half, it will come in handy.

We fasten the parts of our Pan pipe. In a couple of hours everything will set tightly. Therefore, you should put the future musical instrument in a place where it will not be disturbed. Now you need to plug the bottom holes. Suitable as an alternative. Or leftover cold welding. Roll a sausage equal to the inner diameter of the pipes, cut into equal parts. The plugs are ready. The kugikles are ready. Let's play and enjoy.

Now give it to the child and let him try to play. And nothing that doesn’t work out right away.
And one last piece of advice. When playing the kugikle, they play (blow) with the diaphragm: the tone of the sound depends on the force with which the air is blown.”

Many thanks to Dmitry for this master class on making a Pan flute with your own hands. You can listen to how it should sound in this video by the author:

In Voronezh there is the “Museum of Forgotten Music” by Sergei Plotnikov, listen to the kugikly:

More interesting:

Discussion: 12 comments

1. Thank you, Dmitry, for an interesting MK! Your story is interesting not only as a very useful MK, but also as an interesting, even with a bit of humor, presentation of the material. *BRAVO* *BRAVO* *BRAVO*

   Answer