The Native American style flute is one of the easiest wind instruments to play. The Minor tuning of the Native flute makes it easy because more notes go together than with most modern instruments. This simplicity allows non-trained individuals to be able to pick up the flute and make pleasing sounds within a matter of minutes. Everybody has a song--find yours.
In the past, the Native American Flute was used by many tribes in many different ways. For some it was used in ceremony, for others it was used in courting or signaling. The Woodlands Flute was often used in a meditative like way to speak through music what could not be said with words. Flutes were often made out of a split branch or river cane, using the sizes of particular body parts such as thumb widths and arm lengths as guides for barrel length and hole location. This system allowed the tuning of early Native American Flutes to come somewhere close to between what is now considered modern Pentatonic and Diatonic scales.
