Flute

Rivercane

This traditional Native American-style flute, keyed in the pentatonic (5-note) scale was and is commonly found among First Nations people throughout the southeastern United States.

This type of end-blown flute is easy to learn to play and is quite similar to playing a Recorder.

Flutes smaller in diameter will have higher tones (Key of ‘B/Bb’, & ‘C’) and will always be made of rivercane

(Arundinaria gigantea).

They will tend to be more easily heard across greater distances and louder when playing with percussionists.

Flutes that are larger in diameter will tend to be quieter and will have more mellow tones (Key of ‘A’, ‘F/F#’, ‘G/G#’, & ‘E’).

These deeper toned flutes may be made from rivercane, but in modern times, by necessity (due to loss of the growth of larger native canes) they are often made from either black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) or clump bamboo (Fargesia murielae). With the recovery of larger canebrakes, these are reviving.

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the more familiar heptatonic scale that has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).

Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient civilizations—an indication that pentatonic scales are based upon a naturally occurring phenomenon.

The Pentatonic Scale is the music of Ancient Greece.

They are still used all over the world, [for example Chinese traditional music and US country music, blues and metal]

There are two types of pentatonic scales:

hemitonic

anhemitonic

Native River Canebrakes were once a common feature of the landscape in the southeastern United States, but today it is an endangered ecosystem.

Arundinaria gigantea is a species of bamboo known by the common names giant cane (not to be confused with Arundo donax) and river cane.

It is native to North America, where it occurs in the south-central and southeastern U.S. states as far west as Oklahoma and Texas and as far north as Maryland. This species is divided into two subspecies.

The subspecies tecta is sometimes treated as a species in its own right, Arundinaria tecta, and is the taxon generally called switch cane.

It is very similar to ssp. gigantea, but is often smaller and tends to grow in wetter habitat.

This bamboo, which is a species of cane, is a perennial grass with a rounded, hollow stem which can exceed 7 centimetres (2.8 inches) in diameter and grow to a height of 10 metres (33 feet).

It grows from a large network of thick rhizomes.

There are many human uses for the cane.

The Cherokee, particularly the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, used and still use this species in craft work, in particular, in basket making and mat weaving .

The Cherokee historically maintained canebrakes with cutting and periodic burning, a practice which stopped with the Spanish and European invasions of the land.

The elimination of cane habitat has nearly resulted in the loss of the art of basket making,which is important for the economy of the Cherokee today.

The cane was also used by groups such as the Cherokee, Seminole, and Choctaw to make medicine, blowguns, bows and arrows, knives, spears, flutes, candles, walls for dwellings,fish traps, sleeping mats, seating mats, floor coverings, wall coverings, and tobacco pipes.