Intervals on your Pan flute
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Intervals on your Pan flute
Pan flute like any other woodwind works in intervals, or the distance between the notes to create a melody, however, this is specially true and emphasized in a pan flute, why?, because you have to move your instrument and head to reach the notes, unlike a flute or a sax where just the fingers are involved, see the importance of this? no pan flute player can become a pro if he is not yet to master the art of accurately being able to hit every note with the correct tone and tuning by playing large intervals.
What is it an interval?
It’s the distance between two notes.
Every interval has its own name, no matter if the notes are ascending
or descending, the interval is the same, learning this will be of great
value to you as it can help to familiarize yourself with your instrument
quickly, the pipes are arranged in a distance of a second interval by
default in a pan flute, therefore , if you are to play a major third, you
should skip one pipe, see the utility of this?
Unison, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Octave
Intervals can be major or minor any major interval which has been
lowered a semitone becomes minor
Unison, Minor/Major Second, Major/Minor Third and so
on….
Look at this:
Thirds , fifths and sevenths are always one-line notes or space notes:
Seconds, fourth and sixths and octaves are always one-line note and one-space note:
Traditionally you would take the keyboard of a piano, or arrange the
notes in order and then count, including that note, for example. The
interval between C and A in a major scale is a major sixth, you count
C,D,E,F,G and A a sixth
Quite simple really, but this stuff will really help to move across the
pipes because here is the trick:
to play a major second , be it ascending or descending major or
minor you don’t skip any pipes….to play a major third, you skip one
pipe…
Here’s a table to help you remember how the musical intervals are
related to the pipes along the instruments, it’s all in the order
Whether the interval is diminished, augmented or minor, it doesn’ t matter, the rules applies the same
Pipes to skip |
Interval |
| 0 | Second |
| 1 | Third |
| 2 | Fourth |
| 3 | Fifth |
| 4 | Sixth |
| 5 | Seventh |
| 6 | Octave |
The practice
When playing a melody, you wil come up with random sequences of notes, each of them separated by an interval, it’s crucial for you to familiarize how many pipes you will skip in order to go to the next note, mastering this ability will make progress and learn to play song much easier, it’s a logical approach rather than just figuring out where the notes correspond, also a mirror will be of great help too.
An exercise like this, that’s to say involving large intervals is quite a challenge, but well rewarding
that should keep you on practice for a while, until then have fun with your pan flute.
Pshh, this post was extracted from one of the chapters on my e-book, if you liked this lesson, I would give it a look to the whole book to learn everything you want to know about pan flute.
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