I have read much about tunings, different tuning standards and such. I have read heated debates over 432 hz vs 440 hz standards.

I’ve recently seen debates over whether 432 should be used for Native American flutes. Seems in all the “discussion” I’ve read, it always goes back to the same debates. It is debated whether or not one standard has healing properties. One standard is referred to as a conspiracy to control behavior. And so on.

So to just look at what is most likely true about the earliest Native American Flutes, here is what I came up with:

1: The early makers likely did not have a tuning standard unless it was a particularly nice sounding flute they used as a pattern.

2: To my knowledge, tuning forks, strobe tuners and electronic tuners came after the NAF was developed.

3: The idea of major, minor, pentatonic scales, modes and such were brought by the men from across the big water.

4: The mathematics used in evaluation of hole placement did not exist for the earlier flute makers, unless they kept it a closely guarded secret.

It seems to me at first glance, the earlier flute makes and musicians made instruments and music that sounded good to their ears. Interesting concept. Music that sounds good…….

I wonder what “standard” the earlier flute makers used? Back when there were no tuning forks available to them and no electronic tuners. I wonder if they had some sort of horse hair or leather lace tightened between the forks of a branch to a “standard” frequency? But, wait they had no way to measure the frequency…..  From what I’ve been able to read of historical facts on the web, it seems available resources played a big part in how the NAF was developed.

I try to imagine me in a time without tuners or tuning standards and I’m making a flute. I find a piece of river cane and it has a set bore size. So I’m gonna make the parts that generate the sound. We refer to it as the slow air chamber, flue and true sound hole. Then I start trimming the cane until it makes a good strong pleasant sounding note/tone. Then needing to set the fundamental accurately, I run through the village looking for the other musician that plays the…… Oh wait. No guitarist. No pianist. No Oboe either. Hmmmm. Guess I just have to make do with a note that sounds good. Guess I could go to another maker that has a nice sounding flute and try to match mine to his. Or, I could just make mine sound good to my ears.

I’ve not found any historical information that suggests the early NAF makers/players had standard scales. I haven’t read about any orchestras or combos among the Native Americans. Pretty much it was percussion and flutes. I can only suppose they must have made the lowest hole sound good to their ear in relation to the fundamental. Each hole after that had to sound good in relation to the others and the fundamental.. One method was to use the makers body proportions to lay out the hole pattern. So with that method, each flute was made according to a varying standard.

The debate over which tuning is best IMHO belongs in a tuning forum. We imposed our standards on the NAF. The earlier makers did not have to worry about being in tune with pianos, guitars and such. So that kind of blows apart the idea of tuning standards. They are only needed if a group of musicians are going to play together. Seems we noticed similarities to our established scales and “refined” the NAF to fit our standards. Guess that means our music is better? We felt the need to take another culture’s instrument and make it better, more like what we feel is good? Seems like there are words for that type of thinking. What makes our ideas of music better?

To me, NAF’s sound great with or without accompaniment. So to me, there should be a standard called “sounds good”. No rules, just pleasing to the ear. When I tune my acoustic guitar, I tune either to another instrument or a tuner and only because I’m gonna play with others. Once I have all my open strings in perfect tune then I put the tuner away and tune the guitar by ear listening to the chords. With new strings and perfectly tuned open strings, once chord will sound really good and the other a little off. I adjust the strings until all the chords I play sound equally as good as they can. I tune my flutes the same. I set the notes with a tuner at around 72 degrees. Then I let the flute “age” some. Then I go back and adjust it until it sounds the sweetest to me. If I’m making a flute for someone else, I tune it to the accepted standards in use today and leave it. I have made a flute according to body dimensions. I gifted it because the fellow wanted it. Sounded real sweet, but it didn’t meet any standards. I have another all mapped out and ready to make.

My dad was a guitarist. He taught me to play and I learned a lot after that from other guitarists and learning to play songs in cover bands. I used to sit and play with my Dad after I became an adult. We often swapped instruments. When we did, he would have to re-tune my guitar and when he handed it back to me, I would have to re-tune it. Why? Because of the amount of pressure used to press the strings. He pressed much harder than was needed for some unknown reason. That effectively made the notes sharp when he played and he had to down tune to compensate. Stringed instruments are that way. The artist/musician uses his fingers and sometimes a slide or such to determine what note is played, whether or not there is vibrato and whether or not the note is flat or sharp.

Native American Flutes are the same. The player can play sharp or flat at will. A note can be bent. So whether or not the A is 432 or 440 doesn’t really seem to matter. One standard is lower in general than the other.  I think 432 is better than 440. Why? Because it sounds better to me. I am fascinated by the mathematics of the 432 based tunings and the correlation to the mathematics of the universe. Could I pick a 432 instrument out of several instruments? Maybe. Can is provide emperical proof that it is better? No, because art is expression and whether or not art is good is subjective. Overall sound is more pleasing at the lowered tuning. Lower it too much and it doesn’t sound as good. At some point it becomes a different note.  Does it heal my body? Maybe. If music heals my soul and a healthy soul leads to a healthier body, then yes it does. Do certain frequencies have a direct effect on the physical body? Yes they do. Is it healing? Maybe. It can for sure be destructive.

One last observation. Violins have 4 strings and no frets. The musician must play in tune by ear. What does that do for tuning temperament arguments? This is especially true if the violinist is playing solo. So IMHO tuning is in the ear of the beholder. Science is nice and I appreciate the work that goes into developing sciences, but music is an art, not a science. You can use science to analyze a musical work of art. I’m not sure why we would need to do that. Art is meant to enjoy. Music comes from  a place within man. It is not created by scientific formulas. What formula determines what the next note should be?

IMHO. The holes in the NAF to me, are a guide. Each note’s purity is determined by my breath pressure, how hard I press on the hole and whether or not I fully cover the hole. In other words I express music. I don’t just play it according to rules. Give me any flute you want and I’ll play it and enjoy it. Who says it has to be tuned to any standard at all? Man takes a natural phenomenon, sound, and creates a set of rules for how it should be used.

Who is it that demands we adhere to a set of rules? Who determines which set of rules we need to follow? I often turn my audio recorder on and just play. Then, I go back and try to add to it with other instruments. Sometimes it sounds better, sometimes it does not. I have yet to find a set of rules to determine what sounds best. I was gifted a Tibetan singing bowl. I really like the way it sounds. It is fascinating to listen to. I have not felt the need to analyze the frequency of it’s tone. Never been curious to view its waveform characteristics. I just like the way it sounds. Same with the Native American Flute. I understand all the “stuff” about it, but in the end, I just like the way it sounds.