Brian :cupofcoffee: :rss:
boosted
How to make an elderberry flute:
1. Take your loppers out to trim sycamore branches;
2. Decide to cut the elderberry that’s been growing at the sycamore’s base;
3. Notice the elderberry’s pithy center;
4. Remember that 40 years ago you had planned to make an elderberry flute;
5. Make the flute patterned after an inexpensive quena (“KEH-na”) bought in Mexico.
The flute makes a sweet sound. A sample coming soon🙂
The sound is achieved by air forced across the sharp beveled surface at the end of the notch. I used a rat-tail file and my notch is very similar to the one on the quena.
Two simple wooden flutes. On the right is a bamboo quena from Mexico (even though the quena is more of an Andean instrument). On the left is the flute made from an elderberry stem.
Three elderberry stems with cut ends showing. The stems have white pithy centers.
