Learn to improvise on the North Indian Flute (Bansuri) – Online Lessons & more
Jazz & Hindustani Music
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Hello there,
Are you attracted by the Sound of Bamboo Flutes?
Are you looking for some REALLY BEGINNER-FRIENDLY methods on how to learn how to play the flute?
Or are you looking specifically for improvised music, like the North Indian Classical, the Hindustani Music or Jazz?
This website is a good place to start exploring the Bansuri and get online support, for all styles but specifically for Hindustani Music (North Indian Music) and Western Jazz Music.
Private Lessons Online & Classes
Hindustani, Jazz and more on the Bansuri
This website is a very beginner-friendly place, but it will also be useful for you if you want:
- to refine your basics on the flute
- get insights for Improvisation in general
- get introduced into the Hindustani Classical Music and the Raag System (Raga)
- get introduced in all the basics for Jazz and Western Music
Everything is in a constantly evolving, more and more content will come over time, and a great deal of it will be for free. What you will get here is:
- flute exercises & lessons
- music downloads (tunes & tools)
- knowledge about theory and methods of practicing (Western & Indian Music)
- discussions and sharing in the blog section
- contacts to professionals … and much more
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Together we can start exploring the Hindustani Classical Music, the so-called “North Indian Music”.
But also I will show and explore with you the usage of the Bansuri for all kind of different styles.
The Bansuri – Bamboo Flute from India
The flutes I am using are the classical “Bansuri”, a very simple flute from India.
Beside the one blow-hole there are 6 holes for the fingers plus one additional one, which can be closed with the knee (in case of the bigger flutes).
The Bansuri is suitable to play all kind of scales. Some other instruments are build in a way that you can play only one particular scale, but the Indian Bansuri is not restricted in this manner.
Basic Music Theory
On this website you will also find material to learn to understand fundamental music theory related to the music we are dealing with. It is important to understand the differences between Indian Music and Western Music in general.
Indian Classical Music
In the Classical Music of India, but also in other indigenous Music styles, there is a never changing root note, mostly played by the Tanpura. That means that all notes will relate to the same root throughout a whole piece of music. This is completely different to the western music.
Also different is the system of Raag (Raga). Within this we find that the scales does not match with our western system of 12 semitones per octave. To be able to play Raag Music we need instruments that enable us to modulate the intonation of the notes being played. The Bansuri is such an instrument.
Western Music
In almost all styles that we are used to hear, from Western Classical to Blues, Jazz, Rock and Pop Music, Musicals and so on, we use temperated scales. This is a necessity in order to be able to jump around in different keys, meaning to have different root notes.
In this circumstances we cannot tune every note we use according only one root note. The ratio between the intervals then change, and we need to find a compromise in tuning.
We can say, that all music that is played with instruments involved like the piano or the guitar, there the intonation cannot be 100% pure and natural. This quality we can only develop when relating to one stable root note, which is not changing.
And we need instruments that allow us to play intonation accordingly. A piano for instance does not give us the freedom to modulate the intonation of single notes.
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It is not important to understand all of this right now. I will go into the fundamental theory of music and the practical usage of the flute in the blog section to give you an overview and general understanding. Please also check on the blog-categories for a better overview.
Have fun to explore.