If you like the finiture of your tubes you can skip this step. As with slatting the pipes before assembly, the key to a successful beveling of the pipes lies in consistency and uniformity. There shouldnt be any significant differences in beveling angle and depth from one pipe to the next, or between adjacent pipes all should be smooth, regular and even. If the pipe beveling should be irregular or uneven, the player will have to adjust his or her embouchure and blowing angle or technique from one pipe to the next, which doesnt make for very efficient and smooth playing. With smooth, uniform beveling of the pipes, all the pipes of an instrument will speak in sync with one voice. If we were to draw an analogy between the Pan Flute and the guitar, the beveling of the pipe rims is analogous to the fine adjustment of the height of the strings above the frets in a guitar both are crucial to determining a smooth, uniform playing action and response, whether it be with your fingers over the strings of a guitar, or with your lips and breath over the bamboo rims of the pipes of a Pan Flute. In beveling the pipe rims, I recommend that you proceed gradually, in stages, beveling and tweaking the pipes until you hit that sweet spot of perfect tone and playing response. All the ends of the straws should line up about 3/4 inch over one edge of the cardstock. Also, the note emitted depend also by how the pipe is played, and you can adjust the tone by tilting the flute or changing the way you blow on the open end. Each tube will produce a note a semitone higher than the previous one and a semitone lower than the next one. #2 Use the wavelength and diameter and solve for the length of each straw wind column ( L ). 4 years ago. Discard/save the cap as well. By the way: the tin whistle sounds good, is well tuned, and it's a C-whistle. Hi again, i've re read some of the comments below and apparently the speed of sound needs to be in centimetres per second! If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. OK, if you're reading those words you want to know more. Press down firmly. As you'll notice the frequency is inversely proportional to the length of the pipe. Musical craft ideas can be a great learning activity for kids. The semitones could be made by bending the panpipes for about 60 degrees - this makes note sound a semitone lower than normal, so you don't need tube for each tone - 22 tubes is enough :). It shouldn't be necessary, but it's a further warranty. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "buggyandbuddy-20"; My son (just turned 6) has been very keen on making homemade books recently. I'm not sure if I described exactly what I meant. The general rule is: if the discarded part starts with a digit less than 5 then you left all unchanged; if it starts with a digit greater or equal than 5, then add 1 to the last digit of the remaining part). 2 Scour for bamboo. = speed of sound (in m/s? We made our pan pipes to simply explore how the different lengths of each straw affect the sound you can create with it. But what if we want a note higher than a C6? We cannot start making something if we don't have anything to start with. Take one of your pen tubes and measure from top to bottom half-centimeter increments on the pen tube. Check out my book. ), When we do this, the elastic properties cause a slight elongation. Putting a quality Pan Flute together is a lot like putting together a jigsaw puzzle you always want to be able to reach for, and find, a piece that is just the right size and shape to fit. This requires having a good supply of bamboo pipes, of all assorted sizes and bore diameters, ranging from the very largest that you will be using, right down to the very narrowest, and every conceivable size and diameter in between. You definitely dont want to come up short, so its always better to have a supply of bamboo in excess of your needs than to be wanting in any way, or having to make do with a pipe that really isnt everything that youre looking for. Besides having a wide selection of pipes of every possible diameter available, the basic qualities desired in a bamboo pipe for making Pan Flutes are straightness, roundness or cylindricality, and hardness and denseness. A bamboo pipe doesnt have to be perfectly straight in fact, few are but it cannot be too crooked; slight bowing is permissible, with adjacent pipes selected to be congruent in the direction of their bowing. The process of fitting the slats so that the pipes interface well with each other is one that can be done in either a quick and perfunctory fashion, or in a more precise fashion whatever level of painstaking precision, or relative lack thereof, you choose to select, there needs to be a relatively high level of consistency and uniformity in the slatting depths of the pipes from top to bottom. You shouldnt have one pair of interfacing slats be cut very deeply with the ones immediately above or below it being cut very shallowly, for example. The slatting depth between pipes, which is measured by the closest that the inner bores of adjacent pipes come to each other at their narrowest point, is merely one dimension of pipe slatting and fitting. The slats need to be angled inwards ever so slightly towards the players side so that the surfaces of adjoining slats fit together perfectly on the Pan Flute Mold. Also, when viewed from the tops to the bottoms of adjacent pipes, the pipes and their slats need to be fairly uniform in width from top to bottom. Twisting or skewing of the slats from top to bottom should also be eliminated. First, the single slat of the bottom pipe receives a layer of glue as it is placed onto the end of the Pan Flute Mold, with the right tilt to it. Then, the second pipe up from the bottom is firmly placed next to it, and, after placement, its uppermost slat receives a layer of glue, with the third pipe up placed firmly on the mold adjoining it. This process repeats on up the scale, until you get to the top pipe, which receives no glue of its own, but is merely adjoined to the glued upper slat of the pipe below it. The coat of glue that the uppermost slat of each pipe receives is to be moderate not too thick, and not too thin, for the best results. My preferred method of applying the glue is the old fashioned way with the fingers although you are free to try other methods of glue application. It is also pretty much essential that all the pipes be glued together in one sitting, because there is bound to be at least a little warping of pipes as the glue dries, and gluing all the pipes together in one sitting, within the space of a half an hour or so, assures that a consistent, uniform warping will occur throughout the instruments entire span. The possibility of excess or undue warping can be reduced or eliminated by a thorough and precise fitting of the slats of all adjoining pipes before assembly, so that all slat surfaces are thoroughly flush and flat to one another. Let the glue dry for at least 12 hours before proceeding further. With some duct tape, maybe a colored one, cover the edge to avoid any air fugue. After the initial rough cutting of the slats, they can be fitted together by placing them on a Pan Flute Mold, which is essential for both slat fitting as well as gluing or assembly. Since the proximal or players side edges of the pipes are the ones that interface directly with the player by touching his or her lips, it is here that the pipes must be most precisely and uniformly aligned. And so, a Pan Flute Mold provides the maker with a curved, convex surface upon which to lay the pipes for fitting and assembly, providing precision alignment for the players side edges of the pipe rims. Perhaps the simplest way of making a Pan Flute Mold is simply to take a wooden board, hammer two rows of nails into it about 1.5 feet (45 cm.) on Introduction, Hiam working on a similar project for school where i will be needing the varying length for the notes Is it possible to get some help from youMy tubes have a diameter of 10mmI am having difficulties to get the lengths for the notesThanksDevesh, Greetings :) I've been wanting to make a set of panpipes for ages, but had no clue where to begin. Teach yourself Pan Flute. Crafting Recipe History 1.6.1.0 : (We cut ours into the following lengths: 6 inches, 5.5 inches, 5 inches, 4 inches, and 3.5 inches.) I also like making things. Load the pieces of rough cut bamboo into the oven when it is cold, taking care to place the racks on which you lay the pieces a sufficient distance from the heating elements above and below. You can load quite a few pieces of rough cut bamboo onto the racks of an average oven. You will load the bamboo into a cold oven, before you turn on the heat, close the door firmly, then proceed to turn the heat on. First, turn the oven up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the bamboo at that temperature for an hour. Then, turn up the temperature to 200 degrees F for a half an hour, then to 250 degrees for half an hour more then turn off the heat and, keeping the door of the oven closed, let the bamboo cool down gradually over a period of several hours or overnight. Its possible to bake the bamboo for a half an hour more at a temperature of 275 degrees F, but not absolutely necessary if you do so, be sure that your oven has an accurate thermostat, and that the temperature does not go over this level. amzn_assoc_title = "More Fun Stuff"; How to Make an Easy Pan Flute from Any Metal Pipe Pan flutes can be made from a whole range of materials, from drinking straws to bamboo, but here's a more unusual version that's made from metal plumbing pipe. Thank you! The pan flute instrument is based on the closed tube principle which consists of many pipes stacked together to form one singular unit. This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you I can make a tiny bit of money to help support this blog. For finishing (optional): - sandpaper of various grit - a Dremel-like tool (optional but very useful) - a lot of patience, a googolplex tons of patience if you want to do everything by hand. It rapidly releases green projectiles that accelerate in velocity over time. Then repeat for another tube, until you have no tube open. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Making a Pan Flute a Labor Intensive Process Making these super easy pen pan flutes is perfect for any lesson about music or instruments. Finally repeat with the 3-tubes pan flute. Step 1: Making the Pipes. When building a set of pan pipes, leave an extra bit of material more than what is indicated here. Then repeat with F#/Gb, G#/Ab and A#/Bb tubes. SUBSCRIBE - / @ksuiteach Show more Try. Apply glue to the back of the lolly stick and carefully place on top the straws, making sure it touches every straw. Shakuhachi: The East Wind | How to make a pan flute - YouTube 0:00 / 16:01 How to make a pan flute Radu Nechifor 1.84K subscribers Subscribe 2.8K 202K views 1 year ago About 12 hours of work in 15 min. Zamfirs law of slatting states that the maximum slatting depth between adjacent pipes can never be deeper than that which would produce a minimum distance separating adjacent pipe bores that is narrower than the average wall thickness of either of the adjoining pipes. For example, if two adjoining pipes have an average wall thickness of 3.0 mm., then the narrowest distance between the bores of these two adjacent pipes cannot be shorter than 3.0 mm. Any narrower than this, says Zamfir, and you run the risk of having the sound of one pipe leak or bleed over into the next. Slatting and fitting the pipes can also be tricky around the middle of an instruments total span, or the top of its curve or arch; extra care needs to be taken here to make sure that the slats are cut and fitted correctly. Fanning is something that results when the slats of multiple consecutive pipes are not cut to a uniform depth or width from the tops to the bottoms of the pipes. Most typically, the pipes are fanned outwards towards the bottom; the remedy is to cut the slats deeper at their bottom ends and refit the adjoining pipes. Meaningful Activities for Learning & Creating. is the best one to use. Nevertheless, different instruments, all of them of fine quality, will display a certain degree of variation in the relative tightness or openness of their curve or arch, within limits. The arch or curvature of the pipes is mainly an ergonomic consideration, to facilitate the moving of the instrument back and forth as the player moves around rapidly between its low and high ends. In other words, the arch or curvature of the pipes facilitates this up/down movement of the player by utilizing the natural rotation of his or her shoulders and arms around the central pivot of the head, neck and spinal column. Different players are of different sizes, some with wider shoulders and others with narrower ones, so there is no absolute uniformity of curvature among different quality instruments. If the arch or curvature of the pipes is too tight or great for you, you will notice a certain muscular constriction or tightness under the shoulder blades when you are at the top and/or bottom ends of the instrument; conversely, a curve or arch that is too wide will induce undue stooping forward and downwards of the head and neck as you play. You must feel that the instrument comes to you, and not that you have to go to it. I highly recommend that you first test how the arch or curvature of the pipes feels to you before you adjust it with the remedial measures I have recommended, and certainly before you begin framing the pipes. My panpipe is wooden and no doubts it is not elastic one :) To play a semitone I change only the angle from which I blow (and maybe also cover the hole a little bit by a bottom lip). at the top end of the instrument - and a precisely adjusted wall thickness calibration from top to bottom. In addition to the pipe bore diameters being precisely calibrated, the pipe wall thicknesses should be as well, so that the outer diameter of the pipe above at its top rim should be ever so slightly narrower than that of its lower neighbor and so on up the scale, until you get to the very small pipes up at the top end of the instrument. Write the numbers of each note onto the printable recording sheet. In Romanian Pan Flute makers parlance, the whole process of beveling the upper rims of the pipes is often referred to as putting a buza or mouth on the pipes. The whole purpose of beveling the upper rims of the pipes is to give the pipes a mouth that interfaces more comfortably and intimately with the mouth and lips of the player. The benefits of beveling the pipe rims are: a more polished, refined sound and tone; a better and more sensitive playing response; and an easier and clearer playing of the chromatic notes, which are produced by lipping down on the pipes. Beveling also smoothes things out; just try moving your lips back and forth over the rough, sharp rims of the un-beveled pipes! Beveling the upper rims of the pipes is a highly individual matter, and each player has his or her own preference; therefore, pipe beveling styles can vary widely between different players. Because beveling the pipe rims is putting a mouth on the pipes to fit the players own mouth or embouchure, the basic guideline or recommendation here is that beginning players bevel the top rims of the pipes only very lightly; then, once their embouchure is stronger and more firmly set, they can progress to a deeper or more extensive beveling of the pipe rims, as their natural inclinations lead them. . To make a bamboo flute, you'll need a drill, a rotary tool such as a Dremel, and attachments for it. Tools we need: - a saw or a tube-cutter - a measuring tape/long caliber/big printer (I will explain this later) - something to write on tubes - needle files - tuner/good ear (optional) - clear glue (optional) If you don't have one, I suggest to buy a tube-cutter: I've bought a small one, suitable for tubes from about 0.5 to 2.2 cm, and it costs me only 2 (less than 1.5 $). SUBSCRIBE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR2z5oXyl6oiA5Gv8M9h62g?sub_confirmation=1Follow the KSU iTeach Makerbus on Twitter https://twitter.com/iteachmakerbusFollow KSU iTeach on Twitter https://twitter.com/ksuiteachCheck out other projects on MakerTube! So if you were to bend a longer pipe the same amount, the change in pitch would be greater as the frequency change would be the same BUT the fractional change would be larger. You can use it "as is", or you can change the speed of sound to a value you think it's more appropriate for you. Now we need to determine which notes we want to produce, and their frequencies. Take five wide straws and cut them into varying lengths. After the pipes have been oiled, and the excess oil has been thoroughly removed, the next step is to finish or paint the pipes. The purpose of painting or finishing the pipes is mainly aesthetic in nature, but it can have acoustical benefits as well. A wide variety of different finishes may be used, such as acrylic lacquer, oil finishes, polyurethane, or various kinds of varnishes, including acoustical violin varnish. I highly recommend the latter, as it not only beautifies and preserves the bamboo, but also improves the overall sound and acoustics of the pipes. Or, you may simply wax or oil the outsides of the pipes, as you have done with their interiors, or apply no paint or finish at all, preferring to go natural. A glossy finish is most recommended for the bottom frame or boot of the Pan Flute, even if the pipes themselves are left in an unfinished, natural state; one of the things I have done with the frame or boot has been to apply a very thin layer of clear epoxy glue to it, using a very thin piece of plywood as a kind of palette knife applicator for doing this. The frame or boot may also be stained to get it to be the right color, and even brown or black shoe polish can be used for this purpose. 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