Elementary of Bamboo Flute

Parts of the Bamboo Flute (Bansuri)

Dandi - The dandi is the body of the bansuri.

Mukha Randhra - This is the embouchure, or the blowing hole.

Swar Randhra - These are the finger holes.  They are the holes that are used to play the melodies.  For a 7-hole flute as shown in th above picture, the musical intervals are: half-step, whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step.  (Please note that these are approximations; the use of equal-temperament is not to be construed from this discussion.)  The 7th hole (closest to the open end) is optional.  When it is absent, the 6-hole flutes are tuned to: whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step.

Garbha Randhra - This is the opening of the bansuri.  It should remain unoccluded at all times

Rassi - The body of the bansuri tends to crack.  This is simply one of the undesirable qualities of bamboo and reed.  This cracking may be reduced or eliminated by tightly binding the body with twine.  This is known as rassi.  One trick used by craftsmen to assure an even and reproducible tension is to tie a fixed weight to the end of the string and slowly turn the body of the bansuri to wrap the twine around it.

How to Blow Your First Note

Getting a sound on the flute is easy! Take just theMukha Randhra—the section you blow into. (If you have a one-piece flute, just leave your fingers off the holes.) Lay your lower lip over the edge of the mouth hole, and blow it like a pop bottle.

The sitting position

The fingering position
Please note that the tips of the fingers are not used.  Instead, it is the flat portion of the fingers, roughly an inch in from the tips that are used.  This gives much more control when playing the half-holes (e.g., ornaments, flat notes).

Fingerings for the notes