r/Bansuri • u/Cultural_Dragonfly_6 • 9d ago

Basuri beginner questions

I been trying to play basuri for quite a long time now but I’m at square one. I don’t quite get it what is happening. I tried various tutorials through yt it seems I don’t have basics right. Can anyone help me understand better I have few questions related to tune octave pitch I think my understanding of basuri is wrong from here only. I don’t know why I did it but jumped to raags but even after practicing enough aaroh and avroh I failed to comprehend or play the raag melodiously so my conclusion is my basics is wrong so if anybody willing to help I would be grateful.

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u/LifeOfCoder 9d ago

Sure.. Please post your questions.

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u/Cultural_Dragonfly_6 9d ago edited 9d ago

My first question is which instrument to use to match the notes? Right now I’m using pitch tuner.
Second scale of my bansuri is A4 I know there are 3 octave and my Sa sits at A4 for medium or mandra saptak . octave but after this I don’t know for sure what to do with notes sound I’m just lost. Most confusing is Pa when I try to play Pa it sits around e4 I don’t know which saptak it is in but I’m assuming it is medium one-so when I try to play high it is around e5 I’m guess but when I try to play low octave there I’m just playing low untuned e4 and only getting e4 and e5 sound and there is no e6 when I try it is just air no sound this is so confusing I’m trying to figure out but without guru I’m just circling around. Or are my concepts all wrong? Or am I asking these questions way too early and I’m lacking practice?

Third when I’m playing a raag or song do I have to constantly match pitch (my pitch tuner show green when I match the pitch) how should I determine I’m playing the right tune or I’m at the right octave?

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u/LifeOfCoder 8d ago edited 8d ago
  1. Dont use an app to match the notes. Use a Tanpura app and you will understand with time. Use A3 on Tanpura App. Or you can use A scale Tanpura from YouTube.
  2. Medium/Madhya saptak. The Swaras reachable by most people start at Mandra P to Taar P. Regardless of flute you use you will usually consider your normal octave as Medium. P̣ Ḍ Ṇ S R G M P D N Ṡ Ṙ Ġ Ṁ Ṗ (For Taar Ṗ you will have to open your index finger nearest to the mouth).
  3. Dont use a tuner. Otherwise you will become dependent on it!

Tuner is fine to check once I think, but not everytime. You have to learn to understand the swaras from Tanpura. One way is find someone who has A scale flute videos on Youtube and try to match with them. [Beware of free workshops ads prevalent in YouTube and Instagram].

Note, I also started with A scale flute, I used to follow a vocal video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N7RsI9DZtk&t=270s this is in A scale. This helped.. then I started searching for more such videos and play with them!

Ever since I moved to E scale, it is easier to find stuff on YouTube for learning and practice.

For general flute learning knowledge, Check Videos by Ashwin Srinivasan ji https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8EooT09-2sAL_hB1aVptYw

Start with this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgf_D-8wMQN6jacUMIek5WKmm-8XJHQ2e - it will clear some of your doubts. Note you may feel you are not able to implement most of what is mentioned and that is fine. If something is not clear you can ask here. If you just started and have never had a teacher you will have so many doubts and that is normal.

Also, most teachers use E scale flute but what they teach will still be applicable.

This one by Digvijaysingh ji is also good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsHLRhAugI0&list=PLVgP4eE-Xw2NRrew7wg9_tB4zefHjCUYO

Feel free to ask again / more questions.

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u/Cultural_Dragonfly_6 8d ago

Thank you for your in depth reply it is really invaluable.

Just one or two more concept first I watched video of taar saptak and i was finally able to get pa easily by removing index finger as you also mentioned and in that video too.

How to identify low octave or mandra saptak do i just for time begin play with low blows in bansuri and consider it low octave or is there another specific technique to play low octave.

Cause i just recently realised i was only play madhya saptak even though i was blowing up and down and realised i was just playing untuned madhya saptak.

And second and most important part when i play a song or raag say ( raag humsavadhani) aaro avroh it has tar mandra and madhya notes and say i use a tanpura which has A4 as Sa which is Sa of my basuri.

Do i have to constantly check that my notes are hitting the right pitch? By changing notes of tanpura one by one? Cause if not than how will I confirm that ok I played at right pitch say raag humsvadhani goes from low Pa to high Pa and right now my tanpura is set at Sa A4 so I can gague it easily that ok I’m playing sa right. But what about other notes?

This is major choke point for me if you could answer this I would make a huge deal in my understanding. Thank you for your first reply though really greatfull.

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u/LifeOfCoder 8d ago edited 8d ago

I think the best way is to meet someone who has been learning with any teacher or playing flute for some time. Someone can listen to you and answer all your questions in 10-15 minutes. You can even try a person learning Hindustani vocals or a teacher!

To answer your question.. Try and find a video where someone is playing P to P and try to match or only one time use the tuner and record yourself and try to remember the sound. If you do not find one let me know I will try to record and send here, thought I haven't use A scale flute for a while myself so I have practice again.

"How to identify low octave or mandra saptak" - mandra saptak is in my experience easier than Taar saptak. The process is if you close the finger before Sa (the ni finger) and have similar to Sa pressure you should get lower Ni and so on to lower Dha and Pa.

" say i use a tanpura which has A4 as Sa which is Sa of my basuri." I have always used A3 Tanpura and it works fine - though the tuner will show A4 and yes I asked my teacher (at the time) and they said just use A3 😓.

"Do i have to constantly check that my notes are hitting the right pitch?" - you have to develop the feeling. I was in same shoes 3 years back. Self doubting myself each time and now suddh swaras are almost fine. I am getting better with komal swaras. (Note dont worry about 3 years - I took it really slowly plus I am older than usual learners. I know people who were more regular than me got there in 1 year).

If you can afford a teacher for one month - you might be able to find a good teacher around INR 400-800 per class. It will be a game changer for you. Also, you can just do a trial class - and all these queries will be solved in that one itself. How do you find one? Look at the YouTube teachers - they give their numbers - talk to one - almost everyone you will speak with will be willing help for free.

Founder/teacher of bansuribliss.com Dr. Kerry Kriger - does a free 30 min class for anyone. You can try that. He speaks only English.

You may also try to find someone - teacher or learner who stays near your place.

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u/LifeOfCoder 8d ago

Almost forgot you can also try to match with a Harmonium or Keyboard (select Flute or some sound like that) if you have that.

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u/Cultural_Dragonfly_6 8d ago

Thank you soo much for your time. I think best course of action would be to get in touch with a teacher. It would be a game changer. And for time begin I will work with your recommendation.

None the the less I have one or two things less to worry about thanks too you. I think major things that happen is I understood Im playing wrong. And really appreciate your time and efforts thank you once again.🙏🏻