A wooden one-handed vessel flute, handcrafted in Estonia. Clean sound. Same fingering as the 4-hole ocarina (English pendant).
Mikroflööt No. 15 – in G
80€
in stock
Mikroflööt No. 14 – in G
80€
in stock
Mikroflööt No. 11 – in G
80€
in stock
Mikroflööt No. 2 – in G
80€
in stock
Mikroflööt No. 8 – in G
60€
sold out
Mikroflööt No. 6 – in G
60€
sold out
Mikroflööt No. 4 – in G
80€
sold out
Mikroflööt No. 3 – in G
60€
sold out
This mini flute was created in Estonia, a country where minibuses are charmingly called mikrobuss. The mikroflööt is a small vessel flute, a family that also includes ocarinas. It is played with one hand, either the left or the right. It is placed against the lips and held in place by the little finger, which is wedged into a specially designed notch.
Thanks to the ingenious fingering from the “English pendant”, it can be played chromatically across an octave.
When adjusting the instrument, I aim for a full, clear tone that can easily adapt to repertoires such as early music.
It fits in your pocket or can be worn as a pendant. The very distinctive choice of wood (spalted wood, flamed wood or other natural decorations), together with the meticulous polishing and varnishing, make it, I hope, a little gem that is a pleasure to wear and handle.
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It’s easy to produce the sound; you’ll probably be able to play a tune straight away by following the tablature.
However, it takes a few days or weeks of practice before the music really flows. This is because, on the one hand, you need to get used to the fingerings and, on the other, you need to adjust your breath for each note: slightly less force for the lower notes, slightly more for the higher ones. This flute is very responsive; playing in tune requires greater control over your breath than with the recorder. Practise regularly. On days when it isn’t going well, don’t push it. Just try again the next day.
Before you begin, make sure your fingers cover all the holes. Blow gently into the mouthpiece, pronouncing ‘T’ for each note (except when you want to play slurs).
Here are a few introductory exercises to help you get to know the instrument. Practise each one by reading from left to right and then from right to left, a few minutes each day, until it becomes instinctive.
Cover all the holes, then uncover them one by one, starting with the ring finger and working towards the thumb.
Almost the same but we start on A (only the ring finger is raised) and add D, which will be our first ‘fork’ fingering (ring finger and thumb down, but index finger raised).
A useful scale but tricky fingering. We add the B using a fork fingering: only the middle finger is raised. We also add the F# that is played with only the ring finger down.
Another useful scale. The new note here is F, played with only the middle finger down. Note that these are also the notes of the C scale. With a microflute, we often plays “in G” or “in C”.
Note: the audio files above accurately reflect the sound produced; neither the pitch nor the volume has been corected. As with all globular flutes, the sound is louder on higher notes.
You’ll find more exercices and also some tunes in this booklet (PDF) :
@helipuu A few pictures of how my mikroflööt is made.
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This instrument was developed based on my experiments. It has improved with each successive prototype. I believe that this sort of thing should be freely shared, so I have published the plans and building instructions on opentrad.net (only french version for the moment).
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