I look simple but I am intricate and demanding.
I call for diligence, for a method and appropriate measures failing which I cannot deliver melody. The positioning of the finger holes is calculated by measuring the bamboo shaft’s inner and outer diameters.
There is a formula in creating me. It is a special skill and this has to be intuitive, it cannot be taught or mentored.
The biggest challenge in structuring me is that I don’t give my creator a second chance. The flute maker has only one chance to burn my holes and a single mistake in calculation will ruin me forever. He knows this and is careful to initiate a small hole, he then plays the note using a chromatic tuner and a drone called tanpura and gradually, bit by bit, with focused trial and adjustments, he invents a melody by sanding the holes in small increments.
My book Keshava: A Magnificent Obsession is now listed on Amazon. To order click here: https://amzn.to/2vogOtk
To be continued
@bhawanasomaaya