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Explore / Instruments / Bansuri

Bansuri

A side-blown flute made from one length of bamboo. It has no keys and no reed: the note comes from the air inside the tube, set by how many of the six holes the fingers leave open, and by the breath.

Sa337.7 Hzgentle breath
Inside the tube
dots: the air; they sway most where it moves mostdots: the air as it movesgold: squeezed · blue: stretched
Notes · tap to hear

Dots are holes 1 to 6, left to right; filled means covered. Sa′ is the upper Sa.

Left hand
Right hand

Top: the flute at true proportions, measured from a photo and drawn level; players hold it slanting down to the right. Below: a cutaway, drawn several times thicker than life, with the motion slowed down hundreds of times. The wave is a picture of the physics, not a measurement. Click the flute once, then hold Space to blow and press 1 to 6 for the holes.

A single press gives a short breath. Hold the button, or hold Space, to keep the note going.
About this sound
Inside the bansuri

Tap a part
    How the sound is made

    From the breath to the octave

      Questions about the bansuri

      How many holes does a bansuri have?

      Six finger holes and a blowing hole. Many concert bansuris add a seventh, set slightly off the line for the little finger; Pannalal Ghosh introduced it.

      Sources: Wikipedia, "Bansuri"; Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection, "bansuri"; Wikipedia, "Pannalal Ghosh"

      Why do bansuri players bring several flutes?

      Each bansuri is built in one key: its length, bore and hole positions fix its Sa. To play with a different Sa, a flautist picks up a longer or shorter flute and fingers the music the same way.

      Sources: Wikipedia, "Bansuri"; Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection, "bansuri"

      How long is a bansuri?

      Most are 30 to 75 cm. Longer flutes sound lower. Pannalal Ghosh settled on a 32-inch (81 cm) concert flute, longer than most, and also made a bass flute about 40 to 42 inches long with four holes.

      Sources: Wikipedia, "Bansuri"; Wikipedia, "Pannalal Ghosh"

      How do you play Sa on a bansuri?

      Cover the three holes nearest the blowing hole and leave the other three open. With all six covered the flute plays Pa, below Sa.

      Sources: Wikipedia, "Bansuri"; Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection, "bansuri"

      What is the difference between a bansuri and a venu?

      Both are side-blown bamboo flutes. Bansuri is the North Indian (Hindustani) name. In South Indian Carnatic music the flute is called venu or pullanguzhal, and it usually has eight finger holes.

      Sources: Wikipedia, "Venu"; Wikipedia, "Bansuri"

      Who made the bansuri a concert instrument?

      It was largely a folk instrument until Pannalal Ghosh (1911–1960) established it as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani music. From the late 1950s Hariprasad Chaurasia developed it further as a concert instrument.

      Sources: Wikipedia, "Pannalal Ghosh"; Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection, "bansuri"; Wikipedia, "Hariprasad Chaurasia"

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      1 upcoming flute concert

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      Sources

      Text

      1. Wikipedia, "Bansuri": one length of bamboo, cut, dried and oiled; holes burned with hot rods; one end closed, the blowing hole a few centimetres from it; 30 to 75 cm long; the fingering of each swara, with three holes covered for Sa and all six open for Ma; half holes for flat notes; octaves by breath; the index, middle and ring fingers on the holes, the thumbs and little fingers holding the flute
      2. Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection, "bansuri": the wax plug about three inches in; the vent hole on that flute; 17.5 of its 21.5 inches sounding; the breath on the far edge of the blowing hole; overblowing at the octave; cross fingering and half holing; a folk instrument until Pannalal Ghosh
      3. Horniman Museum, object 2007.468: a flute made in New Delhi, 650 mm long with a 21 mm bore; cork stopper; red and yellow silk ribbon; a seventh side hole
      4. Wikipedia, "Pannalal Ghosh": his dates; the flute as a concert instrument; his 32-inch flute; the seventh (teevra madhyam) hole for the little finger; his four-hole bass flute of 40 to 42 inches
      5. Wikipedia, "Hariprasad Chaurasia": developing the bansuri further as a concert instrument from the late 1950s
      6. Wikipedia, "Venu": venu and pullanguzhal, the South Indian flute, with eight finger holes
      7. UNSW Music Acoustics, "Flute acoustics": the jet striking the far edge and flipping in and out of the hole; jet speed of 20 to 60 metres a second; the next resonance when blown harder (about the Western flute, used for the physics the two share)
      8. Fingering chart, Wikimedia Commons (Prithoo): which holes are half covered for the komal notes; three strengths of breath (public domain)

      Recordings

      1. “Major scaled played on bansuri” by sankalp, Freesound: the scale clip and the notes cut from it; his description, a major scale in F on what he calls an A# flute (CC BY 4.0)
      2. “Bansuri single note lower octave” by sankalp, Freesound: the held Sa, which he describes as slightly lower than standard F (CC BY 4.0)
      3. “Bansuri single note middle octave” by sankalp, Freesound: the held upper Sa (CC BY 4.0)
      4. “bansuri_flute_rag_jog.wav” by Ninad_P, Freesound: the phrase in Raga Jog, played by the uploader; its Sa, about 466 Hz, is our measurement from the clip (CC0)

      Drawings

      1. “Bansuri F4” by Llrr, Wikimedia Commons: proportions, hole positions and binding colours of the flute drawn (CC BY-SA 4.0)
      2. “Bansuri bamboo flute 23inch” by Betelgeuse, Wikimedia Commons: the open bore at the blowing-hole end and the oval blowing hole (CC BY-SA 3.0)

      The recordings are edited into single notes, trimmed, looped when held, tuned onto equal-tempered swaras above the held Sa (by 9 to 61 cents), and pitch-shifted for notes the set does not have; the clips are as played. Nothing you hear is synthesized. The cutaway and its wave are a sketch of the physics (UNSW), not a measurement.

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