FluteTree : Flute Playing Tips & Techniques :

Fibonacci Technique

The Fibonacci Technique is a way to map the letters of a word or name to the fingering of the flute. Since there are 26 letters in the alphabet and only 5 finger patterns in the starter scale, each finger pattern will be assigned multiple letters.

	Fibonacci Map
	I J U V Y	H L N R X	A E O Q	B C F G S Z	D K M P T W

If we then lookup the letters to FIBONACCI, we get the following fingering.

F

I

B

O

N

A

C

C

I

You add your own the rhythm to this fingering and you have the beginnings of a new melody.

This is actually simplified version of the 'Fibonacci Technique' that I learned at The Renaissance of the Native American Flute (RNAF) which is the oldest and most influencial Native American flute workshop in America. I believe Doug Holly was the person that originally introduced this technique at RNAF and it has become one of the standard techniques taught to new players. It is fun to write a song for a friend by using just the letters in their name.

The example above uses the starter scale, because it is a fingering that is practically universal with the contemporary Native American Flutes. And it is a safe set of notes for a new player to start. But you can take any of the other scales that are found in FluteTree's songbook, and create your own Fibonocci super-decoder ring. If you add numbers to the finger map, you can even play license plates.

	Fibonacci Map A-Z & 0-9
	I J U V Y . 1 8	H L N R X . 4 6	A E O Q . . 0 5	B C F G S Z 3 9	D K M P T W 2 7

Here's a melodic motif that came to me at breakfast.

"My breakfast cereal"

0 5 8 4 4 9 7 7 7 0 3 8