534a3: Nose flute

The nose flute is sounded with breath coming through the nose rather than the mouth. Usually the flute is played with one nostril and the other is closed with a finger or plugged with tobacco or a rag.

South American Indian nose flutes are often round, being made from pieces of gourd.

Nose flutes are found widely among the peoples of the Pacific, particularly in Polynesia, and are side-blown or sometimes end-blown.

• Ocm module: Nose flute
• In ocm module: Aerophones
• In ocm module: Musical instruments
• In modular book: Expanded ethnomusicology categories for the Outline of Cultural Materials, by Kenneth R. Hollingsworth
• In bookshelf: Anthropology

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 21 March 1999

© 1999 SIL International