performer from California, Tim collaborated in
the creation of the Native American Flute
scoring tool.
NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE
Scoring Tool
Some Words from Tim and the NAF Tool
I have been playing, composing, and arranging for the Native American "Style" Flute (NAF) for many years. Many players in this relatively small musical community are not formally trained musicians, and often do not read music.
Although a standardized, western-style notation system does exist for this instrument (known as Nakai Tablature, or simply "Nakai Tab"), compositions for the NAF often include finger charts beneath the written part, which at least identifies the notes to play, if not the rhythm.
Unfortunately these finger charts are not universally standardized, and are not included by default in Sibelius or any other well-known notation software.
For the NAF composer, this often requires importing these finger chart diagrams from external sources, and then positioning them using .pdf editing tools after the written score is created using Sibelius.
This workflow is quite time-consuming, inefficient, and error-prone (and the process becomes even more difficult to manage when later layout changes are introduced).
Working with the New NAF Tool
With this new NAF tool for Sibelius, adding these finger charts to the score / part is now effortless. The tool supports both 5-hole and 6-hole Native flutes, which are the most common. In addition, the fingering diagrams can be easily customized beyond what is supplied by default (including half-hole fingerings), allowing for alternate fingerings and fingering variations often found with notes above the octave on the instrument.
With this NAF tool extension, I can now stay in Sibelius the entire time when producing the score / part, eliminating the need for external tooling to add these diagrams. This saves hours of additional effort and keeps all of the notation information within the score, which is much easier to manage.
Listen to Tim's Music
Enjoy some of the music composed and performed by Tim Land.