The flute, unlike the drum and gong, has no religious idea whatsoever associated with it. It is played at the caprice of the tribesman, to while away a weary hour, to amuse the baby, or to entertain a visitor.
The melody produced by it is soft and low, plaintive and melancholy, resembling in general features Chinese music, with its ever recurring and prolonged trill, its sudden rises and falls, and its abrupt endings.
Flutes are not used by women, and not all men have attained a knowledge of them. Here and there one meets a man who is an expert and who is glad to display his skill.
The tunes are said to be suggestive of birds' and animals' cries4 and seem to be the product of each.
4The more common pieces are: Sin-a-gáu to bu-á-da (the roaring of the crocodile), bu-a-bú-a to á-mo (the monkey scare), and the din-a-go-yu-án.
Flutes are made from the internodes of a variety of bamboo and are of four kinds, depending on the number and position of the fingerholes.
The paúndag flute.5--The paúndag is the commonest form. The joints of the bamboo are cut off and the circumference of the resulting internode is measured accurately with a piece of abaká or other fiber. With this for a measure, 16 marks or rings are cut on the segment and at each end beyond the first and last mark, a distance equal to one-half the circumference is marked off, the remainder of the segment being then cut off square at each end. At the eighth mark a hole about 8 millimeters in diameter is cut or burned in the bamboo. The same is done, but on the opposite side, at the ninth, eleventh, twelfth, and fourteenth marks, respectively. The ends are then cut in much the same shape as an ordinary whistle, and the flute, a segment of bamboo about 1 meter long, is ready for use.
5Called also pan-dag.
While being played, it is held in a vertical position, the side with the one fingerhole being toward the body of the player. The end with the first mark, that which is farther away from the fingerholes, is placed just under the upper lip. The thumb and middle finger of the right hand control the openings at the eighth and ninth marks, while those at the eleventh and twelfth are covered by the first and middle fingers of the left hand, respectively, the hole at the fourteenth mark being uncovered.