The hand flute, or handflute, is a musical instrument made out of the player’s hands. It is also called a hand ocarina or hand whistle. To produce sound, the player creates a chamber of air with their hands, into which they blow air via an opening at the thumbs. There are two common techniques involving the shape of the hand chamber: the “cupped hand” technique and the “interlock” technique.[1]
The pitch depends on how the hands are held. If the space between the hands is made smaller or the opening made larger, the pitch becomes higher: the principles are the same with an ocarina or Helmholtz resonator; see vessel flute for details of the acoustics. The best hand flute players have a range of up to 2.5 octaves.[2]
An early recording of hand-whistling originates from a 1954 short communication.[3] Bearing similarity to “a lover’s flute tradition“[3], it was described how Kickapoo from Mexico “cupp[ed] the[ir] hands, [a]ir was blown into the cavity between the knuckles of the thumbs [that were] placed against the lips vertically“.[3]
See also
References
- ^ “Tutorials”. www.handflute.com. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
- ^ “Everything you need to know about Handwhistling”. Musicoguia Magazine. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
- ^ a b c Meyer, Julien; Busnel, René-Guy (2015). “Historical sketch”. Whistled Languages – A Worldwide Inquiry on Human Whistled Speech (PDF). By Meyer, Julien; Busnel, René-Guy; Dentel, Laure; Grinevald, Colette; Meunier, Fanny; Moore, Denne. p. 21–23. ISBN 9783662458372. Archived from the original on 12 January 2026.