Update: Research on indigenous end-blown notch flute in the Philippines

By Jose S Buenconsejo PhD

I found the mathematical notation of the sequence of boring the finger holes in the ancient indigenous end-blown notch flute (pendag or palendag) in the Philippines.

[Constant number 6 represents six units of the effective length (i.e., 1/2) but can vary depending on the total length of the bamboo internode.]

This describes only the specie of flute found among the inlanders of Southern Mindanao. The Philippine Northern Cordilleran flute also shares the same principle of ratios; but they use finger widths in the parenthetical equation (above). A C4-D4-E4-G4-A4 pattern of tones can be generated from this mathematical notation.

This mathemstics speaks to a theory of pentatonic scale that is not based on the Pythagorean “cycle of fifths” nor the Chinese wuyin (pentatonic scale) system.

[My deep respects to the genius of the ancestors of the archipelago.]