NAFScaleSongs.com USER GUIDE

Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3

Login .......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Make Music ................................................................................................................................................ 5

New melody? .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Perspective .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Size .......................................................................................................................................................... 6

Scale ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

User Input ............................................................................................................................................. 11

Style ...................................................................................................................................................... 15

Starting Note ............................................................................................................................................ 15

Length ....................................................................................................................................................... 15

Max Repeats ............................................................................................................................................. 15

Max Leap .................................................................................................................................................. 16

Saved Sequences ...................................................................................................................................... 16

Scroll “Thingy” .......................................................................................................................................... 17

Print ......................................................................................................................................................... 18

Save .......................................................................................................................................................... 18

Introduction Thank you for your interest in NAFScaleSongs.com. NAFScaleSongs.com is a Native American Flute

resource that should prove useful for both beginners and advanced musicians. Its basic features are

free to use, and it has more advanced features which are available only to registered users. The main

features are:

Generate Random Note Sequences – Sometimes we can reach a plateau or get in a rut. When this

happens to you, you can have NAFScaleSongs.com create short random tunes for you. This is a

wonderful way to discover new note sequences that you may not have tried before. Configure

different settings to control how the sequences are made, then add your own timing and emotion

to the generated tunes to find the music within you.

Another great use for these random note sequences is building finger dexterity and comfort

reading NAF finger tab. Even when you generate sequences that aren’t particularly pleasant, they

are still great conditioning for your fingering skills.

Create Alphabet Songs – Use NAFScaleSongs.com to convert words, names, or phrases to NAF

finger tab. Play your name. For instructors or flute circle facilitators, this is a great exercise and is

always received with great enthusiasm.

Create Finger Tab from Number Tab – NAFSCaleSongs.com allows you to record your own music or

transcribe existing songs using Number Tab. The system then converts the Number Tab to easy-to-

read finger tab diagrams.

The free version of NAFScaleSongs.com allows users to generate short random tunes using the

Pentatonic Minor scale, and a straight-fingered 6-hole scale. It also lets users compose Alphabet Songs,

converting their own names or other phrases into NAF finger tab. All users can load saved sequences

and see them on screen. There are several tunes, scales, and practice exercises available for all users to

load.

The registered version adds more scales and longer output for the generator, as well as additional saved

songs. Composing songs using Number Tab and converting them to finger tab is another registered

feature. Registered users can also save and print either their random sequences, composed tunes, and

saved/loaded tunes.

The registered features are only available for registered users. Imagine that. The registered features

are only made available once you have logged in using your own user name and password. Many of

them are shown in the user interface, but are not selectable until you log in.

This user guide describes the free and registered features. Throughout this document, registered

features are designated using a graphic with two eagle feathers.

Login All users, free and registered, can generate random note sequences, and load standard saved

sequences. To access special features for registered users, you must first log in. Just click Login in the

main menu. Then enter your user name and password and click the Submit button.

NAFScaleSongs.com Log In Screen

When you submit validated user credentials, you will be shown a brief welcome message, then will be

taken to the Make Music screen where you can generate random sequences or compose your own

music using Number Tab, and alphabet songs.

Log In Success Message

If your log in is unsuccessful, you will be informed of that fact, then returned to the Log In screen after 3

seconds. Carefully re-enter your credentials and click Submit again.

Make Music Click on Make Music in the menu to access all of the main functionality of NAFScaleSongs.com. From

here you can choose the type of output to generate (random sequences or compositions), and how to

display the resulting finger tab.

When you first access the Make Music screen, a random note sequence is displayed. You can play it or

configure your own using the Make Music controls, which we will explain next.

The Make Music feature and its controls

The Make Music controls are arranged into 3 groups, separated by horizontal lines. The top group is

used for every scenario. It controls the output style and size, and determines which of the other 2

groups of controls are relevant.

The middle group consists of a single field and its information tool. This field, the User Input field, is

only used in conjunction with the Compose options from Scale drop-down in the top group.

The bottom group of controls is used with any/all of the scale-based random sequence generators.

New melody? Click this button to update the output with

your most recent inputs. If you are creating

random sequences, this will cause a new one to

be generated and displayed. If you are using

one of the Compose scales, the contents of the

User Input field will be read and used to

regenerate your tune and display it.

Perspective NAFScaleSongs.com can display your finger tab

with the mouthpiece up (Normal) or down

(Inverted).

Normal Perspective Inverted Perspective

Size Choose between Small, Medium, or Large

graphical output. You can get more on a screen

(or printed page) if you use small. On the other

hand, large is easier to read.

Scale This is how you choose between randomly generated note sequences based on various scales, or

composing your own sequences (tunes). There are a great many scales available for the NAF. Only a

few of them have been included in NAFScaleSongs.com.

The free (unregistered) version of NAFScaleSongs.com includes:

• Pentatonic Minor

This is the basic, most popular scale for the modern Native American Flute.

While the basic pentatonic minor scale plays well on all modern NAFs, it

may not be best for older flutes (prior to 1990’s). Diatonic may be a better

choice for older flutes.

• Straight-fingered 6 Hole

This scale may work well with older flutes. It is similar to Diatonic, but doesn’t have any

‘interesting’ fingerings. Just play up and down the flute.

• Compose – Alphabet Song

With Alphabet Songs, you can compose tunes based on words or

phrases. It can be a great teaching exercise, and can make for unique

'signature' songs based on your own name, or the names of loved ones, or

even pets. With this scale the 6 Pentatonic Minor notes are substituted

for each letter, and repeated to cover the whole alphabet A-Z. The

numeric digits are treated the same way.

Make a scale song based on your own name, poetic phrases, or other

words. Then add some rhythm and emotion to the resulting finger tab

with pauses, long and short notes, articulation, etc.

Registered users have access to the free scales, as well as the following:

• Compose – Number Tab

Number Tab is a popular way to capture

NAF music. Write music using numbers 1-

10. There are also a few flats and sharps.

Each note is represented with a single digit,

so we use a 0 instead of 10. Add sharps or

flats where appropriate by following the

digit with either a ‘#’ or a ‘b’. Sharps for

3,7, and 0. Flats for 5, 6, and 9. Notice that 2 is a half-hole. This is played by only partially

covering the bottom hole.

• Compose – Fibonacci Alphabet Song

This is another way to map the letters of the alphabet onto Pentatonic Minor notes. But the

Fibonacci method omits the octave note, and assigns notes to letters in a way that considers

harmony over sequence. Alphabet songs using the Fibonacci method are usually more likely to

be harmonious than those from the basic Alphabet Songs scale.

• Compose – Mojave 4

Mojave 4 is played on 4-hole rim-blown flutes called ‘Mojave’ flutes. The scheme adopted here

is to use the digits 0-4 to represent how many holes of such a flute are open. 0 means no holes

are open, or all are covered. 4 means all holes are open, or none are covered. Adding the ~

modifier after a 0-4 digit indicates that you intend to play that note in the 2nd octave. Using the

! modifier indicates a 3rd octave.

• Pentatonic Major

Omitting the fundamental note converts the Pentatonic scale from

minor to major. Then for the highest note, over low with all holes

covered to get the higher octave.

• Hexatonic Minor

• Northern

• Bugle

• Blues 6-Note

• Blues 7-Note

• Diatonic

• Diatonic Major

• Mode 4 Hexatonic Minor

User Input Enter your input into the User Input field when using Compose – Alphabet Song, Compose – Fibonacci

Alphabet Song, Compose – Mojave 4, or Compose – Number Tab. This field is NOT used when you have

selected a non-Compose scale from the Scale drop-down.

The User Input field is used to capture what you want to create finger tab for when using Compose

For either type of alphabet songs, just enter letters, digits, and spaces.

For Number Tab, enter notes, note modifiers, or other special characters into the User Input field. Do

not separate notes with a comma or any other delimiter. Just run them all together. The notes (some

with sharp or flat modifiers) are shown in the following graphic, along with their associated finger tab

notation.

Note that 2 is played by half-holing the bottom hole. Also note how certain notes can be made sharp by

following them with ‘#’. Other notes are made flat by following them with ‘b’.

Do NOT use a comma or other delimiter. Just run the notes together.

In addition to the notes themselves, you can also modify the notes by shortening or lengthening them.

Add a ‘–‘ after the note to shorten it. Add a ‘+’ to stretch it. The ‘*’ modifier makes a tiny version of the

note, used for a grace note, or similar accent.

‘Annie’s Song’ by John Denver looks like this using Number Tab. Notice the many flat notes, lengthened

notes, pauses (spaces), and the line separator.

Number Tab for Annie’s Song

Place your mouse cursor over the graphic above the User

Input field for some guidance on valid inputs. In addition to

notes, and pauses (spaces), you can add a horizontal line

(separator) by inserting an underscore character ‘_’. Using

either a period ‘.’ or the ‘enter’ key, you can stop the current

line and start a new one. Use the ‘>’ and ‘

For the Mojave 4 scale, the scheme adopted here is to use the digits 0-4 to represent how many holes of

such a flute are open. 0 means no holes are open, or all are covered. 4 means all holes are open, or

none are covered. Here is the basic scale on a Mojave 4.

Adding the ~ modifier after a 0-4 digit indicates that you intend to play that note in the 2nd octave.

These notes are shown with a light red shading. Using the ! modifier indicates a 3rd octave. These notes

are shown with a red shading.

The modifiers for long, short, and bark/chirp (+ - *) also work with the Mojave 4 scale. Put them after

the digits, and after the octave modifiers if used. The sharp and flat modifiers (# b) are not used here.

Valid notations look like:

Style

The Style attribute is used to control what sort of note sequences are generated for selected scales

(Pentatonic Minor, Bugle, Hexatonic Minor, etc.). It is NOT used when composing (Compose - Alphabet

Song, Compose – Fibonacci Alphabet Song, Compose – Mojave 4, or Compose: Number TAB).

There are three choices: Steps, Leaps, and Random.

• Steps ensures that each note generated will be no more than one away from the previous note.

Your tune will go up and down the scale, and will be harmonious and easy-to-play. Whether any

note may be repeated is controlled by another attribute.

• Leaps will also generate notes that go up and down the scale, but they are allowed to skip or

leap over notes rather than always being adjacent. The maximum size of the allowed leap is

controlled by another attribute. Larger leaps can add interest and drama, but may also sound

less harmonious than shorter leaps.

• Random will generate completely random notes. They may go up, or down, may include leaps

or steps, and repeated notes. Shorter random sequences may help you discover a new phrase

to play. Work it into your heart song, or use the Variation-On-A-Theme technique to create a

whole new song based on it. Longer random sequences are less likely to sound like nice tunes,

but are great exercises for finger dexterity, building comfort reading finger tab, or as a musical

challenge. See if you can take 10 totally random notes and add your own phrasing, style,

emotion, and embellishments to make a pleasant song.

Starting Note Use this attribute to select which note your output should start with. 1 is the bottom note, or

fundamental note. If you want to start on a particular note, select it. For more flexibility select Random

and let NAFScaleSongs.com decide where to start. This can be a very simple way to help you get out of

a playing rut. We often start and stop on the fundamental note. Shake it up. Force yourself to start with

another note.

Length How many notes do you want the generator to output. Free users are limited to 10. This should be

ample for generating random phrases, or creating finger dexterity exercises.

Registered users can select up to 120 notes for their generated tunes

Max Repeats Simple scale songs do not repeat any notes consecutively. But you can choose to allow consecutive

notes to be repeated up to 3 times. Valid choices are: No repeats, 1, 2, or 3.

Max Leap Simple scale songs may only have consecutive notes that are either repeated or just one note/hole

different from the prior one. Adding leaps can add interest. Smaller leaps typically sound more

harmonious and are easy for beginners. Larger leaps can be more difficult to master, and can be less

inherently pleasant sounding. Choose 1 (steps only) to keep it simple. Choose 2 or 3 to allow larger

leaps in your generated tune.

Saved Sequences Click on Saved Sequences in the menu to see a list of songs/sequences that you can load. Users of the

free version have access to several scales and songs that have been saved and made available to them.

Registered users get a few more saved items plus whatever they have created and saved for themselves.

Saved Sequences (free version)

The list of saved sequences includes columns for name, date saved, scale, style, starting note, sequence

length, max repeats, and max leap size. You can sort on any of these columns by clicking on the column

header.

Just click on a name to open up that sequence and see its settings and resulting finger tab diagram on

the Loaded Sequence screen.

The Loaded Sequence screen is essentially the same as the Make Music screen. The main difference is

that one is the result of loading already-saved content, and the other is the result of displaying a user’s

inputs.

Scroll “Thingy” In the screen shot below, we have highlighted the “scroll thingy”. Click the radio button to scroll the

screen automatically.

Your randomly generated sequences will almost always fit on the screen so that you can see the whole

sequence without scrolling. But when you compose, or load some of the standard saved sequences,

they may be too long to view without scrolling. For instance, we have made a version of “They Call The

Wind Mariah” available for you to load, and it is 340 notes. If you want to read the finger tab for this

song and play it as you read, stopping to scroll down can be a nuisance.

Click the radio button to scroll the screen. To acknowledge your click, it will beep 3 times, then slowly

begin to scroll the entire screen vertically. Use the short delay to get your fingers from the computer

mouse back to the flute. In many cases, by the time you play the notes on the lowest visible row, it will

have scrolled to the top making additional rows visible. However, sometimes you will find the scrolling

either too slow or two quick. While you can’t change the scroll speed, you can change the size

displayed, or either split or combine rows to affect how much content is included in each scrolling row.

While the screen is scrolling, click on any displayed finger tab note to stop the scrolling.

Print Registered users can easily print their generated, composed, or saved/loaded sequences by clicking on

the button. This displays instructions for completing your print task. From the instruction

screen, click Print again to display your tune without the instructions. One last click and your system

print function comes up. You can use your system’s print dialog to scale the output, adjust margins,

then print to your printer or to a PDF file.

Save Registered users can save their generated or composed sequences by clicking on the button.

Initially, the Name It field contains all of your notes. You will probably want to replace this with a more

appropriate name. If you want to save over an existing name, just that name. It will NOT warn you, or

prevent you from overwriting the existing entry.

After your tune is saved, the Saved Sequences screen is displayed. If you want to reload the tune you

just saved, sort the list by Date and the sequence you just saved will be at the top of the list.