The Choctaw River Cane Flute

Flutes have been part of traditional Choctaw culture for a long time. In the Choctaw language, a traditional flute is called uskala. This term was actually created by combining the Choctaw words oski or “river cane” and ola “to make a sound”. So, for our ancestors, the word “flute” literally meant “river cane that makes a sound”. The Choctaw phrase for “to play a flute” is uskala olachi (Byington 1915: 453).

In the past, Choctaw flutes were used somewhat differently from the ways flutes, even Native American flutes, are generally used today. Records indicate that at the time of European arrival, the most powerful chiefs of the Southeast had flutists in their entourages, who played the flute to receive guests. It is likely that some ancestral Choctaw chiefs, such as Tvshkalusa, had flute players. Also during this period, the early Chickasaw, and probably ancestral Choctaw, played flutes on the battlefield before making an attack (Swanton 1946: 628-629). However, in the last two centuries, and perhaps since always, flutes were part of Choctaw society, and mainly used as a tool of the Choctaw medicine people. There is little evidence to suggest that Choctaw flutes were traditionally played during courtship, as they were by the Plains tribes of the west. In fact, at least some of the Choctaw men who used them made efforts to keep their flutes away from women (Howard and Levine1990: 30).

Most Choctaw flutes were traditionally made from large pieces of river cane about 1 inch in diameter. Different tribes had their own traditions and finger hole arrangements. Most Choctaw flutes have two finger holes. And most flutes made by other southeastern tribes had from zero to three finger holes, while flutes made by Plains tribes had five or six finger holes. Choctaw flutes are played by placing the mouth over the top end of the flute and blowing across it. When the air hits the solid node, it is forced out of the top hole and over a thin cane splint attached to the outside of the flute causing the splint to vibrate and emit a sound. This sound resonates through the lower chamber of the flute. The player’s two index fingers can be used to cover one or both finger holes. This effectively changes the size of the lower chamber of the flute, creating sounds of different pitches. The player can also cover the large hole at the base of the flute to obtain another tone. Different hand movements to cover the end of the flute are used by the player as notes to create a song (Byington 2010).

References:

Swanton, John R. – 1946 – The Indians of the Southeastern United States.Bureau of American.
Byington, Cyrus –1915 – A Dictionary of the Choctaw Language. Bureau of American Ethnology Vol. 46, Washington.
Byington, Presley – 2010 – Interview on Choctaw River Cane Flutes for Iti Fabvssa. May 26
Howard, James and Lindsay Levine -1990 – Choctaw Music and Dance. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

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