Bocarina™ part VI : The Ancestors

The plastic Bocarina^™, hereafter famous all around the world for its beautiful and efficient design, was not born with a snap of Chris Schuermans' fingers... As you can read it here, it was the fruit of some long work, with many adjustments to reach a high standard. The plastic version was the child of a clay instrument, accomplishment of a series of evolutions and tests in the shape.
Those ancestors, with a raw clay finish or glazed, were not called Bocarinas^™ yet. I think they were named by Chris Schuermans' brand : the Clarytones^™.



Here are 2 natural clay Clarytones^™ which date from different times. The shapes already announce the Bocarina^™, but certainly less refined.
Both wear the Schuermans' logo (see here for its explanation).





Besides the shapes, the main difference between those two models lays in the design of the nose saddles, which « were merely a result of the evolutionary process of improvement. The smaller one was the very 1st mould [Chris Schuermans] made (totally handmade). The larger one was (badly) designed with the aid of a computer. »

Contrarywise, the labium is almost already designed, although not as large nor rounded (convex) as on the Bocarina^™.

Here is a glazed Clarytone^™, with a similar shape, but a rather different nose saddle :


And here, a stunning sample of Schuermans' Delft blue glaze...




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On the sound side, it is very difficult to give a global opinion. Indeed, those Clarytones^™ were almost 100% hand made, without the regularity provided by the usage of a mould, contrarywise to the clay Bocarinas^™ (see this topic) and for sure, to the plastic models. So, every nose flute was unique. More, and according to Chris Schuermans, the ones that are left are not necessary the best ones...

However, on both the following sound samples, you'll notice those flutes were much less precise than the clay and plastic Bocarinas^™, and with a sound rather stifled and windy.
The first sample was recorded with the Delft blue Clarytone^™, which is a very lazy nose flute, slow and fat in the sound producing.
The second sample is from the large raw clay Clarytone^™, which is a rather « quick » and sharp instrument, allowing speedy notes.





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On the same topic, you can read :

Bocarina^™ part I : A South African Ferrari
Bocarina^™ part II : The clay original
Bocarina^™ part III : A player's report - by Birdy K.
Bocarina^™ part IV : Chris Schuermans' interview
Bocarina^™ part V : The Ones you'll never have...
Bocarina^™ part VI : The Ancestors
Bocarina^™ part VII : Experiments 1
Bocarina^™ part VII : Experiments 2

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Where to get a Bocarina^™

Brionski Ebay store
Dan Moi online shop
Grothmusic online shop

And for larger quantities, for sure :

Chris Schuermans
95 Farnham Rd. Lynnwood Manor
Pretoria, 0081 RSA (South Africa)

Cell phone no. +27 83 954 3224
Telephone no. +27 12 361 4659,

email : chris[at]schuermans[dot]org

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