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Indeed, it works fine. The sound is as crappy as the original plastic whistle was able to provide, but the trill works well, while acting on it with a finger, with rather the same alteration, whatever the note, sharp of medium :
Jul 31, 2012
Samba nose whistle
One more in my series of experiments with whistles. I got a pair of very crappy plastic samba whistles, and applied my old method : make a round hole in the belly. I also rounded the air entrance in order to get it smoother for my nostril.
But what makes the particularity of a Samba whistle? the tone change holes. I decided to clog one with a drop of glue, and thus, got a "true tremolo" hole on the other side.
Indeed, it works fine. The sound is as crappy as the original plastic whistle was able to provide, but the trill works well, while acting on it with a finger, with rather the same alteration, whatever the note, sharp of medium :
Indeed, it works fine. The sound is as crappy as the original plastic whistle was able to provide, but the trill works well, while acting on it with a finger, with rather the same alteration, whatever the note, sharp of medium :
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This element truly makes the instrument sound like a fingerplayed flute, as it provides a fixed 'interchange' whilst playing one single note, which is just genius! At the same time, the free intonation is sustained. There should be a possibility in adding this element to the standard urban nose flute somehow.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I think it is ever so clever to take on the samba whistle, as the standard urban nose flute is actually used in Brazilian carnival processions, together with this samba whistle.
I am not taken aback at all by the fuzziness of this instrument, as it adds loads of character to the sound. Any ethnic flute has some sort of buzz, reediness and distortion. The plastic nose flute tends to sound too clean, very much like the standard transverse flute, which was 'professionalised' in order to produce a 'clean' tone for western classical music.
I strongly opt for more options soundwise, which allows you to express yourself more freely.
Hello Maikel,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is possible to bore almost any urban-type to get the same effect...
Yes, let's work on "more options" :)
All the best,
Antoine
Nice.
ReplyDeleteI guess you can try gluing an open tube going away from the mouth with holes for a "nose flute-whistle", Or a closed tube with holes for a "nose ocarina-whistle".
Some days ago I was playing around with a larger pea whistle and discovered that I can blow it using both nostrils. I immediately thought It could be made into a nose whistle, seems to fit well in the mouth too. Unfortunately it was a low quality one that did not work well even using the mouth.
Her's a similar one in good quality (Acme 558):
http://www.acmewhistles.co.uk/xcart/product.php?productid=92&cat=1&page=1
Luis
P.S. By the way, I have a small collection of referee type whistles, accumulated since the 1960's. Most I appreciate too much to convert to nose whistles though.
Luis, I don't understand well what you mean by "I guess you can try gluing an open tube going away from the mouth with holes for a "nose flute-whistle", Or a closed tube with holes for a "nose ocarina-whistle"." ...
ReplyDeleteIt is a crazy idea that came to my mind while looking at the side tubes in the samba nose whistle.
DeleteLet's see if I can explain...
"nose flute-whistle": imagine you take the samba nose whistle and glue an extension to the tube that has not been clogged, then drill several holes along this longer tube. By covering or uncovering the holes you get various sounds. So you can play melodies as in a regular fipple flute, or play as a regular nose whistle, or combine both.
"nose ocarina-whistle": imagine that you take the samba nose whistle and glue a short, fat extension, closed at the end, to the tube that has not been clogged, then drill several holes on this short, fat tube, the holes can be side by side as in an ocarina. By covering or uncovering the holes you get various sounds. So you can play melodies as in a regular ocarina, or play as a regular nose whistle, or combine both.
Hehe. Then you can unclog the other tube and add a drone (IIRC Maikel has already suggested a drone).
Luis
I actually glued a 30 centimeter long PVC extension with fingerholes (in the right places) to a nose flute using expoxy back in 1996-1997. This sadly didn't do the job, as the sound produced died or thinned down in the pipe.
DeleteBefore that I used a vacuum cleaner tube from (much thinner) steel which resulted in all sorts of overtones and harmonics that were rather hard to tune to a melody or scale. Using that utensil really makes playing the nose flute into an improvisation!
Somehow the sound should be tuneable...