This blog is dedicated to the sublime instruments called nose flutes and which produce the most divine sound ever. We have chosen to discard all the native models from S. Pacific and Asia, for they need fingering to be played. We'll concentrate on "buccal cavity driven" nose flutes : the well patented and trademarked metal or plastic ones, plus, by a condemnable indulgence, some wooden craft or home-made productions.

May 5, 2012

Classical nose flute in Hannover

Are you in north Germany tomorrow ? You should! In Hannover, will stand the Spring Concert (Frülhingskonzert), with the Nosy Diva at the Nasenflöte.

The Nosy Diva will perform the "Spring song" by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy from the songs without words, with Wilfried Müller at the piano. Besides she will also play violin in the string ensemble. She is very happy to perform there because it is another step to establishing the nose flute as a "real" instrument. So if any of you nose flute lovers are around, have a look!

Frülingskonzert
Michaeliskirche
Stammerstrasse 57, Hannover-Ricklingen
Sunday, May 6th, 5PM.



May 4, 2012

Video : a very noisy ensemble

No less than 20 joyful but hectic nasenflöten in this video by the Swiss fanfare Guggemusig Chärneschränzer from Winznau! You may also listen to other (regular) recordings here.

May 3, 2012

Ukoliv : Much much nose flute music!

The Ukoliv festival, organised in Mannheim (DE) by the band Das Resopal Seminar was a great success and a very good moment. They had invited the band L'Uke, the Hula dancers Zaghareet, and us, Feed the Diva. The Nosy Diva played a lot of nose flute!
Waiting for the videos (need time to make a cut), here is a slide show proving that nose flute was there!

Click here for a bigger size.

May 2, 2012

Another video by Becapella

Last October, we posted a video by Becapella, the german duet of "hangers" (see this post). Here is another video with nose flutes, a bit experimental, and thus called Nasenflöten Alien Hang.

May 1, 2012

Review : a nose flute by Atelier EO

Jean-Philippe Minchin is a French craftsman who's specialized in traditional instruments, simply playable by anyone. His workshop is called Atelier EO and is based in the Pyrénées region (South west of France, near Spain). Mr. Minchin is focused on the esthetics and in using local or recycled ressources.
In the wind section of his website, among other flutes like sioux'siotankas, pygmys' flutes or rhombi, features a nose flute, in beech, cypress or wild cherry.

I was proud to find a french nose flute maker (Mr. Mellier stopped his production) and I ordered the EO nose flute, and received it within a week.




The flute was nicely packed in a cellophane pocket, accompanied with an user manual and a laced, more dedicated to hang the instrument around your neck than in a hand-free playing purpose.


/TR>
My first sentiment was mixed. On one hand, the design was neat and original, the wood pieces were beautiful, but on the other one, I immediately noticed some imprecisions in the making...Some wood edges are chipped, the assembling is approximative, and worst of all, the labium is not neat at all, lacking of a sweet and smoothg finish.

It is a shame, since other details are well made or designed...






On the sound side, the flute behaves as guessed, not because of its designed, but because of its lack of a sufficient finishing... Well, it works! But surely can have been much better sounding, and stay beautiful...

Here is a sound sample, played by the Nosy Diva. You can notice the difficulty to reach high sharps...



---

Links :

>> To Atelier EO website
>> To the contact page

Apr 30, 2012

Father and Son!

Video featuring Janne Bengtsson (aka "Jan Francisco") from the Lars Vegas Trio (see this post) playing the nose flute, accompanied by his father Börje at the accordion. The quality of the video is not at the best, but the music is good!

Apr 29, 2012

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...




---

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.





---

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

---

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

---