noseflute.org: 7/8/12

Jul 14, 2012

Nose flute as alarm whistle

A Japanese ecologist parade in the Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, for Earth Garden Festival.

In the picture below, taken during a recent march against the relaunch of nuclear plants in Japan, you can see a man whistling his nose flute. (Photo by Takuma Ikeyama)

Jul 13, 2012

Nose flute and Chapman stick

Do you know the Chapman stick? I didn't. I know guitar sticks, but this one has the particularity of being a 12 strings neck that you can separate in several fingerboards, so both hands can tap the strings, one for the bass line, and one for the melody.

Here is a video by TheFolkSinger, who plays a cool jazzy composition of its own, with a great talent. And he added nose flute too.

Jul 12, 2012

Cornelius Degen's nose flutes

Cornelius Degen lives in Hamburg, Germany. He is a storyteller and is used to play the nose flute during his performances, but he is also a singer, a musician and a craftsman. Indeed, he has been a goldsmith and has been working with wood for 34 years, making fine and "magic" boxes, etc. More, Cornelius creates also his own tools, especially adapted to his production.

As double-bass player, Mr. Degen felt the need to have a smaller instrument to carry with him all day long, and since he heard of nose flutes in 2008, he first got a wooden and a plastic one to look how they were done. He first made a try by modifying a recorder, and quickly decided to produce his own Nasenflöten.

Here is a research and test sample by Cornelius. As you can see, it is made of one piece of wood plus a translucent plastic slider, which allows to see the complete technical system... and much more.

What is the reason of the slider ? It is double. First, and since the wooden labium is very sharp and thus very fragile, the closed slider protects the blade when the flute is in your pocket. But the main goal of this part is to work as a tuner! As we saw in this Korean patent (at this time we weren't well informed about those technical concerns...), the tonality range of a nose flute essentially depends on the distance between the airway exit and the labium. The smaller (in height) the mouth hole is, the sharper and more precise the nose flute will be. And contrarywise, when the distance is large, the flute will reach easily bass tones, in exchange of a more "windy" sound.

So, the nose flute by Cornelius Degen offers the ability to the whistler to "tune" his instrument. Do you want to play the Queen of the Night Aria ? Slide the tuner down and get a sharp instrument. Do you prefer to play a Bach's cello concerto ? Open the mouth window and get rich bass.

Now, how does it look on real finished flutes ?

The tuning slider is a piece of hard wood finely adjusted to the body groove by a sliding dovetail joint. With the exact balance between tightness (for the tuner to stay where you set it) and looseness (to allow another setting).

Cornelius Degen loves to work with hard woods. He is a goldsmith too, and he uses the same tools for metal and wood. He is fond of rosewood and grenadilla (African blackwood) because of their stability.

I've got 2 beautiful nose flutes by Cornelius, both made in Grenadilla. One has a slider in rosewood, and the other (not yet totally finished) with a perpex tuner. Their shape is very original and very well designed. The idea was to make a nose flute as small as possible, yet comfortable. And it is a success, those flutes are very easy to play, and despite their geometric shape, quite ergonomical. For those, Cornelius had to develop and create a special tool for his milling machine, in order to mecanically shape the oval profile.

All the "technical parts" are milled or manufactured (Degen's flutes are 50% machined, 50% handmade) with a great precision, thanks to the ability and stability of the grenadilla. It is a pleasure to see the air duct, with its oblique plan, getting thinner and thinner, the more it reaches its exit. The labium is very very sharp and precisely done.

On the sound side, I must admit the Degen's flutes have reached my wooden flutes top 3. It is very precise, very confortable for me, and extremely powerful, thanks to its very hard wood. I could blast windows with its sharps, and I can set it for deep basses. I also found it so beautiful...
I'm not a good player enough to get and show all the possibilities of this instrument, but here is however a sound sample.

On the downside, I have noticed that you cannot set the tonality range after having played : the slider inflates a little bit with the blown humidity, and it blocks at its position until drying (15-20 mn). So, you cannot set the flute between songs if you perform on stage. This problem does not appear on the plastic slider model, however. Anyway, the slider works well and is not "just a gizmo".

The other "down" point is the price. The Cornelius Degen's nose flutes are quite expensive. They are made with precision, with expensive woods, half handcrafted and totally hand finished, so they deserved their price. But they are not affordable to a modest purse.

Cornelius Degen

Donnerstrasse 18

22763 Hamburg

Germany

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Jul 11, 2012

Help nose flute music creation!

You certainly remember Mike Pride (check this post), the free-Jazz drummer and composer from Brooklyn...

Mike is a long time nose flutist, and a new Bocarina^™ enthusiast. « You are right on, I am totally trying to replicate bird calls much of the time, when I play my Swan nose flute. But, the Bocarina is opening many more subdued melodious pathways »

Today, Mike Pride requires our help to produce a CD!

« I am doing a pledge drive on Kickstarter to raise $7,077 to record a piece of my "classical" music. Meaning, completely composed.It is for 7 drum sets, 1 floor tom, 1 organ, 1 electric guitar, 3 vocalists & NOSE FLUTE ON THE FINAL 5 minute GRAND FINALE. Which is kind of a surprise that I have kept secret.

I have to raise another $1900 in USdollars by June 23rd (12 days) or I get none of the money already pledged. I get all or nothing at all.

This will be a historic piece of music in the modern classical, jazz, noise and extreme music fields. Nothing exists like it, and nothing will. And it will feature an epic nose flute section in the finale. »

So, if you want to help the creation of this record, just go to this page, and choose the amount/rewards for your subscription.

> Mike Pride's Kickstarter project

Vintage ad from Brazil

Here is a vintage ad or catalog clip, related to the « No. 25 », id est the metal nose bird call handcrafted by the Fábrica de Pios de Aves "Maurilio Coelho". Look how the whistler (Mr. Coelho Jr.?) hold the nose flute with such an elegant gesture!

Jul 10, 2012

Nose flute, accordion, and ... stilts!

Bocarina^™ part VII : Experiments 2

Another pigment sample Chris Schuermans got on my suggestion, is « Glow in the dark » one, providing a phosphorescent effect. Here again, this is a success, and the very few nose flutes produced by mixing the pigment to other are incredible.

On daylight, some are pale apricot colored, and one is a beautiful swirled mix of that color and grey.

And during the night, after having absorbed photon energy, they glow. And their glowing id weird and awesome : the plain colour reveal swirled and differently colored patterns, and the pale orange and grey one become... green!!

[Note : the following pictures are "true". I just increased the contrast a bit, but didn't cheat on colors]

Here are the pale apricots :

And the most incredible of all this experimental batch, a pure jewel. Orange and grey the day, green and yellow at night, almost radioactive, the Yellowcake:

Thank you, Chris, thank you!!

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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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Jul 9, 2012

Bocarina^™ part VII : Experiments 1

When I fell in love with the Bocarinas^™, I was a bit disappointed there were so few colors available. Oh, I understood Chris Schuermans arguments: fabrication, cost, market... And I even made a color study with a poll among my architects and engineers students, for a result very near the actual 5 color choice. They answered 5 colors would be the best compromise between choice and market, and asked for black, blue, red, orange and pink... ! But they also were interested in bright and flashy colors, even fluo.

On my side I had in mind the hypnotic marbleized or swirled patterns of the back of my vintage plastic ukuleles...

So, I asked Chris Schuermans if it was possible to make such psychedelic nose flutes. He answered me it was very difficult because, with the injection machines and the ABS plastic, the colored pellets would mix and produce a plain and uniform blend. Only a few, he added, present such uncontrollable effect, when they pass from the production of one color to another one, at the factory.

But he also added that he would ask the plastic injection company foremen to keep such samples when they produce the next batch of Bocarinas^™. Unfortunately, the people at the factory forgot the request, and the swirled flutes were thrown away, as rejects.

Mr. Chris Schuermans is more than a gentleman. He is a generous friend. He asked the pigment companies for some samples, and launched an experimental batch at the plastic factory... just to please me! And the results — that he sent me as gifts – are simply stunning! New plain colors, but also incredibly swirled two-tones Bocarinas^™! Beau-ti-ful! Thank you a lot!

As you can see, new plain colors were produced, some very pastel, and some totally fluo! And at the top of the beauty : the swirled ones. They are so beautiful and unique, that I gave them little names... Let's take a tour !

Here is my Stingray :

Look at this one, the Malachite Boccy! :

Pure fluo, and hardly marbleized :

The Black Mamba is gorgeous... :

Sorry, I called this one Too Much Red Wine :

Ultra Brite and Cow Horn :

And for sure, I love my Scallop :

There is a pattern that often appears on the swirled Bocarinas^™. It is certainly due to the injection mode and the way colors mix from the injection point. It's a ghost shape which appears on the front, just below the mouth hole, like. It looks a bit like the PI character or an angel: