Home made aluminium nose flute, again!

After my test with a plastic samba whistle, I wanted to build an aluminium nose flute on the same principle (I love to work with aluminium...). As usual, no prior plans (I'm an empirical mind), just the idea of an horizontal cylinder, connected with a nose craddle. Well, I took an aluminium rod and cut a section, then filed the mouth hole.

Then I cut 2 circles in aluminium plate, and sanded them until they almsot fit in the cylinder ends. Finally, I stamped them with a mallet.



Then I cut and filed the labium, very sharp.




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Interlude

One reader asked me how large is my workshop... well, I have to say that I work on my desktop, in front of my computer, with very usual tools (a vise, 2 saws, a large file, some needle files, 2 metal saws, a drill, a mallet and a hammer, sanding paper, cutters, adhesive tape, and several type of glues.). Plus a shaving brush to wipe dust out and liters of great teas. I also have a buffing wheel in my "real" workshop.



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The mouth part being alsmot totally done, I cut some parts in order to assemble a nose craddle, pyramid shape, with deep triangular scoops for the base of my nose. Then I glued the parts together with a hard metal bicomponent glue.

Since I had decided to let the nose craddle totally opened, and didn't want the glue to be visible, I sprayed some red painting inside, inspired by the famous fashionable Louboutin shoes, with their recognizable red sole!
Finally, I filed the bit to "open" the end of the airway.



Then, problems began. I had to file the base of the craddle to glue it to the mouth cylinder, but didn't know the best angle. So I skyped Mr. Schuermans, and asked him for technical advices. Chris told me the labium should face the 1/3 of the airway height (uh... so easy when your airway is 1mm thick...). He also told me that making a supplementary chamber in front of the mouth was not a very good idea, so I decided to make the mouth hole bigger than I did, in order to lessen the "several chambers" effect. Chris Schuermans gave me other advices that I will put into practice the next time only : it was too late with this nose flute.

Well, I glued the 2 parts with Auto Weld and let dry for the night.



After the glue was dry, I filed and sanded it, then drilled the "trill hole" and I reamed it.

For sure, I added my "Louboutin" touch, with red paint applied as lipstick :

Done! Here is my Loboutin Hornet ("Hornet", because of the sharp angle shape and the very sharp tonality range) :


Finally, I added 2 short sections of aluminium rod, and glued a red cord to make the Louboutin Hornet hands-free :

On the sound side... The Hornet is very very sharp in its intonation. The positive points are that this flute is one of the most precise and probably the quickest flute I have. It is very powerful too, in the sharps... The "trill hole" works very fine!
The negative points are that I get some "parasitic whistlings" when I go down to the basses, and that I cannot reach very low notes.

But better is it to let you judge by yourself on this little 'free' interpretation, using the trill :

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 :

Superman plays the Humanatone!

Super(TallPaulNew)man plays a "trippy groove" on the Humanatone, with an interesting hand technique!

Techno : vibratos, tremolos and trills

What makes a nose flute playing beautiful ? Probably the same criteria usually applied to whistling or maybe singing.

The most important one is probably the interpretation itself, i.e. the way a player appropriates the music he plays, incarnates it, in a coherent manner adapted to reveal its character and beauty. This is a matter of pure art, and we won't deal with it here and now.

The second important point is the beauty of the voice/sound itself, its purity and texture. In the case of the nose flute, this mostly depends on the instrument itself. But also on the voice ambitus (the range of accessible notes) and the breath length, which are really important in nosefluting. Master Mosurin seems to have infinitely deep lungs...

Another point we won't discuss here is the perfect pitch. This is as a matter of "ear" as a question of being accustomed to a specific nose flute, and being able to provide a real time perfect mouth/tongue move.

Finally, the ornaments. There are many kinds of ornaments in music playing, but the most adapted to nosefluting are the vibratos, tremolos and trills, which are often confused all together.

A Tremolo/tremolando (meaning tremble/trembling in italian) is an ornament in which the intensity (amplitude) of the note periodically varies around an average value.

A Vibrato (meaning vibrate in italian) is an ornament in which the sharpness (tonality) of the note periodically varies around an average value.

A Trill is an ornament in which the note rapidly alternates between to adjacent notes.

The classic and common plastic Humanatone provides a little airhole besides the mouth hole, that many people say themselves to be curious about. In the Humanatone patent (see here), Ernest Davis called it a "true tremolo" hole.

In fact, using this feature by alternatively closing and releasing the little hole, provides a kind of mix of a vibrato and a trill. Indeed, it is not a "true vibrato" since it provides an alternation between 2 notes (and not a variation "around" a note), and it is not neither a "true trill" since the gap between the 2 notes produced depends on the pitch of the original note : the gap is much bigger if the note is sharp (up to one tone), and almost not audible with a bass note. So, the gap is not controlled, and corresponds even less to a specific scale. Using this feature certainly provides a "trembling effect" though.

Now, what are the ways of producing tremolos, vibratos and trills with a nose flute ? There are 4 available means, more or less difficult to achieve :

- Breath control
- Moving the flute
- Moving the mouth
- Moving the tongue

Breath control is not easy. Being able to blow rapidly and alternatively strongly and weakly is difficult and needs a lot of practice. The Nosy Diva Miss Birdy Kuck is able to, as she masters the other following techniques... (so jealous I am!) Just check her crazy Valkyrie cover, or her Queen of the Night ... Well, breath control provides a "true tremolo".
Contrarywise, it's rather easy to alternatively blow-and-stop (air/no-air), thus provoking a hashed and discontinuous note.

Moving the flute is much easier. It needs some practice in order to get a rather smooth and regular action. It consists in pressing and releasing quickly and alternatively on the base of the flute. This technique provides a "true vibrato".
You can check a well performed sample of that finger technique in this video.

Moving the mouth : with this technique, the player alternatively pulls forward and backward his chin, pushing by that way the base of flute, and provoking the same effect than with "moving the flute", but by another physical mean.

Moving the tongue : the tongue can be moved according to several actions. Back and forth, or left-right-left... or up-down-up... applying different types of trembling effects. The 2 last moves (L/R and U/D) are really easy to perform widely, and provide a kind of "bird call" vibrato, with a huge gap between the bass and sharp notes. It's more difficult to avoid this large range, and to master a tiny and subtle vibrato.

Well, there is a subsidiary way, which is to alternately block and release the mouth hole with a finger, partly or entirely, but it provides no tremolo or vibrato, but a discontinuous note (pretty efficient for Morse code ?).

Trills ? They are produced with a typical tongue move (some kind of inflating it...) coupled with a soft breath control ... Impossible for me to describe precisely, since I do not master this technique. We need the Nosy Diva to reveal her secrets...

Videos : a star is born !

The incomparable Nosy Diva Miss Birdy K., urged by her fans, has finally created her own Youtube channel, and uploaded a bunch of stunning, funny and highly talented videos. Playing the nose flute and the viola, the nose flute and the ukulele, the nose flute and ..., she masters incredible tremolos and vibratos, particularly in very sharp tones. A real Nasenflöte nightingale!

Here are three videos that noseflute.org was lucky to produce, but check the other ones too, on her channel, notably the Queen of the night aria, her Radetzky March, but also her intervention on Bach's Concerto in A minor... (More to come, so my advice would be that you subscribe to it...)

An interview of the Nosy Diva is to come soon on these pages.

Video : Carl Maria von Weber

Waltz from Preciosa, by Carl Maria von Weber, played by with a wooden nose flute and a keyboard, by two austrian musicians : Ukulele4Aukekulia.
Please note how the vibrato is produced.

Ernest W. Davis : Major improvements

After Carter's and Couchois', Davis' nose flute represents a major advancement in the design. Indeed, the shape he invented is still mass produced and is a best-seller since almost 70 years, with the brand Humanatone.
Ernest W. Davis, citizen of River Forest in Illinois, filed the patent US2245432 for a « Musical Instrument » on 22th of january 1940. The patent is registered on 10th of june 1941.

« My invention relates to musical instruments and includes among its objects and advantages an extension of the pitch range and an improvement in tone quality, especially at higher pitches, in the type of musical instrument in which pitch variation is obtained by varying the volume of a cavity defined primarily by the oral cavity of the player, and, to a minor extent, by the instrument itself. »

First, Davis' instrument is supposed to be able to produce 3 octaves :

« With an instrument according to the invention, it requires only slight practice to play three full octaves, and because the lips can be drawn together to make appropriate changes in the shape of the oral cavity as the pitch goes up, the high notes can be made quite clear and harmonious ».

More, the design features a truncated cone shaped hole on the right wing of the mouth cap, providing a « true tremolo » function, when operated with a finger :

« A specific object is to enable the player to produce a true tremolo tone at will. »

« In the right wing 14 I provide a tapered tremolo aperture 32, with its large end outermost. This makes a large enough dimple in the outer surface so that the user’s finger can readily find it. With the part of the player’s mouth in a given position and the aperture 32 open, the air in the oral cavity will vibrate at a slightly lower frequency than when the aperture is closed. Thus the user, as clearly indicated in Figure 1, may use one finger, such as the index finger 34 of the right hand, to cover and uncover the aperture 32, and when this is done rapidly as by vibrating the finger across the aperture as idnicated (sic) by arrows 36 and 38 in Figure 1, a tremolo, or periodic oscillation in pitch may be obtained, the frequency of the oscillation depending on the speed of vibration of the finger 34.It will be apparent that it is a true tremolo as distinguished from a vibrato. With the aperture 32 either covered or uncovered, the player can produce a vibrato by varying the force used to produce the sound, although with such an instrument as this, the tremolo is a much more desirable musical effect. »

But the main improvement is in that the Davis' instrument is a one single part object, thus forecast to be easily produced in cast metal (which will be done with the Japanese Humanatone), but also and mostly in injected plastics, as Fred Gretsch Mfg Co. will make the modern Humanatone, then Trophy Music (Grover), until now. (see forthcoming « Modern Humanatone » history).

« Accordingly, the device can readily be produced by casting in metal in a single piece or by molding in plastic material in a single piece. »

The Davis' patent will be referenced by several instruments, including the 1987 (reg. 1988) one by Patrick Huet de Froberville (FR2616574) and the 1993 (reg. 1996) one by Michel A. Paulus (USD368485).

Andrew W. Proctor : tremolo nose flue

On 25th of november, 1910, Andrew W. Proctor of New York, files a strange invention at the Patent Office. Registered July 25, 1911, the patent US998985 is simply entitled « Whistle », but refers to a certain "improvement" to nose flutes.

The base of Proctor's invention is a nose flute quite similar to the first Humanatone, but with a rounded upper lip rest.
But to the flute is added a curious device, a flat metal spring screwed on the nose bulb and ended with a revoluble damper : by pressing on the spring, the operator can mute the sound, and thus, create a tremolo.

« By pressing against the spring 15 so as to move the damper 17 toward and from the opening 11, as above described, the damper is brought partially into the path of travel of air escaping from the passage 10. The damper is thus caused to turn and in turning into different positions it offers different degrees of obstruction to the escape of air from the passage 10. The result is that the whistling sound is modified and gives a rapid and peculiar throbbing. »

I don't know if the invention was released to the public, but it works. Grab a flute, quickly clog and release the mouth hole with your index, and you'll get a perfect vibrato.

The Proctor's novelty was referenced by two later patents : a "warbling musical whistle" (US2996839) in 1961 and an "auto-pipe" (US3745871) in 1973.