Two german videos

Mr. Hiroshi Tachibana dug out two great german Nasenflöte videos. In the first one, the musician plays a Schwan nose flute and a classical (flamenco) guitar.



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The second one is a duet playing the Monthy Python song Always look on the bright side of life, on a pair of heart-shaped nose flutes.

Nose Flute #5 by Steven Parkes

Our friend Steven Parkes builds wooden nose flutes, from time to time, just for pleasure, but also for his children. We already showed his work (check this post). And here is the #5 – for his daughter Ingrid – paired with a 3D photo and a video showing the making process.



Here is an interesting stereoscopic 3D photo. In order to get the tridimensional effect, you have to
1) open the full size picture by clicking on it
2) stand at a distance of ±20 in./50cm
3) cross your eyes (squint) in order to get both left and right images superpose



And here is the video of the making, from the design to the Tru-Oil finishing:

Students (try to) reinvent the Nose Flute

Each year, I begin the design courses I give in an engineer school by asking the students to "invent the nose flute", without pronouncing its name. They come from many countries (this year: Brazil, Argentina, Algeria, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Germany and a few from France) but they don't know nose flutes.

I expose how a whiste blows, explain that we could get a variable tonality if we'd replace the chamber by one that could inflate or deflate. I suggest the mouth to play this role, and thus, the nose breath to blow instead of the mouth. I ask them to invent an object that could whistle this way, and to point some attention on ergonomics.



Most of the students are not confortable with hand drawing, and the results are sometimes funny, or difficult to understand. However, some propositions are interesting because they help to understand ... nose flute shape history!
As virgin in matter of nose flute, they know neither the vintage nor the modern shapes. But some of their drawings look very similar to shapes *we* know well!

Many of them feel the need of preventing air leaks and choose either nostril plugs (like the Kunimaru) or a nose hood (like the Nasalette). Some – sometimes the same – design an insert for the mouth (like the Nasalette and the Couchois' whistle). Also, some students feel the need of a handsfree instrument, and generally resort to a band that joins the ears, exactly as William Carter did with the Nasalette.

It's also interesting that most of the students drew a nose flute looking like a torture – or at least medical – device, and seem not to imagine it could be a funny musical instrument that give pleasure to to player and (sometimes) to the audience.

Some nose flute that wouldn't work...



Some nose flute that would possibly work with minor changes...




My prefered one, which doesn't look like a medical device. It looks very alike a plastic Humanatone, to which a heel handle would have been added:


Next week, I'll show them several nose flutes, and play a bit, to prove it can be a elegant, simple, funny and powerful instrument.

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[EDIT] : After having read this post, Mr. Ken Tanaka (see this post) quickly made a paper nose flute according to the model drawn by one of our students (the last picture). Here is the pieces he assembled, and the short video:

Pure sound by Aisora273

Beautifully played piece by a young and promising Japanese noseflutist, Aisora273:

Nose Flute Quartet at Tsurugashima

A nice video made by a joyful quartet at Tsurugashima Nose Flute Exhibition! The musicians are members of the "Nerima Nose Flute Friends" association ('日本鼻笛協会　練馬友の会'). Their YT channel is here.

What are you going to do for INFD?

14th of June — tomorrow – is the International Nose Flute Day. The date was chosen as an homage to William G. Carter, inventor of the mordern and urban nose flute, which patent was registered Jun. 14, 1892.
Each year, on the 14th of June, united nosefluters around the world do something special to honor the little instrument. And you, what will you do for the International Nose Flute Day?




Our friend Don Luis, from Mexico, just realized a video in which he plays the nose flute, juggles with a pair of tennis balls (Juggling Day stands on 18th!), and read a book by James Joyce (Bloomsday on the 16th!). Hahaha! very creative!



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On his side, sensei Mosurin organizes an nose flute exhibition in Saitama (Japan), that will stand from 14th to 19th of June. During five days, the work of 13 hanabue makers will be exposed. On the 19th, a concert will close the event (we wish we could be there, with a thick wallet:).


2016/6/14 (Tue) to 19 (Sun)
open from 11:30 to 16:00
Community Restaurant, Saitama Prefecture Tsurugashima Gomiketani 230-3
Parking available. TEL: 049-287-1792
http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/mosurin01/diary/201605140000/



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And you, what will you do for the International Nose Flute Day?

Häisd'n'däisd...vomm mee!

Häisd'n'däisd...vomm mee! is a German folk and regionalist band. They perform in their region — the Franconia – which is located in the northern Bavaria.

Häisd'n'däisd...vomm mee!, in Franconian dialect, means 'Hüben und drüben... vom Main!' in German, i.e. 'On both sides… of the Main river!', which a geographical description of the Franconia.

The band has recorded several CD, amongst which, in 2013, 'Nä, ich hald mei Goschn ned' ('No, I don't shut my mouth') featuring 24 (!) songs. The #6 is named 'Concertino für 3 Nasenflöten' (in German. Schade! I would have liked to learn how to say 'nose flute' in Franconian...)



The piece is played with three wooden nose flutes, an accordion and percussions. After a short intro, there is an a capella sung stanza (Big thanks to the Nosy Diva for the translation!):

Sicher staunt und fragt ihr euch
Warum blast ihr net auf Schläuch
Oder gar auf langen Rohren
Dafür seid ihr doch geboren
Weil wir euch beweisen wollen
Nasen sind viel mehr als Knollen
Und das ist ja grad das Schöne
Uns’re produzieren Töne.

which means:

Surely you are wondering
Why are you not blowing (on) hoses
Or even (on) long rods
Because you are born for that.
The reason is that we want to prove to you
Noses are much more than conks
And that is the beautiful part
Ours produce sounds.

Fränkischer Tag, Mar. 25, 2013:


Here an excerpt of the Concertino (just a shorty, for copyright reasons. The total piece is 3'25" long):





Here is another excerpt found on Youtube:




You can order the CD from Häisd'n'däisd...vomm mee website or from Zachmuzic-shop

Haydn Trumpet Concerto on a Vintage Næse Fløjte

How could I have missed such a masterpiece!?! This Danish video, dating of 2013, is a rarity on several points. First of all, 'næse fløjte' videos from Denmark are rather scarce. But also classical music played with a nose flute, and particularly when the musician uses props like a tuxedo in the vid. "Haydns trompetkoncert på næsehorn" ('Haydn Trumpet Concerto on a Nose Horn' [næsehorn means rhinoceros in Danish]). And even rarer, when the piece is played on a vintage instrument!

Indeed, the title page shows the instrument, and it clearly is a German oldie, with its pair of folded flaps (no rivets). In fact, it is exactly the same instrument than the first German vintage nose flutes I acquired some years ago, from a... Danish antiquarian.



My German vintage Nasenflöten (Paul Brunner's?):
Here is the video, from Hans Wendelboe Bøcher's YT channel:

Krautrock und Nasenflöte

Pirx is a music duo from Berlin and Cologne (DE), composed of Marion Wörle and Maciej Sledziecki. Describing their music is a bit difficult, as they use as well conventional rock instruments, electronics, noises and 'unconventional' instruments, like musical saw, flutes and percussions. A kind of experimental concrete band, fighting against the idea of structure itself.



In their 2011 album Sie Sind Hier Jetzt (available here), there is a revisited Krautrock tune, called... Unkraut, featuring layers of noisy Nasenflöte.

The German online magazine Taz published an article in which we can read:

« Der Auftaktsong ihres neuen Albums heißt "Electric Sheep" und setzt mit den schon erwähnten Kuhglocken ein, die zu Schafsglocken umfunktioniert werden. Dazu meint man ein Schafsblöken zu hören. Es verwandelt sich im Laufe des Stücks in ein Wechselspiel von Gitarren- und Kazoodrones. Auf die elektrischen Schafe folgt "Unkraut", das Krautrockanleihen mit Nasenflöte kombiniert - nicht nur die Vorstellung dieser Kombination ist kurios. »

that is :

« The opening song of their new album is called "Electric Sheep" and begins with the cow bells already mentioned, converted into sheep bells. More, we are meant to hear a sheep bleat. It changes in the course of the tune into an interplay of guitar and kazoos. After Electric Sheep follows "Unkraut" that combines borrowed Krautrock riffs and Nasenflöte - not only the idea of this combination is curious. »

You can listen to Unkraut here, the nose flute begins at 1'21":

Jupiter (G. T. Holst), by Mosurin

This is a very unusual piece of the repertoire that sensei Mosurin recorded in a video: Jupiter, from The Planets, by Gustav Theodore Holst. Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was an English composer who get the fame with The Planets. This work is composed of seven movements, one for each planet and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity dates of 1914.

As usual, sensei Mosurin's nose flute is precise, clear as cristal, and the master creates a crescendo in power and sharpness (listen at 1'57"!!), to reach a real summit of pure playing. Really beautiful.

How to craft a wooden nose flute

Hegner GmbH is a German company based in Villingen-Schwenningen (Baden-Württemberg) which produces precision machines for woodwork. To help selling their products, "Hegner TV" regularly publishes videos in which Gerhard Fleig, a cool senior demonstrates how to build this or that, using the Hegner machines. Here is the very interesting last video released, showing how to build a Nasenflöte.




It is funny to notice a poem by the carpenter Gerhard Fleig, added in the video 'description' on the YT channel:

Gebrauchsanweisung zur Nasenflöte Ein mancher hat gewisse Nöte, bis er seiner Nasenflöte einen guten Ton entlockt, denn anfangs scheint sie wie verstockt. Geduld heißt deshalb die Dewise, auf dass die Nasenluft stets fliesse in das Loch durch’s Labium, ansonsten bleibt die Flöte stumm. Damit der Ton klanglich auch rund, formt man diesen mit dem Mund, der sich an das Holz anschmiegt, weil man sonst kein Ton rauskriegt. Um den Ton gut zu gestalten und Intervalle zu entfalten, braucht’s das Zwerchfell und die Lunge und ein wenig auch die Zunge. Nur Mut, bleib dran und du wirst sehen, nach einer Weile wird es gehen. Und nun viel Spass beim Einstudieren zum Nasenflöten - Musizieren. geschrieben von G. Fleig

Instructions for Nose Flute One may have trouble, until his nose flute a good sound elicits, because at first it seems like obdurate. Therefore patience is the motto, so that the nose breath may always flow in the hole by the labium, otherwise the flute remains silent. Thus a pleasant and round sound can be made with the mouth, which huddles against the wood, because otherwise no sound gets out. To make a sound good and develop intervals, one needs the diaphragm and the lungs and a bit of the tongue. Cheer up, stay tuned and you'll see, after a while it will go right. And now have fun rehearsing with nose flutes - making music. written by G. Fleig