Another vintage Humanatone with box

I recently found another old Humanatone with its box. It's a tin model, Style O (one day, I would like to know what correspond those styles 0, 20 and 30 to...). It was provided with its original box, rather crumbled with one missing flap. Since the glued flap was... unglued, it was easy for me to moisten the cardboard a bit, iron it, then reglue the flap.



The box is printed on the four main sides, but nothing appears on the opening ones. It is printed in black on a natural (not colored) cardboard:

The printing is very similar to the red box I already own: the opening sides differ, being printed there with a "Open on this end" advice. The texts are the same, the fonts are different. Also, the "concert" illustration has been inserted between the children on the red version, with an addition of "Made in USA" at the bottom.
The cardboard cutting is different (the small flaps are rounded on the beige one), and the glued flap was manually cut (irregular cut). Another difference is obviously the fact that the red box is negative-printed (it is the background which is inked, the scriptures being let unprinted).



All in all, simpler in the printings and in the text, the beige box is undoubtedly older than the red one.

The nose flute itself is very typical, in good condition, with visible solderings and clear but rather soft stampings.

On the back, above the lip rest, and also inside the air collector, there are still some remnants of a chrome plating. So, the "style O" didn't designate a non-plated flute... Was the "style" only dedicated to the packaging quality? (check a Style 20 box here)



The lateral flaps are of the "bolster" type. And this causes me to revise the previous opinion I exposed there: the boldster type should be posterior to the "ice cream stick" type (but yet prior the "pear shape").



I am not able to date with precision this version of the Humanatone of the Stivers era, but I guess it should have been issued between the early 1910's and the early 1920's. A nice find, anyway!

Oji ~i and the Nose Flute Angels

Mr. Makoto Yorokobi Nozaki (眞歓野崎) is the founder and president of the group 天使の鼻笛 スマフル笑会 ("The Nose Flute Angels"), also called スマフル笑会, which is read Sumafuru Emi-kai: Sumafuru is the Japanese reading of the english word "Smileful", and Emi-kai means "smile". The Facebook group gathers already 110 members after just a few month of existence.

The Nose Flute Angels logo and its president "おじぃ" (Oji ~i : "Uncle"):


This video is the 3rd "Smileful nose flute" journey, and Makoto Yorokobi Nozaki plays 坊がつる賛歌 (BougatsuruSanka). Before it, the "Smileful noseflutist" had recorded the 1st and 2nd journeys, available here and here.



But Oji ~i is not only a nose flute player and group leader, he also spends lot of time in teaching hanabue playing to adults, but also and mostly to Japanese children, in children clubs. The following video is really great:

Working with a Pocket Knife

We already posted (here) a video provided as a supplement of a book dealing with making toys and instruments with a pocket knife. But now, we've go the book.




Werken mit dem Taschenmesser ("Working with a Pocket Knife") is a Swiss book, published by AT Verlag and apparently sponsored by Victorinox, the famous Swiss army pocket knife company. The idea of the author Felix Immler is to make many (twenty six) objects from wood found in the forrest and worked only with a (multi-tool) pocket knife. After a part dedicated to learning the different knife tools usage, the tutorials, range from "beginner" to "expert". This last section features a Nasenflöte.



Seven pages are dedicated to the nose flute making, but I obviously cannot publish them "full size", for copyright reasons. However, let's take the risk to show some pictures, as advertising samples.






As you can see, the tutorial is fully illustrated, with explicit pictures. The texts also are clear and precise, as far as you read German or, as I did, scan them, pass the result through an OCR tool, then stuff Google translation with. The description of the work is precise, providing dimensions etc.

Even if you don't feel the need to rush in the woods with your pocket knife with the irrepressible need to carve a nose flute, the method provided by Felix Immler can be very useful for those of you who would like to take the time to build their own wooden nose flute, in the comfort of a workshop and with the help of precise tools.



You can buy
Werken mit dem Taschenmesser directly from the publisher (here) or cheaper from Amazon (new or used), particulary the German one.

Here is the video supplied in complement of the book:

My Neighbor Totoro - Udon817

A still video (including a very nice drawing of a Humanatone) by Udon817. The soundtrack is played with one ukulele and two nose flute tracks (actually Humanatone). The music is My Neighbor Totoro theme, a famous Japanese animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki.Sweet and nice playing!

The End (The Doors) by the Nosy Diva at Jim Morrison's grave

Noseflute.org had the opportunity to guide the Nosy Diva in her sightseeing visit in Paris. The Diva wanted to play a little homage to Jim Morrison and we went to the Père Lachaise cemetery, where is buried the Doors' leader. It was a piece of luck to be able to shoot the video in rather quiet conditions, since tourists buses pour out a constant flow of international visitors, greedy to hail the poet's memory.

The Diva played The End (1967) with her mini uke (iuke) and a Handler noseflute.



For sure, it is not the only place that the Diva visited, and here are some pictures of the Noseflute.org tour, among many other places and monuments she went to.

At the Tampographe Sardon's workshop:


At the Chocolate Factory (exhibition by artist Paul McCarthy):
At the Fondation Louis Vuitton by architect Frank Gehry), and in front of the Moulin Rouge:
And in Pigalle! oohlalah!

New Nose Flutes by Martina Sommer

I recently received two Nasenflöten by Martina Sommer, and it is the right opportunity to make an update. Indeed, we have already made a review of Martina Sommer's nose flutes (check this 2011 post please), but her instruments have a bit elvolved and the the way to get them has changed: no more at sommer-musik.de, which page is dedicated to Martin Sommer's music, but on de.dawanda.com or by direct contact ( musik-zeit[at]gmx[dot]de ).

In fact, few things have changed: Martina's nose flutes are hand made with nice woods, and each instrument is unique in its shape and wood combinations. But it seems that Mrs Sommer experiments with more complex shapes, including asymmetrical ones.



I got two nose flutes of rather elaborate shapes, one symmetric using curves, and one asymmetric only made of angles. They were provided with an user manual, a cardboard box and equipped with a leather neck cord.

The first one is made of hornbeam and robinia, and shows lateral edges taht have been filed into a watermelon slice shape. On the airway cover, a central depression has also been filed: those cuts are an help to grip the nose flute and press it under the nose, either with 2 fingers, or with adding one in the middle.

The second one (cherry + walnut wood)is even more interesting, with its asymmetrical shape. It definitively has a great look, very angular, like a stealth F117 airplane.

As expected with Martina Sommer's production, the craftsmanship is precise and neat. However, a soft sanding on the fipple would be nice for a perfect finish.



Unfortunately, the "technical parts" have stayed the same since our first review. The airway (which is not rectangular but rounded) is far too thick to provide a real "air blade": it measures up to 3 mm at the maximum of the rounded canal. Then, the mouth hole, which is a perfect circular hole, is also far too big in heigth (1 cm of diameter, while we know that .6 or .7 are the max: Heinrich Handler's Nasenflöten have a 3 mm high mouth hole and works like in paradise!).

So, all in all, a thick airway plus a too high mouth hole make the Sommer's nose flutes sound weak and windy. You have too blow strongly in them, and get a rather medium quality of sound. Schade, sehr schade. Yes, alas, because those nose flutes are beautiful and made with care, for a decent price (20€).

The Oberkreuzberger Nasenflöten Orchester at TFF-Rudolstadt

Here is an "old" CD, dating of 2003 of the TFF Rudolstadt. The Tanz- und Folkfest (TTF) is the largest German folk, roots and world music festival which takes place annually on the first July weekend in Rudolstadt (Thuringia, Germany). It exists since 1991 and have been gathering an audience over 75,000 spectators in the past 3 years.



In 2003, the TFF welcomed the Original Oberkreuzberger Nasenflöten Orchester (Das Grindchor). The Grinchor performed a great cover of Tip-Toe Through the Tulips (Joe Burke, 1929), and its recording features on the compilation published after the festival. The Berliner noseflutists were 9 on stage, accompanied by an electric guitar and some light percussions. The performance was great, very soft and neat compared to the post-apocalyptic punk sound the Grindchor generally develops.

Here is a sample (not complete to respect the copyrights), but you still can buy the CD here:






Here is what says the Nasenflöten Orchester page in the booklet:

« The nose flute is a plastic thing, "a very cheap and rare instrument and you can hardly buy it anywhere. As said in the name it is blown through the nose". In the nine nosed Original Oberkreuzberger Nasenflöten Orchester who plays the works of world literature in an inimitable manner, it is taken care for a liquid way of playing (specially in times of influenza), nice smelling arrangements and the right brand of beer (Schultheiss und Kindl). Nosebears of all countries unite!

Wonderful! Nine sturdy men, not exactly teenagers anymore, with plastic nose-flutes. The repertoire says it all: « My Way » and Beethoven's 9th, « Apache » and Khatchaturian's « Sabre Dance », « Harry Lime Theme » and « Je t'aime », « Zorba The Greek » and « Somewhere Over The Rainbow » — the list is endless, and so is the fun you'll have!

The Nose-Monica by Happy-Flute

Through the years, Gillette and its competitors have added blades and blades to their razors. They have recently reached the number of 5 blades on a single razor, and there is no reason they stop there, and I suppose that in 20 years we'll have razors with a blade dedicated to each one of our hair. The world of nose flutes is not exempt of this More contest, and the talented and inventive Mr. Akio Takamura (Happy-Flute workshop founder with Mr. Go Nagayama), after having crafted some double-fipple nose flutes (look at this one), just finished his triple-flute. Not a triple fipple with one air entrance, but a real triple nose flute in one. Akio Takamura named his new model Nose Monica (鼻モニカ)



Why three nose flutes? Well, if you take a look at the pictures above, you can see that whether the 3 air entrances are rather similar, the 3 fipples are increasing in size from left to right, from a treble to a lower tonality range. Mr Takamura wrote (with an optimistic humour) that he hopes to reach a 7 octaves range all in all :). Great job, anyway!

Magic Nose Flute in the New Yorker

In the January 12, 1935 issue of the New Yorker magazine, a long article (PP44-49) (called "Onward and upward with the Arts - Life of the party" and signed by Robert M. Coates) was devoted to the glory of the Johnson Smith company, whose catalog of novelties the author had just been studying. The 1935 issue of the J.S. catalog should have been a ±560 pages book, proposing to send you thousands of items. The authors deals with a dozen of those novelties, among them the Magic Nose Flute:



The most funny thing is that the Magic Nose Flute is compared to an eggbeater that someone has stepped on! Here is the 1935 Johnson Smith ad for the Magic Nose Flute (in which you can retrieve the article quotations), and a 1933 eggbeater: