A sweet and nice video from Japan, on Motzi Youtube channel, in which a young boy plays hanabue while tapping a home made bamboo drum.
Aug 18, 2012
Aug 17, 2012
Alan Scott and the Bushwhackers
Alan Scott (1930–1995) was born in Caboolture, Queensland, and soon became interested in Scottish and American, then Australian folk songs. Scott was an accomplished musician, playing the concertina, tin whistle, recorder and mouth organ and was a fine singer. But he also used to play the nose flute.
« In 1954, Scott travelled to Sydney where he met the eminent Australian folklore collector John Meredith and other members of the bush music revival of the 1950s. During the same year he joined Australia's first bush band the Bushwhackers. »
(National Libray of Australia, A. Scott Biography)
Initially named The Heathcote Bushwhackers, the band was formed in Sydney in early 1952. The Bushwhackers were used to perform with traditional bush instruments. In 1955 The Bushwhackers recorded The Drover's Dream with Peter Hamilton on the newly established Wattle label, ultimately selling 20,000 records after the first pressing of 200. The Bushwhackers disbanded in 1957.
Indeed, although the sound is terrible and the nose flute is almost inaudible, it really features in the record. You can "detect" it the clearliest from 0:33, 1:11 and from 1:48 :
Bob Bolton, photographer, editorial and graphics officer, Vice-President and Editor at the Bush Music Club of Sydney, wrote in a Harry kay interview:
« The band was then booked all over Sydney. They were going for quite a while then Alan Scott came down to Sydney and he joined them. He was playing the snoz-whiz' - the nose whistle ».
And elsewhere, in a forum:
« Dare I mention it ... I just acquired, for restoration and occasional playing a real old-fashioned, tin-plated nose flute! My interest had been rekindled by coming across an early photograph of the first "Bush Band" ... that started our Australian "Folk Revival" in the Early 1950s ... The Bushwhackers Band (the 1954 - 1957 Sydney original, not the unrelated 1970s to present Melbourne one). At last i had located a picture of Alan Scott - who later played tin whistle and English concertina - playing, in performance, "the Tin handkerchief" ... the nose flute!
One of the early Australian folk revival players, the late Alan Scott of the original (1953/57) Bushwhackers Band, went on to play tin whistle and (English) concertina but started out on the Nose Flute (!) ... well-known to schoolchildren of the day as The Steel Handkerchief.
I had one of the tin-plated steel ones (also called "Magic Flute" ...?) when I was a kid ... about 45 years ago, if you disregard the chattering masses! »
Funny aussie nicknames, aren't they? Snoz-whiz, Tin or Steel Handkerchief...
Anyway, I managed to find the picture evoked by Bob Bolton. Here it is, beautiful shot, with Alan Scott blowing in his Magic Flute :
« In 1954, Scott travelled to Sydney where he met the eminent Australian folklore collector John Meredith and other members of the bush music revival of the 1950s. During the same year he joined Australia's first bush band the Bushwhackers. »
(National Libray of Australia, A. Scott Biography)
Initially named The Heathcote Bushwhackers, the band was formed in Sydney in early 1952. The Bushwhackers were used to perform with traditional bush instruments. In 1955 The Bushwhackers recorded The Drover's Dream with Peter Hamilton on the newly established Wattle label, ultimately selling 20,000 records after the first pressing of 200. The Bushwhackers disbanded in 1957.
Indeed, although the sound is terrible and the nose flute is almost inaudible, it really features in the record. You can "detect" it the clearliest from 0:33, 1:11 and from 1:48 :
Bob Bolton, photographer, editorial and graphics officer, Vice-President and Editor at the Bush Music Club of Sydney, wrote in a Harry kay interview:
« The band was then booked all over Sydney. They were going for quite a while then Alan Scott came down to Sydney and he joined them. He was playing the snoz-whiz' - the nose whistle ».
And elsewhere, in a forum:
« Dare I mention it ... I just acquired, for restoration and occasional playing a real old-fashioned, tin-plated nose flute! My interest had been rekindled by coming across an early photograph of the first "Bush Band" ... that started our Australian "Folk Revival" in the Early 1950s ... The Bushwhackers Band (the 1954 - 1957 Sydney original, not the unrelated 1970s to present Melbourne one). At last i had located a picture of Alan Scott - who later played tin whistle and English concertina - playing, in performance, "the Tin handkerchief" ... the nose flute!
One of the early Australian folk revival players, the late Alan Scott of the original (1953/57) Bushwhackers Band, went on to play tin whistle and (English) concertina but started out on the Nose Flute (!) ... well-known to schoolchildren of the day as The Steel Handkerchief.
I had one of the tin-plated steel ones (also called "Magic Flute" ...?) when I was a kid ... about 45 years ago, if you disregard the chattering masses! »
Funny aussie nicknames, aren't they? Snoz-whiz, Tin or Steel Handkerchief...
Anyway, I managed to find the picture evoked by Bob Bolton. Here it is, beautiful shot, with Alan Scott blowing in his Magic Flute :
We propose Alan Scott for Nose Flute Hall of Fame membership!
Aug 16, 2012
Tanioka / Miyazaki !
A video by our friend Hanabue114, playing a new gorgeous clay birdy nose flute by Miss Kanae Miyazaki. The tune is called Summer Memories.
Aug 15, 2012
Apps for iPhone
Needless to say it, there is NO nose flute application for the iPhone. I mean "no musical instrument application which pitch is driven by buccal cavity". But last weeks, 2 apps were issued with some interest for us.
The Ocarina 2 is an e-ocarina, playable like a real ocarina, by fingering 4 e-holes, and blowing in the phone microphone. The sound is poorly settable (reverb, scale...), but you can either play along with a song or play "freely". But the interesting feature is that you can set the microphone sensivity, and thus, at max level, the Ocarina is fairly playable by blowing it with your nose.
The sound is poorly settable, very "soft minded" and the playing is very slow.
You can have an idea of the possibilities with those 2 videos :
- here : normally played
- there : played as a nose flute
Ocarina 2 is Free.
Link to the Ocarina 2 page
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What's funny in this app, is that it is design from scratch to be played with the nose. It also shows great graphics. Unfortunately, you do not need to blow to play the Nosemonica, but just to slide your nose on the touch sensitive screen.
The sound is not settable at all, but is like an correct harmonica. No choice of a scale neither (you cannot play the Blues!:/).
Here is the sound you get :
The Ocarina 2
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Sound :
The sound is poorly settable, very "soft minded" and the playing is very slow.
You can have an idea of the possibilities with those 2 videos :
- here : normally played
- there : played as a nose flute
Ocarina 2 is Free.
Link to the Ocarina 2 page
-----
The Nosemonica
What's funny in this app, is that it is design from scratch to be played with the nose. It also shows great graphics. Unfortunately, you do not need to blow to play the Nosemonica, but just to slide your nose on the touch sensitive screen.
Sound :
The sound is not settable at all, but is like an correct harmonica. No choice of a scale neither (you cannot play the Blues!:/).
Here is the sound you get :
Aug 14, 2012
Bocarina™ as survival tool...
Well, it's certainly not the canonical use of a Bocarina™, but it seems that FloydBlue had some success using his nosehorn as a shoehorn.
Aug 13, 2012
Jones' Paramount Charleston Four - Humanophone
In May 1925, the Jones' Paramount Charleston Four recorded 2 titles : Homeward Bound Blues (Paramount 12279A)and Old Steady Roll(Paramount 12279B). The musicians are Harvey Jones, Ernest Tapley (banjo/mandolin), James Turner(banjo madolin) and Eddie Vincent (trombone).
In those recordings, Harvey Jones was supposed to play the nose flute (as stated on several websites). Indeed, Jones was a noseflutist. I looked for these pieces of history for months, until I found the trace of an Ebay auction for the 78rpm, got in touch with the buyer, who gently accepted to send me mp3. Great and beautiful early jazz music, but huge disappontment : no nose flute, but a kazoo !
Homeward Bound Blues :
Old Steady Roll :
However, Harvey Jones (01/27/1902, Versailles, Ky - 1960s, Chicago)) was an entertainer and a noseflutist. In The Jug Bands of Louisville, by Fred Cox, John Randolph and John Harris and compiled by Laurie Wright in his out of stock magazine Storyville, one could read :
« An early member of Earl McDonald's Louisville Jug Band was Harvey Jones. Although Jones had been a drummer in his earlier career, the Jug Band needed pure novelty and Jones danced, sang and played novelty instruments. After the Jug Band played in Chicago in 1920 (therefore, long before they had recorded) Jones set up his own novelty group and played Kelly's Stables, Sherman House, theaters and mainly white clubs. Harvey reported that the Jones So-Different Four recorded TIGER RAG and HOMEWARD BOUND for Paramount. Obviously this is the item issued as Jones Paramount Charleston Four and the title for TIGER RAG was changed to OLD STEADY ROLL. The personnel for the date was: Harvey Jones - leader, Humanophone (a nose-whistle looking like a football nose-guard in which air blown through the nose is recirculated against the vocal chords and is given resonance and timbre in in the mouth), and Jazz Sax, a kazoo in the form of a sax. Ernest Tapley - banjo; James Turner - banjo; Sol Turner (not related) - guitar. »
This is very bizarre : the nose flute is mentioned (but not audible) and the Eddie Vincent's trombone is missing, although very recognizable in the records. Were they 2 versions of those tunes ???
Regarding the nose flute, the article mentions a « Humanophone ». In the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors Journal, Vol. 19-20, the glossary states :
HUMANOPHONE - This and kazoo used by Harvey Jones on a Paramount record in 1925. he same record also had others playing trombone, banjo and mandolin.
And back in Storyville :
« The Humanophone was purchased at Lyons & Healy music store at Wabash and Jackson, Chicago, soon after Jones arrived in 1920, and when he was looking for novelty instruments. Jones knows of no one else who ever captured the technique of the Humanophone. »
This testimony states that the Humanophone existed already in 1920.
And elsewhere in Storyville :
« Under the leadership of Harvey Jones, they organized a novelty band without a jug blower, using the name Jones' So Diffrent Four. Harvey had probably heard Whistler blowing the nose-whistle in Louisville, because he purchased one (trade name: Humanophone) at the Lyons & Healy music store, mastered it, and began featuring it with his So Diffrent Four. »
So, Harvey Jones would have bought a Humanophone after having heard Buford Threlkeld!, eminent honorary degree member of the Nose Flute Hall of Fame !
 |  |
Homeward Bound Blues :
Old Steady Roll :
However, Harvey Jones (01/27/1902, Versailles, Ky - 1960s, Chicago)) was an entertainer and a noseflutist. In The Jug Bands of Louisville, by Fred Cox, John Randolph and John Harris and compiled by Laurie Wright in his out of stock magazine Storyville, one could read :
« An early member of Earl McDonald's Louisville Jug Band was Harvey Jones. Although Jones had been a drummer in his earlier career, the Jug Band needed pure novelty and Jones danced, sang and played novelty instruments. After the Jug Band played in Chicago in 1920 (therefore, long before they had recorded) Jones set up his own novelty group and played Kelly's Stables, Sherman House, theaters and mainly white clubs. Harvey reported that the Jones So-Different Four recorded TIGER RAG and HOMEWARD BOUND for Paramount. Obviously this is the item issued as Jones Paramount Charleston Four and the title for TIGER RAG was changed to OLD STEADY ROLL. The personnel for the date was: Harvey Jones - leader, Humanophone (a nose-whistle looking like a football nose-guard in which air blown through the nose is recirculated against the vocal chords and is given resonance and timbre in in the mouth), and Jazz Sax, a kazoo in the form of a sax. Ernest Tapley - banjo; James Turner - banjo; Sol Turner (not related) - guitar. »
This is very bizarre : the nose flute is mentioned (but not audible) and the Eddie Vincent's trombone is missing, although very recognizable in the records. Were they 2 versions of those tunes ???
Regarding the nose flute, the article mentions a « Humanophone ». In the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors Journal, Vol. 19-20, the glossary states :
HUMANOPHONE - This and kazoo used by Harvey Jones on a Paramount record in 1925. he same record also had others playing trombone, banjo and mandolin.
And back in Storyville :
« The Humanophone was purchased at Lyons & Healy music store at Wabash and Jackson, Chicago, soon after Jones arrived in 1920, and when he was looking for novelty instruments. Jones knows of no one else who ever captured the technique of the Humanophone. »
This testimony states that the Humanophone existed already in 1920.
And elsewhere in Storyville :
« Under the leadership of Harvey Jones, they organized a novelty band without a jug blower, using the name Jones' So Diffrent Four. Harvey had probably heard Whistler blowing the nose-whistle in Louisville, because he purchased one (trade name: Humanophone) at the Lyons & Healy music store, mastered it, and began featuring it with his So Diffrent Four. »
So, Harvey Jones would have bought a Humanophone after having heard Buford Threlkeld!, eminent honorary degree member of the Nose Flute Hall of Fame !
We propose Harvey Jones for Nose Flute Hall of Fame membership!
Aug 12, 2012
A correct wooden flute
I bought this "vietnamese type" nose flute at Copperman (£6-). It is a very standard African blackwood nose whistle. But contrarywise to the ones findable on Ebay, it is rather well finished, and thus, is comfortable and play rather nicely.
the problem with those flute are the nose hole position (not very ergonomical) and their lack of of speed. However, I tried a rather quick piece as sound sample, and the flute is ... better than me :) :
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Aug 11, 2012
Video at Anvil Camp
A cool and fresh video by AnvilCamp4, with a guitalele, a nose flute and improvised precussions. The guitar is not well tuned, but the noseflutist plays right. Look at 0'53" the discreet sign sent to the percussionist and his (as discreet) annoyed reaction, very funny.
Aug 10, 2012
Yan Yalego... aussi!
Yan Yalego, the great guitarist, ukulelist and singer... also! Thanks to him for this beautiful and surrealistic autoportrait with his new Bocarina!
Yan Yalego website
Yan Yalego YouTube channel
Yan Yalego MySpace page
Yan Yalego website
Yan Yalego YouTube channel
Yan Yalego MySpace page
Aug 9, 2012
Happy Birthday - Part 4: Stats!
Who are you? Where are you from? Here are some interesting stats running on one year.
In one year, 366 posts were published, that is exactly 1 per day (2012 is a leap year).
Many thanks to the contributors, without whose it would not have been possible, and who provided articles, info, videos, comments...
In one year (366 days), the blog welcomed 37800 visits or so (36451 until 31st of July), that is an average of 103 per day.
But it is only an average, since during the last month, you've seen 221 pages each day!
Indeed, the growth of Noseflute.org was stunning, with more and more visits each month :
You come from all around the world! With 3 main areas : USA, Asia (particularly Japan) and Europe. Here are some maps, showing your origin (info collected during 6 months only) and a "classification" by country, the first providing the most visits (these are "absolute" data, meaning that the most populated countries are over-represented regarding the % of people interested in nose flutes) :
Well... Africa is a desert for us: no interest for "urban type" nose flute or more probably lack of internet connections and computers... However, I can clearly see Mr. Schuermans in Pretoria, South Africa!
The Noseflute.org Blog: Figures
In one year, 366 posts were published, that is exactly 1 per day (2012 is a leap year).
Many thanks to the contributors, without whose it would not have been possible, and who provided articles, info, videos, comments...
In one year (366 days), the blog welcomed 37800 visits or so (36451 until 31st of July), that is an average of 103 per day.
But it is only an average, since during the last month, you've seen 221 pages each day!
Indeed, the growth of Noseflute.org was stunning, with more and more visits each month :
The Noseflute.org Readers: You!
You come from all around the world! With 3 main areas : USA, Asia (particularly Japan) and Europe. Here are some maps, showing your origin (info collected during 6 months only) and a "classification" by country, the first providing the most visits (these are "absolute" data, meaning that the most populated countries are over-represented regarding the % of people interested in nose flutes) :
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Happy Birthday - Part 3: Nose Flute Goodies!
In order to celebrate its first birthday, Noseflute.org has produced a very limited edition of quality nose flute goodies! 6 collector postcards of the Nose Flute Hall of Fame and 4 collector badges. You can order them... just here :
The Standard Set is composed of 6 gorgeous "photocollage" postcards by UkeHeidi : the 6 first entries in the Nose Flute Hall of Fame: Ezra Pound, Elvis Presley, Lloyd Buford Threlkeld, Leonard Cohen, Esther Averill and Jean-Marie Hottetotte. The back mentions the glorious nose flute fact that lead the NFHoF to accept the elected member.
These collector postcards are published in a very limited edition.
6 different Nose Flute Hall of Fame postcards, printed on heavy coated cardboard (300g/m2), set in a crystal pocket, closed by a NFHoF sticker (click on the pictures to enlarge):
SOLD OUT!
The Deluxe Set is composed by a Standard Set added with a set of 4 collector 25mm badges : 1 noseflute.org, 1 Nose Flute Hall of Fame, 1 Bocarina and 1 "hanabue!". These collector badges are published in a very very limited edition.
6 different Nose Flute Hall of Fame postcards, printed on heavy coated cardboard (300g/m2), set in a crystal pocket, closed by a NFHoF sticker, plus 4 different badges (25mm) set in a crystal pocket (click on the pictures to enlarge):
SOLD OUT!
Standard Set
The Standard Set is composed of 6 gorgeous "photocollage" postcards by UkeHeidi : the 6 first entries in the Nose Flute Hall of Fame: Ezra Pound, Elvis Presley, Lloyd Buford Threlkeld, Leonard Cohen, Esther Averill and Jean-Marie Hottetotte. The back mentions the glorious nose flute fact that lead the NFHoF to accept the elected member.
These collector postcards are published in a very limited edition.
What you will exactly get :
6 different Nose Flute Hall of Fame postcards, printed on heavy coated cardboard (300g/m2), set in a crystal pocket, closed by a NFHoF sticker (click on the pictures to enlarge):
 |  |
 |  |
Please note that there will be no shipping
until 20th of August (Noseflute.org holidays!:)
A surprise gift will be added to
the first 20 orders! |
SOLD OUT!
Deluxe Set
The Deluxe Set is composed by a Standard Set added with a set of 4 collector 25mm badges : 1 noseflute.org, 1 Nose Flute Hall of Fame, 1 Bocarina and 1 "hanabue!". These collector badges are published in a very very limited edition.
What you will exactly get :
6 different Nose Flute Hall of Fame postcards, printed on heavy coated cardboard (300g/m2), set in a crystal pocket, closed by a NFHoF sticker, plus 4 different badges (25mm) set in a crystal pocket (click on the pictures to enlarge):
 |  |
 |  |  |  |
Please note that there will be no shipping
until 20th of August (Noseflute.org holidays!:)
A surprise gift will be added to
the first 20 orders! |
SOLD OUT!
Happy Birthday - Part 2: The Gov'nor Potato!
For Noseflute.org brithday, Maikel Mei painted a portrait of me as "Nose Flute Governor"! Hahaha! Quite resembling, particularly the double chin:), with my historic potato nose flute... Thank you very much Maikel!
I really look like a leader, even a dictator. It would fit very well on Tian An Men piazza :)
Well, my cat Patafix is a bit pissed off : now she has to stand 2 governors at home... « One was enough! », she said.
I really look like a leader, even a dictator. It would fit very well on Tian An Men piazza :)
Well, my cat Patafix is a bit pissed off : now she has to stand 2 governors at home... « One was enough! », she said.
Happy Birthday - Part 1: Thanks and Videos
Today is the Noseflute.org Birthday!! Yes, on August 9, last year, I was posting this first "inaugural post" with my first stupid nose flute video.
When I begin the blog, I was not sure it would last more than a couple of month, by lack of info and mostly by absence of readers. So, thanks to you all who read the blog, thanks to those who are used posting videos, and thanks to all of you who helped me by a mean or another, notably, my sweet Nosy Diva and Mr. Maikel Mei! I wish also to thank the nose flute makers, and particularly Mr. Chris Schuermans, Mr. Kunio Katada and Ms. Kanae Miyazaki who were very generous with me, sending their jewels to me. Thank you to all my many friends in nosefluting, including Brian, Chiou, Jun, Luis, Nicolas, Ralf, Sho, Will, and so many other...
Have you ever wonder why the "Happy Birthday" theme is the music the most played on the nose flute? I suppose it's because lots of people received a nose flute for their birthday, and when they begin to play it, they hum the first thing that pops up in their head. Here is my prefered version, by Jkobster :
But there are so so many Happy Birthday cover with nose flutes, for the better and the worst! Have a look :
When I begin the blog, I was not sure it would last more than a couple of month, by lack of info and mostly by absence of readers. So, thanks to you all who read the blog, thanks to those who are used posting videos, and thanks to all of you who helped me by a mean or another, notably, my sweet Nosy Diva and Mr. Maikel Mei! I wish also to thank the nose flute makers, and particularly Mr. Chris Schuermans, Mr. Kunio Katada and Ms. Kanae Miyazaki who were very generous with me, sending their jewels to me. Thank you to all my many friends in nosefluting, including Brian, Chiou, Jun, Luis, Nicolas, Ralf, Sho, Will, and so many other...
Have you ever wonder why the "Happy Birthday" theme is the music the most played on the nose flute? I suppose it's because lots of people received a nose flute for their birthday, and when they begin to play it, they hum the first thing that pops up in their head. Here is my prefered version, by Jkobster :
But there are so so many Happy Birthday cover with nose flutes, for the better and the worst! Have a look :
Aug 7, 2012
Japanese Nose Day ??
According to this article published on Wednesday 5th of August, 1964, in the Pacific Stars & Stripes, the Japanese Nose Day stood on the Friday 7th of the same month. Is the Nose Day still celebrated in Japan nowadays ? Jump on your nose flutes and blast your neighbors ears! Then, invite a nose to lunch!
[Edit : Mrs Emi Sato sent us the explanation :
Yes! 8/7.
8 sounds "hachi" and 7 sound "nana" in Japanese.
and the nose is "hana".
So, "ha"chi + "na"na gives "hana"!!
That is the reason we say that 8/7 = Japanese nose day."
Thank you Emi!]
Aug 5, 2012
Contempt for nose flute
Contempt and scorn towards the nose flute as an instrument is not new. In this article published in the Portsmouth Times on October 12, 1948, and announcing that the AFM (American federation of Musicians) had finally accepted the harmonica as an instrument, the nose flute clearly is used as an ironic example (remember that at this time, even the ukulele was considered as a toy and was rejected by the AFM).
It had been a long time since the 1925s though, when Lloyd Bufford Threlkeld and other had proved the nose whistle was a real instrument...
I retyped the text, because it is difficult to read, and also on purpose for automatic translators :
Harmonica Makes The Grade - The harmonica has been a mongrel in the family of musical instruments. Favored by the rustics, comedians, eccentrics and idlers, it originally was called Aeolina by Sir Charles Wheatstone who invented it in 1829.
Now the harmonica comes into its own. It is recognized as a full-fledged musical instrument by James Caesar Petrillo of the American Federation of Musicians. Harmonica players will be taken into the union, although Mr. Petrillo concedes he isn't out to organize fence-corner improvisers and players who give train imitations at neighborhood parties.
The reason for the ruling is that, with the ban on new orchestral recordings, harmonica players are cleaning up as recording artists.
If the Harmonicats and kindred contributors to the national culture are succeeded as recording stars by nose-flute artists and virtuosos of the comb and tissue paper, we may look for further additions to the ranks of union musicians.
Earlier or later, the nose flute was regarded as a "joke item" (check this post) or as a "very approximative" instrument (check this post).
1960 :
1971 :
It had been a long time since the 1925s though, when Lloyd Bufford Threlkeld and other had proved the nose whistle was a real instrument...
I retyped the text, because it is difficult to read, and also on purpose for automatic translators :
Harmonica Makes The Grade - The harmonica has been a mongrel in the family of musical instruments. Favored by the rustics, comedians, eccentrics and idlers, it originally was called Aeolina by Sir Charles Wheatstone who invented it in 1829.
Now the harmonica comes into its own. It is recognized as a full-fledged musical instrument by James Caesar Petrillo of the American Federation of Musicians. Harmonica players will be taken into the union, although Mr. Petrillo concedes he isn't out to organize fence-corner improvisers and players who give train imitations at neighborhood parties.
The reason for the ruling is that, with the ban on new orchestral recordings, harmonica players are cleaning up as recording artists.
If the Harmonicats and kindred contributors to the national culture are succeeded as recording stars by nose-flute artists and virtuosos of the comb and tissue paper, we may look for further additions to the ranks of union musicians.
Earlier or later, the nose flute was regarded as a "joke item" (check this post) or as a "very approximative" instrument (check this post).
1960 :
1971 :
Aug 3, 2012
In-cre-di-ble!
Many videos by Mister Swing on this blog, last days... But this one is so stunning, that it deserves a special mention. Hans Christian Klüver blasts many nose flute criteria here. Don't you think so ?
Aug 2, 2012
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.
---
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 :
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Then I cut and filed the labium, very sharp.
---
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.
---
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.
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 | |
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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.
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Finally, I added 2 short sections of aluminium rod, and glued a red cord to make the Louboutin Hornet hands-free :
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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 :
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