This might be my first post. I’ve been on the whistle site for years… and just today I realized that I much prefer playing the flute these days, so why not chat the same? So greetings. I LOVE playing the flute. I’ve played music almost all my life, and flute for about half of it. But I had some severe chronic pain which made holding the flute and breathing easily almost impossible. Tom Green made me a bent headjoint that worked very well for years while I was getting out of pain. Anyway, my point is, I’ve played a long time, but I have a really long way to go before I’m good enough to satisfy my seemingly endless desire to play the flute and play it well.
The actual reason I was posting was to share about how much fun I’m having learning the Indian flute, the bansuri–a bamboo flute with no lip plate or keys. It’s turning out to be especially cool because I can use all my whistle repertoire on the bansuri (also a diatonic instrument, of course). And it’s considerably more satisfying because as stunning as the whistle can sound, I find it more interesting to be required to have a refined embouchure, and thus considerable control over the quality of sound you get.
These bansuris are beautiful instruments. The bamboo is very light, in some cases. And of course, you can get very bendy notes easily, which is always welcome in Celtic music. The ones I have are a good quality but not particularly expensive, compared to a good quality violin, piano, silver flute, etc. (They’re $150-$250 each.)
I love the keylessness of it all, and find it really fascinating to practice keeping my fingers as relaxed and close to the holes as possible. Because without any keys the possibility for playing lightening fast licks just went way up–right? Bendy, fast and very sweet toned…so far they are my favorite qualities of these flutes.
Any other experiences with the bansuris?
Someone on the other site told me about Chinese dizi flutes and they intrigued me enough to order one. Coming in about a month…so we’ll see. It’s got a hole with rice paper over it to make a buzzing effect. Pretty curious.
Have you had an opportunity to play one of Patrick Olwell’s cane flutes (in any key)? These are
made for Celtic music. So are Billy Millers (which are perhaps somewhat less good but very good, and lots cheaper (partly because they are still being made)). I lived several years in India, and I do have the feeling that the mentioned flutes are better suited to Celtic music than are
bansuris, which I played there (but badly). On the whole, I think bamboo/cane
flutes for Celtic music are under-rated. As you say, they are very expressive.
I think bamboo/cane
flutes for Celtic music are under-rated.
Just as an aside, I was just listening to a recording of Micho Russell talking about flutes an how people used to make them out of pieces of ‘bamboo’ that would wash up from the sea. I don’t think he thought much of the results. At some point he said occasionally someone got lucky and made something that had a semblance to something in tune.
I wonder whether that was a comment on the material used (I can’t imagine washed-up bamboo or cane would be ideal for flute making) or on the methods used to make those flutes, which I assume would be fairly rudimentary (holes not necessarily in the right place or the right size, the bore would be all over the shop, etc). I remember reading about similar DIY fiddles made from driftwood on the Blasket Islands, but they were dropped when professionally made fiddles were obtained.
How interesting! I will check out the two sources of cane flutes suggested above and thanks! I’ll let you know when my Chinese dizi flutes come too. They could be spectacular … or not.
I wonder whether that was a comment on the material used (I can’t imagine washed-up bamboo or cane would be ideal for flute making) or on the methods used to make those flutes, which I assume would be fairly rudimentary (holes not necessarily in the right place or the right size, the bore would be all over the shop, etc).
He elaborated a bit about doing the job without proper tools and how sometimes a man would be lucky and got something resembling a scale. But he also mentioned a man whom he had met in England (in Hexham) who made flutes from plastic tubing, using a hacksaw and ‘half a scissors’ that worked well. 'And he tuned them with his ear’ Micho added, in wonder.
Anyone got a contact phone number and/or email for Billy Miller flutes? His website gives no clue how to actually contact him and order. And I’d sure like to!
He can be hard to reach, cause he’s travelling a bit, playing and selling flutes
at fairs. Best thing is to leave an e mail and be patient. He’s a good fellow, in my experience, anyhow.
Further to Mr. Gumby’s Micho Russell anecdote, I was just reading an account by Josie McDermott that’s quoted in the Companion to Irish Traditional Music to the same effect. Makeshift flutes would be made out of hogweed or elder and while not generally very good, they could provide some musical entertainment. There were many fife and drum bands at the time, so finding someone who could play a few tunes was fairly easy, and then it was just a question of finding a suitable length of stick to carve it out of.
Vallely also connects these flutes to the tradition of soaking a flute in water or pouring a liquid down the bore. Since they were made of fairly porous materials, that would actually help the tone and make it easier to fill by plugging the crevices with water. Plus, while this is a pretty bad practice if you actually want to keep your flute in good condition, the improvised and impermanent nature of the instrument meant that the damage didn’t really matter.
while this is a pretty bad practice if you actually want to keep your flute in good condition, the improvised and impermanent nature of the instrument meant that the damage didn’t really matter.
The practice however spilled over into the ‘concert’ flutes: there’s the wellknown story of the Tulla ceiliband going for audition to appear on the radio during the late 40s/early 50s where one of the fluteplayers ran water through the flutes and the whole thing went pear shaped. the band didn’t appear on radio for another twenty years.
There were many fife and drum bands at the time
In a Micho Russell related context: I have done some leg work in Clare with regard to photographs for the late Bill Ochs’ book on Micho, one absolutely wonderful 1920s or so original print of the Kilfenora fifeband came through my hands for scanning. Wonderful stuff, the past is indeed a country where they did things differently.
One of the things I’m finding is that flute makers (for bamboo and Bansuri flutes) recommend all kinds of different things, in terms of oiling. Some say oil inside only, or oil outside only, or don’t oil at all, or oiling it improves the tone, or oiling it ruins the tone. Jeesh! I get it that it may depend on the way they’ve finished the flute… but this makes it very hard to know what is the best thing to do to preserve my flutes!
Agreed. I’ve had a couple of bamboo flutes here (one from Chris Dawson and three or four Balinese bamboo flutes) for decades and have never oiled them at all; they’re as good as the day they were made. I also had an Olwell C bamboo flute that I never oiled. I never oil my wooden flutes either, except for the first few months after purchase.
