G’Day,
Long time reader - first time poster of question. Does anybody know if the twin bore wooden “flute” played by the character “Mr. Tumnus” (he’s a Faun, don’t you know!) is a real instrument, or if this is just movie-magic? The movie was released here in Australia on Boxing Day (26th December). Any ideas? Also, does anyone know who the artist was, or the piece that was played? Thanks for any help.
Welcome aboard.
There has been some talk of this matter here
Slan,
D. 
I lived for some years in Croatia and they had a twin bore wooden whistle called a ‘sluskinja’ I think. Is one of the traditional instruments. Copies are sold widely for tourists.
Now i live in Greece. On ancient Greek pottery there are sometimes pictures of someone playing an ‘aulos’ (wrongly translated as ‘flute’ sometimes) with the pipes more splayed unlike the Croatian ‘sluskinja’ made from a single peice of wood. Archeological finds have shown that the aulos was sometimes single-reeded like a clarinet but more normally a double-reeded instrument. They were often played by girls at Greek drinking parties (which were very like British drinking parties but a lot less violent). The aulos was sometimes a single pipe.
Edited to say I’ll go and watch the film tonight.
An aulos is what it looked like to me. Considering that’s faun is the Lain word for Satyr, classical statuary is the likliest place for the art department to have looked for design clues.
I learned from a different thread that a hornpipe was also a double barelled instrument with reed(s)..
Further to my post, I have done a little looking around on the web for the info I sought. I thought the movie credits may tell me who or what, but I haven’t found anything yet. (When I watched the movie, the exit doors were opened in the credits, which flooded the theatre with bright summer sunshine! Consequently, I couldn’t see the screen.) If anyone goes in the near future, perhaps the credits could help? I’d like to go again, but I can’t afford to!
And if anyone has any info on how to actually make something like this, that would be pretty cool.
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/554/554117p1.html
"The scene also provides a small glimpse into the forthcoming contributions from the film’s composer, Harry Gregson-Williams, who reunites with director Adamson after providing the music for both Shrek movies…For the sequence, the composer wrote a brief, hypnotic piece of music that Tumnus plays for Lucy on his flute, a prop designed and built by Richard Taylor’s WETA Workshop (designed by Christian Pearce and built by John Harding). "
It looks like the flute itself is a prop, and I don’t know what the tune was actually played on.
Further searching finds a sound clip and a copy of the sheet music here:
http://www.walden.com/html/pub/lww/lww_mats_lullaby.jsp
(Walden! you’re holding out on us!)
Unfortunately the sheet music is 404 (not found) but looking at the jpg closely, I don’t see any instrument designations.
SCORE! Nothing can hide from me on the internet:
http://www.narniafans.com/?id=369
- How do you compose each character’s music? What elements do you consider when composing a character’s music?
I watch the film over and over again getting to know the characters involved and from that a musical idea is hatched. A Theme. I try to find something extra that the music can say about this character other than what is immediately obvious on screen. The character Mr. Tumnus was fairly straight forward for me as he actually plays a musical instrument on camera. The instrument he plays does not exist and is a figment of a Prop Maker’s imagination, so I was able to chose what sound I thought it might make. I ended up with a Duduk, which not only sounded like it was coming form his instrument, but provided a mysterious, beautiful tone for me to utilize.
A Duduk!
http://www.worldmusicalinstruments.com/MusicalInstrumentList.asp?CategoryID=104&CategoryName=Duduk
The duduk is an Armenian wind instrument with sound qualities similar to the clarinet. The duduk is one of the oldest double reed instruments in the world. It can produce a wide range of melodies, including rhythmic dance tunes. The duduk has truly become a part of everyday life in Armenia. Both beginner and professional duduks are offered. Other Armenian instruments offered by WorldMusicalInstruments include Bloul and Shvi, listed in their own categories under Wind Instruments.
hope that helps!
I have downloaded the pdf file, but I don’t know how to attach it so others can get it. Perhaps try the site again.
It only appears to be 404 to Firefox..was able to download it just fine in IE. Go figure..
Firefox 1.5
The pdf opened fine…D# right… 
Oh, I figured it out..heh…
click the LINK, the pdf opens..
Click the big image, and it gets 404…one of them has a typo in the href 
It sounded to me like they used a soprano saxophone for this instrument. Its sound may have been manipulated, however, but I remember thinking to myself, “Sounds like a sax.” Hmmm? I could be wrong.
Jeanie
I read somewhere that the thing Tumnus was holding is not a real instrument at all, just a prop, and that the actual sound was that of an Armenian duduk.
oops, Wanderer already said that. The interview snippet that he posted is from the same interview I read.
Thank you so SO much for all this info and links! I was going to ask about the instrument and music but then found the thread already here.
I love these forums.
here’s your man:http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:9dvsa9wgb23d~T1
Where else can you hear the Armenian duduk?
MOTION PICTURES:
Dead Man Walking
The Last Temptation of Christ
Ronin
The Crow
Gladiator
The Russia House
Storm and Sorrow
Onegin
Siege
TELEVISION:
Zena the Warrior Princes
Hercules
Or recordings of Djivan Gasparian - he is considered as a best master of duduk in Armenia.
I would dearly love to be able to find an actual twin-bore whistle or flute like the one Tumnus plays. Does such a thing exist anywhere?
Aren’t duduks the coolest? I’d love to learn to play one of those.