On 3/5/2019 8:22 AM, Zen Cycle wrote:
On Friday, March 1, 2019 at 6:50:13 PM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/1/2019 1:48 PM, Zen Cycle wrote:
On Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 4:30:48 PM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:

As a confirmed retro-grouch, my guitar and all other instruments are
wooden. Or at least, non-amplified.

(I got really crazy a while back and bought a flute made of Delrin.)


I'm assuming this was a keyless (pre-boehm design) type traditional music like a celtic session? I'd imagine it has a very soft tone with a rich low-end.

Yep. Only eight holes, counting the embouchure hole and the one at the
end. Aside from percussion, probably the world's oldest musical instrument.

I suppose the tone would be nice and soft with a rich low end if I were
any good. My fingers know what to do from other instruments. But
embouchure frustrates the heck out of me.

I can be playing along nicely for a while, then have the thing go dead
silent in the middle of a tune. I've been told there are microscopic
muscles in the lips that get tired, and only disciplined daily practice
will build endurance.


Embouchure is art not only from the musician, but from the craftsman as well. I toured the Haynes factory in Boston when I was in high school with a small group from a wind ensemble I was playing with at the time. My flute was a Gmeindhardt concert model, open hole keys with a silver head and embrouchure plate. Their head craftsman was demonstrating how they customize their instruments. He asked me to play mine, then took the flute and started filing the embouchure hole (he asked permission of course). The difference was astounding - matching the embouchure between the player and the instrument is what makes companies like haynes and powell stand apart. It's possible your delrin might need a tweak - but like everything, it'll cost ya.

The flute is by Copley & Boegli, a maker with a good reputation. And
supposedly, after a phone conversation, the embouchure hole is chosen to
be forgiving of a beginner - which I am. But I understand how
customizing might help. He's hundreds of miles away, though, and I don't
know if he does custom carving, so to speak.


I am a classically trained flautist, and had visions of entering the world of classical performance. I had declared my major at Hartt/U Hartford in performance. I got a rude awaking performing with under grads that quite literally blew my doors off, and couldn't find work. My private tutor was a New England Conservatory graduate - making a living giving private lessons and supplementing her income by teaching caning courses (seriously, i'm not making this up). I came to the sad realization that I was going to starve pursuing this. I was very good, but I wasn't great. If you don't want to starve as a musician, you have to be better than great, or really ****ing lucky. I was always good at math, so my sophmore year I switched to EE.

I considered music as a major (as well as biology and commercial art).
I'm very glad I went a different direction. I've always played several
instruments and I get great pleasure out of playing socially, playing
for dances, etc. But I doubt I have the extreme discipline to play at a
professional level.

My kid began playing violin at a very early age and did very, very well,
then (mostly) switched to voice in high school. She entered music school
here as a voice student and won the school's Young Artist competition,
got leading roles in musicals, was the youngest member of the elite
vocal ensemble, got to tour Europe with that group, etc.

Then she transferred to one of the country's top music schools, where
she finished her degree. It was there that she realized that a) there
were competitors who were willing to devote every minute of their lives
to their art; and b) the life of a professional musician is usually
nomadic and uncertain. She completed the degree very well but chose a
different career path entirely.

Just last night, I read a Smithsonian magazine article on Rhiannon
Giddens, an amazing vocalist. "You can never say no as a freelance
musician. I was on the road 200 days a year. If I wasn't touring, I
wasn't making money. When I got the MacArthur [grant, $625,000] I could
get off that hamster wheel."


--
- Frank Krygowski