This blog is dedicated to the sublime instruments called nose flutes and which produce the most divine sound ever. We have chosen to discard all the native models from S. Pacific and Asia, for they need fingering to be played. We'll concentrate on "buccal cavity driven" nose flutes : the well patented and trademarked metal or plastic ones, plus, by a condemnable indulgence, some wooden craft or home-made productions.

May 12, 2012

Video : the "London Nose Flute Band"

A video by the supposed "London Nose Flute band". For real, a session of motivational training organized by Tim Guard, a British professional stage speaker.

May 11, 2012

Beautiful music from Japan

A very interesting Japanese video, with beautiful music. Nose flute played by Mr. Ryūtei Gokuraku (柳亭互久楽さん), accompanied by a piano, at the Cafe Monkey Bar. I hope you'll appreciate the syncopated playing that begins around 1'00. [I think I understand that] the song is called The Glass Beads Curtains (南京玉簾).

May 10, 2012

Komatsuka Nae, a talented Japanese artist

Kanae Miyazaki, aka Komatsuka Nae, is a Japanese ceramics maker, but also a multitalented artist, gifted in drawings and painting too. She has specialized in representing birds, and that it not surprising her workshop is called Penguin Porcelain, and her office Parakeet Communication.
Komatsuka Nae produces many different things, including table ware decorated with funny penguins, but also... nose flutes! She is notably the creator of a funny and beautiful "japanese penguin" character, and made nose flutes representing it.



Here is an auto-portrait she made, showing her making a nose flute :



She could stop here, but she also created little nests or boxes for her hanabue, and draw mangas featuring the "Okan-khamen" character — a parrot wearing a pharaoh's suit – nose flute.




I cannot publish here all the Komatsuka Nae's production, so, I invite you to visit her blog, and notably those pages, which chronologically show the Okan-khamen nose flute adventures! :

http://penguin10.exblog.jp/14946132/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15068948/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15096761/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15112847/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15121337/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15125542/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15723776/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15779363/
http://penguin10.exblog.jp/15804472/

You also can visit this page in English, dedicated to Komatsuka Nae's work.


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On the same topic, please visit (chronologically) :

- Komatsuka Nae, a talented Japanese artist
- Covered with gifts
- Okan-Khamen - Part I: Covered with gifts!
- Okan-Khamen - Part II: The Parrot-Pharaoh
- Okan-Khamen - Part III: The Nose Flutes
- Okan-Khamen - Part IV: Komatsuka nae's answer

Related links :

- Komatsuka Nae's (Kozakurapon) blog
- Kanae Miyazaki's Facebook page
- A page in English about Kanae's work
- Kanae Miyazaki's works on Toumoto photo website
- Opi Toutomo's Facebook page

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May 9, 2012



Andrew Gruswitz, aka Andy Joe, is a polyinstrumentist musician from New Jersey. He published on iCompositions several music pieces gathered under the title Crazy Bumpkin, and amongst which the two first are called Nose flute Dance and Nose Flute Circus

« My nose flute is the kind that you can get for 99 cents at a lot of music stores. You often find them by the slide whistles, jews harps, and other cheap stuff. You blow into it though your nose and shape your mouth the adjust the pitch, like you said. The pitch is difficult to control as well as it sounds like I can on these songs. How did I do it? Well, a lot of takes and a lot of cut and paste. Enjoy, and please do rate my other songs if you get a chance. »

Nose Flute Dance is a kind of Mariachi music piece, including a guitar, a slapping e-bass, an harmonica, shakers, some vinyl noises and nose flute. It has a funny ending...



Nose flute Circus is a short funny piece played with guitar, nose flute and bass drum, a kind of Zorba's Dance.



Links
- Andy Joe's iComposition page
- Listen to other Andy Joe's compositions

May 8, 2012

Video : a great noseflute trio!

A nice video featuring Sensei Mosurin (モスリン), Emi Yū (笑遊) and Jinka Cha (珍華茶), all three playing the nose flute.

May 7, 2012

Amplified nose flutes by Maikel Mei

Have you ever tried to amplify your nose flute ? I did, and I can tezll you it's a pain in the neck. For sure, you still have the solution of playing in front of a microphone, but so, you are not really free of you moves. The best solution would surely be a contact piezo pickup, and that's what I tried. Result : no real place large enough to stick the pickup, and anyway, a very weak sound, leading to much background noise (and feedback). So, I gave up for the moment.

Our Dutch friend Maikel Mei, well known on this blog (see his works here and here, and his magnificient silver flute here), did it with much cleaverness, modifying the flutes.

« The first time I played with a specific microphone was in 1998, when I teamed up with one of the best Dutch guitar players around. We looked at the idea of creating an electric sound for the nose flute. We accomplished this by attaching a contact microphone close up to the labium and running the jack through a series of stompboxes such as wah wah, reverb, chorus, distortion and delay. As my 'partner in crime' applied the effects while I was improvising on Brian May's 'Brighton Rock Solo', we were both absolutely blown away by the result. »

So, what did he do?

« Out of a bag of 50 'Swan logo' nose flutes, I created 12 good-sounding flutes, by taking off all the lids and trying them on each body. I enhanced each of these 12 flutes with a different extended lower lip rest, so that I could attach the contact microphone to it properly. I used (cut up) parts of 'Swan logo' nose flutes and of Humanatones to create these extensions. For the final version I actually used 2 plastic guitar plectrums. »



Then, having extended the vibrating zone, he just stuck a piezo pickup...

« This contact microphone was purchased from specialist contact mic maker and recorder Jez Riley French, based in the UK. It is a flawless amplifying device used by several professional performing and recording artists, including flautists. Attached to the instrument, the contact mic picks up all vibrations produced, which can add greatly to the sound of the instrument. The jack is a standard one to plug straight into an amplifier and a stompbox or a multi effects box of your choice. The cable length is 5 meters, so as to have the freedom to move on stage. »

May 6, 2012

Video : A one-(young)man band

Interesting video in which a young German plays ukulele, bass drum, hi-hat and nose flute at the same time!