For the eyes of flautists--need flute recommendations
Dakshin
I need to buy a flute--my current one (non descript) is ready to
retire. I looked at a metal (Gerhardt?) one in a local music
store that has "hole covers." Wonder what it can do to my
carnatic music? Does anyone have any experience? Besides, is it
worth spending $500 on one of these gizmos (yes, it seems that
way even without electronic interfaces).
I considered buying a bamboo flute, after listening to Chowrasiya on CD.
I passed the idea considering the fact that my gamakas are not best
expressed on a wooden pipe with a blow hole. Honestly, I like
recorders more than flutes, for their ease. However, they are
"perceived" by many as beginners tools, no matter how well you
play on them. Does anyone share this view?
Let me ask yet another one, do you have to play a flute to
be called a flautist? I know it sounds silly. But there are
several types of flutes out there which sound different
even if the same raga is played by the same person. It seems
one can ace the performance by merely holding 10 flutes in reserve
and using them at various strategic places during concert.
My final question: is there a solo flute recording (without any
other instruments and no other flute to resonate) ? Most pundits
and prodigies playing on flute seem to depend on external sruti
and tala.
Dakshin
--
Dakshin Gandikota, Ph.D.
Rm. 1D-260N, AT&T Labs
6200 E.Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43213 614-860-6006
Shashidhar N S
Dakshin <dak...@sunray.cb.att.com> wrote:
>
>Let me ask yet another one, do you have to play a flute to
>be called a flautist? I know it sounds silly.
>
The general term you are looking for is "woody windy instrumentalist".
>one can ace the performance by merely holding 10 flutes in reserve
>and using them at various strategic places during concert.
>
Doubtless as you are aware, this is done. Both by H and C flautists.
However, a performance is not aced _merely_ by adopting this technique.
It is aced by holding higher musical concepts in reserve and using them
at various strategic places during a concert.
Be warned: Anyone who asks me to define "higher musical concepts" is barred
from my Prime Permafrost Party in Winnipeg.
Shashidhara
WARVIJ
Due to tendinitis, the American flautist Abby
Rabinovitz (based here in Boston) had to give
up the bansuri. She plays in Hindustani style
on the silver flute. However as far as I know
she has no recordings available of pure Hindustani
style. Her recordings are available but they are
in the genre-crossing, "interstitial" area; her
other interests are Klezmer and Latin American
music.
She can be reached through the New England Conservatory
of Music in Boston.
Warren Senders
Original music blending Indian and Western traditions;
Hindustani vocal music -- Khyal & Thumri --
"Beauty in music is too often confused with something
that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair."
-- Charles Ives --
For info (617) 643-0206
Warren Senders
PO Box 38-1634, Harvard Square
Cambridge, MA 02238-1634
ManiS MDUS
You have raised several questions - let me try to answer some of them.
1. Western Flutes: These flutes are splendid instruments developed after
several years of meticulous research carried out at the end of the last
century by the German flautist Boehm - hence the term "Boehm" flutes. The
range of these instruments - 3 full octaves, is more than their much
simpler bamboo cousins. However, I would not recommend these flutes for
carnatic music. You might be able to play simple, gamaka-less pieces on
them to some extent, but that is all. One needs much greater sruthi
control in Carnatic music (when payed properly) and this can best be
achieved by direct finger contro of all of the holes. You can get an idea
of the most one can expect from using a western flute by listening to K.
Gopinath on the saxophone (another wind instrument controlled by keys). If
that is the extent of your musical ambitions, fine, go ahead with the
western flute. If you are looking for greater things from carnatic music,
then stick to flutes (not necessarily bamboo) where your fingers control
the openings. Another point: the tonal quality from bamboo flutes (the
really good ones) is much richer and warmer than from metal flutes.
2. Recorders. These are o.k. for children and raw beginners to music, but
they have no place as a concert instrument in carnatic music. My very
limited experience with them suggest that the volume is rather low with
very little ability for modulation. Even more importantly, it is more
difficult to get variation of pitch for each of the notes. In the
traditional bamboo flute, the sruti for each note is controlled by a
combination of several things: the strength of blowing, the extent of
opening of the mouth hole, the extent of opening of the finger holes (the
bigger the hole, the more easy it is to control this), the angle at which
the flute is tilted from the direction of the breath. When playing, the
various subtle changes in sruti, so characteristic of carnatic music, are
controlled by a combination of all of this, which your mind will
automatically control once you become reasonably familiar with the
instrument and you are sure in your mind about the sound you want to
create (which can only come after a lot of listening to the masters - so
vital in c. music, whether you are an instrumentalist or vocalist).
3. The word "flautist". This is pure semantics.
4. Use of different flutes. Each flute has its own character. Most
importantly, there will be slight variation in pitch between flutes that
are reported to be of the same pitch. In addition, the relationships
between the lower and upper octave notes tend to vary from flute to flute.
It takes some time to become acquainted with a particular flute and how
to correct for its imperfections (practically all bamboo flutes are
"imperfect"). Even established professional flutists who know their
instrument take some time to "warm up" before a concert. All these have
two consequences to changing flutes midstream in concerts. Firstly, it is
not easy to find perfectly matching flutes because of the slight
variations in pitch. Secondly, it is rather difficult to immediately
"warm up" to another instrument. Several artists, such as N. Ramani use
lower sruti flutes for certain lighter bhajans, etc. This certainly adds
to the flavour. However, I would never recommend changing flutes right in
the middle of a heavy carnatic piece (for which you do not need variation
in octaves) - it will be in the way of the thought process.
5. Solo flute recordings. Any carnatic music must have sruti. That is
part and parcel of the game. This is absolutly necessary for any one
practising voice or any instruments. The veena could be regarded as an
exception because it has its own sruthi strings. The base sruti is the
foundation for the building blocks. All notes bear some fractional
relationship to the base sruti. The sruti is even more important for
flutists. The bamboo flute, though it may look simple and relatively
rugged, is one of the most delicate instruments to play well. Even to play
"sa" perfectly is not very easy and does not come immediately (because the
sruti is subject to control by some many things as mentioned above), until
one has concentrated on the background sruthi. I was surprised the other
week to note that even a well known flutist such as KS Gopalakrishnan
could not get his shadjam correctly.
Srini Pichumani
In article <550c57$f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, ManiS MDUS
>
>Another point: the tonal quality from bamboo flutes (the
>really good ones) is much richer and warmer than from metal
>flutes.
Couldn't agree with you more about the metal flute's tone...
I find it to be _totally_ effete in comparison to the "Emdens"
(and even the regular bamboo flutes) for which Mali was famous...
a grand-uncle of mine who was a colleague/"disciple" of Mali
still has a few of these, and used to swear by such flutes
only, until a few years ago. Now, he doesn't have the lung
power to blow on them (he is past 80) and hence resorts to
thin-walled flutes, of the same 5-kaTTai pitch however, whose
tone he himself dismisses as "tagaramATTam irukku" i.e. tinny-
sounding.
>In addition, the relationships between the lower and upper
>octave notes tend to vary from flute to flute.
From what I have observed, it requires great agility and
adaptive finger technique to steer clear of these sorts of
"non-linearities" on the flute... I am sure that every
instrumentalist would say that such knowledge is necessary...
but it seems to be absolutely essential in the case of the
flute.
-Srini.
ps: Recently, I heard an anecdote from another relative who took
Mali and this grand-uncle to Tirunelveli for buying some flutes
from one Ananthanarayana Iyer... apparently, they took a whole
bag containing over 50 flutes to a remote area and blew on them
ceaselessly in solo and in duet before buying a dozen or so...
apparently, he was one of the best flute-makers and was favored
by Mali... Raghu/Ravi's dad Sundaram (?) also has mentioned
making flutes to Mali's liking.
Raghunath K. Rao
What with the subject, the material and I being a flautist, I couldn't
resist voicing MHO:
In article <55arps$i...@news.eecs.umich.edu>,
Srini Pichumani <sr...@quip.eecs.umich.edu> wrote:
>In article <550c57$f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, ManiS MDUS
><mani...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
[*discussion on thin-/thick-walled bamboo or metal flutes deleted *]
Fully agree. Bamboo flutes sound much better than metal ones. The
difference is more pronounced in thick-walled higher shruti flutes -
which are quite hard to play. Lower the shruti and the thickness
is not as important. That's why the large thin-walled bA.nsuri-s have a
beautiful and majestic tone, but higher-pitch flutes have to be
thick-walled not to sound like tinny piccolos.
>
>>In addition, the relationships between the lower and upper
>>octave notes tend to vary from flute to flute.
Quite true. Apart from subtle variances that can be compensated by airflow
and rotating the angle of attack on the blow hole, there are more
fundamental changes. For example, finger positions for producing tAra
pa.nchama and daivata (if lucky even nishAda) is almost always different on
different flutes.
>
>From what I have observed, it requires great agility and
>adaptive finger technique to steer clear of these sorts of
>"non-linearities" on the flute... I am sure that every
>instrumentalist would say that such knowledge is necessary...
>but it seems to be absolutely essential in the case of the
>flute.
No doubt about that. In general, after learning the basic finger positions,
an instrumentalist has to use his/her knowledge of music and feedback
of good hearing (both the long-term kind that leads to better music knowledge
and the short-time version for dynamic control) and improve his/her
playing. Unlike the western keyed flute, the bamboo flute is a
peculiar animal, each individual one with its own eccentricities. Some
that depend on the maker, some on the bamboo, and some plain random. And
one simply has to get used to a flute to really play it well.
Furthermore, oiling the flute, controlling humidity, temperature etc.
do not improve the sound of a flute, IMHO. These may prevent deterioration
under adverse conditions. Apart from how good the flute was originally,
The only thing that can improve the flute itself
is constantly playing it well. I firmly believe that a maestro's instrument,
be it a violin or a flute or any other has been seasoned by his/her
sAdhanA and steadily improves with the artist him/herself. I suspect there
are natural resonances involved here which alter the tonal characteristics
of the instrument with constant good use. Stress here on *good* since one
cannot reproduce this quality by making a violin-bowing or flute-blowing
machine and just try to "age" the instrument with some kind of
post-production "burn-in" process.
Of course, in the hand of a maestro, even a 10c street flute will sound great!
>
>-Srini.
>
>ps: Recently, I heard an anecdote from another relative who took
>Mali and this grand-uncle to Tirunelveli for buying some flutes
>from one Ananthanarayana Iyer... apparently, they took a whole
>bag containing over 50 flutes to a remote area and blew on them
>ceaselessly in solo and in duet before buying a dozen or so...
>apparently, he was one of the best flute-makers and was favored
>by Mali... Raghu/Ravi's dad Sundaram (?) also has mentioned
>making flutes to Mali's liking.
I'd like to tag on another Mali anecdote. My guru (Shri B. M. Sundar Rao)
was one of Mali's disciples, not a famous one, but a great teacher,
and very dear to Mali. Mali wanted to sell some lands 30-40 km out
of Bangalore, and my grand dad decided to take a look at them. When we
reached there with my guru, we found a room, about 20' x 20' x 10',
stacked with flutes from floor to ceiling! My guru explained that
Mali would spend hours blowing on these flutes (either made by him or
by someone according to his specs) for hours on end. One flute out of 100
might make it to the next round of testing and so on. I am extremely fortunate
to have a 4.5 shruti flute gifted to me by Mali (and my Guru) which passed
his tests. I have bought umpteen flutes since but never found the nAda and
ease of playing as in that one. Understandably so: it was tested and QA
approved by Mali!
My guru used to say that there is no way one can devise a great flute - God
himself has to guide the flute-maker for it to happen. Depending on your
beliefs that may or may not appeal to you, but it's a nice way of
saying that there are too many variables in the process to consistently build
a great bamboo flute. One has to keep trying and the good ones are just a
small % yield. The more experienced the maker and the tester, the better the
yield and the quality. Although this concept is true with most instruments, it
is particularly so with the bamboo flute.
Regards,
Raghunath Rao
K.R. Subramanyam
sr...@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Srini Pichumani) writes:
>In article <550c57$f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, ManiS MDUS
><mani...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>Another point: the tonal quality from bamboo flutes (the
>>really good ones) is much richer and warmer than from metal
>>flutes.
>Couldn't agree with you more about the metal flute's tone...
>I find it to be _totally_ effete in comparison to the "Emdens"
>(and even the regular bamboo flutes) for which Mali was famous...
>a grand-uncle of mine who was a colleague/"disciple" of Mali
>still has a few of these, and used to swear by such flutes
>only, until a few years ago. Now, he doesn't have the lung
>power to blow on them (he is past 80) and hence resorts to
>thin-walled flutes, of the same 5-kaTTai pitch however, whose
>tone he himself dismisses as "tagaramATTam irukku" i.e. tinny-
>sounding.
True, the volume of a 5 kattai or a 4 kattai can't be produced in lower
sruthis. But I would say that, given a lower decibel level, the 2 and half
sruthi used by Ramani, KSG and the like is equally rich in tonality. The trick
is in the blowing style. While one can blow lustily into the high register
flutes, the lower registers need a much greater CONTROL in the blow. If you
blow too little then it sounds feeble and if you blow too much it sounds
windy.
In general I find the high pitch and thicker flutes far more pleasurable from a
purely blowing point of view. But when it comes to producing subtle
gamakas and brikas the lower registers handle much better. However I would
say 2 and half is sort of the lower limit, anything below that has little
tonal beauty (unless you go for a bansuri which is a totally different ball
game!)
>>In addition, the relationships between the lower and upper
>>octave notes tend to vary from flute to flute.
>From what I have observed, it requires great agility and
>adaptive finger technique to steer clear of these sorts of
>"non-linearities" on the flute... I am sure that every
>instrumentalist would say that such knowledge is necessary...
>but it seems to be absolutely essential in the case of the
>flute.
True. No two flutes are alike and no one is perfect. In fact I'm starting
to believe that there is no such concept of a flute with a perfect sthayi
i.e., it is always relative. Once you play a flute for some time you
instinctively adjust to its idiosyncracies. If a note is very much off scale
you can lower its pitch by plugging some bees wax in the adjoining hole or
increase its pitch by sandpapering the adjoining hole (to make it bigger).
Matching of octaves is a totally different problem and one that is less easily
overcome. In general, thicker flutes will have a tendency for the higher
octaves to be lower (some times up to a quarter of a note!) than the lower
octaves. It is not easy to "adjust" this problem. There are two ways out:
(1) rotate the flute outwards when playing higher notes: problem, you'll end
up producing little sound and a lot of wind (2) lower the basic pitch of the
flute and rotate inward for lower octave: problem, you'll sound feeble in the
lower octaves. I think mismatch of octaves is the primary "flaw" in the bamboo
flute. This problem is not a constant either. It is less problematic in cooler
and drier weather and worse in hot and humid weather (Madras summers are
nightmares). However as the flute ages (three to five years) this problem often
dissapears. So don't despair if your brand new bamboo flute has an octave
mismatch (almost 100% of the thicker ones have the problem when new). A flute
needs a minimum of a year and ideally three years before it sounds good . For
a concert, I rarely use a flute that is less than three years old.
An interesting
fact: KSG tells me that his flute is 36 years old! That explains some of his
super tonality!
>-Srini.
>ps: Recently, I heard an anecdote from another relative who took
>Mali and this grand-uncle to Tirunelveli for buying some flutes
>from one Ananthanarayana Iyer... apparently, they took a whole
>bag containing over 50 flutes to a remote area and blew on them
>ceaselessly in solo and in duet before buying a dozen or so...
>apparently, he was one of the best flute-makers and was favored
>by Mali... Raghu/Ravi's dad Sundaram (?) also has mentioned
>making flutes to Mali's liking.
At present there is only one guy who can make good flutes. His name is
Sankaralingam and he lives in a hut in Chulai Medu (Madras). The guy drives
all flutists crazy. He's always trying to sell bad flutes and often you have
to buy them to keep him happy (hoping you will spot a good one in the bargain)
However, for a flutist who doesn't reside in Madras a trip to Sanakaralingam
is like a pilgrimage (and like a pilgrimage your wish -of getting a good flute-
MAY get fulfilled). I try to contact him even before I land in India. My dad
jokes that I am always more anxious to meet Sankaralingam than him, when I go
to Madras.
KRS
Mani Sundaresan
K.R. Subramanyam wrote:
> In general I find the high pitch and thicker flutes far more pleasurable from a
> purely blowing point of view. But when it comes to producing subtle
> gamakas and brikas the lower registers handle much better. However I would
> say 2 and half is sort of the lower limit, anything below that has little
> tonal beauty (unless you go for a bansuri which is a totally different ball
> game!)
>
1. In producing a high quality tone, what seems to matter even more than
the thickness of the flute, particularly for the higher kattai ones, is the
density of grain. A higher density of grain translates into higher density bamboo
(making it heavier), which tends to indicate that the bamboo had matured somewhat
before being cut. It does not seem easy to find matured bamboo flutes these days,
unfortunately. The thick ones that are available are generally light (hence low
density grains) and their tones are not nearly as pleasing.
2. I am not sure I agree entirely that the lower register flutes are more
conducive to producing subtle gamakas and brikas. Mali seems to have done a
pretty decent job of it! Also, in a shorter flute, the fingers are closer
together and this makes them more relaxed and ready to produce notes that require
subtle caressing of the holes as well as employing various cross-fingering
techniques.
3. I also find it hard to agree that anything below 2.5 kattai has little
tonal beauty. The problem with these longer flutes, rather than lacking in tonal
qualities, would seem to lie more in the loss of control associated with having to
stretch the fingers and generally the lower volume they produce. The notes also
seem to loose a lot of the crispness that is so important in the parts where laya
is important.
>
> At present there is only one guy who can make good flutes. His name is
> Sankaralingam.
> KRS
I have some flutes made by this guy, but what has struck me, as with other flute
makers, is the apparent inability to place the holes in the right place. Every
flute one buys seems to require a lot of adjustments - making some holes bigger
and some others smaller, and in some cases, even shifting a hole entirely, by
drilling a new one and clogging up the old one. I can understand having to make
minor adjustments here and there but I can think of no excuse for having to make a
major surgery of it. Aren't these flute makers supposed to be musicians
themselves, to some extent? I would be interested in any comments on this.
Has anyone tried materials other than bamboo? If so, how are the tonal and other
qualities?
P.S. Quite a lot of nice discussions arising from some simple questions on what
flute to buy! I guess this is how newsgroups ought to work.
Mani Sundaresan
mani...@erols.com, or
ManiS MD...@aol.com