October 29, 2007
Let's keep raising the price until it finally sells
Sometimes in the old days when a particularly nice flute hadn't been sold after a show or two, instead of lowering the price I'd raise it. With a few flutes this happened several successive times, and when the flute finally sold it was for much higher than the early asking price. An interesting concept, and I was amazed to find that it almost always worked.
After enduring the considerable hassle of setting up a recent eBay listing, getting good photos shot and recording a decent sound sample, the blasted thing didn't sell-- the nerve! Admittedly, we didn't get the sound sample posted until the last few hours of the listing, so perhaps that's a factor. Anyway, I'm considering relisting the thing at a higher price and continuing to up the ante indefinitely until the flute either sells or the whole exercise reaches the point of absurdity (say, about $1,000,000.00) Is that crazy? Probably. Will that stop me from trying it? Absolutely not!
eBay's a very different scene than the art-and-craft fairs: for one thing, most people who encounter the later, higher-priced listings will also have seen the previous "cheaper" ones. Also, there's obviously not the face-to-face contact of a live show, at which subtle body language, mannerisms, degree of enthusiasm, and many other factors influence the customer's flute selection. So this probably is a monumentally bad idea-- but again, that ain't gonna stop us! --r.
October 26, 2007
Testing
OK another test with this photo
--Huh-- that one works fine, but several attempts to insert the photo I really want to use haven't (see just below.) Anyway, there's a flute on eBay for another two or three days but you're on your own finding the listing.
OK, here's the picture we tried to post originally.
--r.
Friday photo
OK, let's try this again. The previous entry is apparently pointless and confusing because I was having technical problems; never mind an explanation. But as we had intended to announce at that time, there's an eBay auction happening right now for this flute:
C#Lip5
Although it's been a long time since we ventured into the seedy eBay neghborhood, we really should do so more often simply for brand exposure.
OK, now to post this and see if the above photo link works.
--SEE? That's the problem-- can't figure out why that picture doesn't come through properly (back to drawing board)
October 25, 2007
Doubly strange...
As soon as the "strange" entry was posted, the problematic entry just below it finally disappeared. I'm now wondering whether the weirdness will extend to this... entry... too...
--We'll fix all this dysfunctional stuff tomorrow, I hope. In the meantime, strange!
October 24, 2007
Swift photo
The Vaux's swifts returned in full force this fall to the elementary-school chimney a few blocks from the Complex. This photo was taken a few weeks ago and shows a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of birds who inhabit the chimney briefly during their annual migration to Central America:
swifts
Graphic design
This logo sums up many current events quite well:
brain3
We'll keep you posted on that CIA job application... --r.
October 23, 2007
Back in the groove
I've returned to flute production now that languid summer's distractions have passed, and perhaps this fall we'll even manage to concoct a "for sale" department on the site. No new pictures have appeared in the Gallery for months, and that's due to change soon, too.
If I can finally learn how to effectively record, edit and manage sound files we'll be on on the cusp of a New Era. Could happen-- stranger things have. --r.
October 22, 2007
Who's working in their graphics department, anyway?
This is it: I am definitely applying for a job at the CIA. Despite my lack of professional experience in the field, I could vastly improve the level of design work over there at the Federal spook shop... I mean, have you ever seen anything so ridiculous in your life? Not that anything happening on the federal level since 2000 should surprise us by now, but jeeeez:
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/cia-the-war-on-terrorism/dci-counterterrorist-center-terrorist-buster-logo.html
--Back with some logo redesign ideas later today. --r.
October 21, 2007
Enough is enuf
The last 90 minutes or so -- which should have been devoted to an irreverent and silly, yet oddly informative journal entry -- have instead been wasted in purging porno-spam "comments" from the Gallery shots. There are still plenty that haven't yet been purged, but it's getting late and I'm sick of this nonsense. Sorry about the breach of this site's G rating, folks...
At this rate I'm bound to snap soon and spew a torrent of obscene invective against those worthless spam-scum that will far surpass anything they've come up with so far. This has gone on for much too long, and unless an effective barrier to such nonsense can be erected -- heh-heh, he said "erected!" -- we'll have to completely disable comments in the Gallery. It's just too much work to police the entire site from day to day. --rb
October 18, 2007
Sweetness and light
Hello there! For the rest of October we're pursuing a relentlessly upbeat program here at the Complex, and no whining or self-pity will be tolerated. There'll be plenty of time for negativity when the truly bleak, sodden days of November through February arrive.
Accordingly, all denizens of the Complex have been instructed to avoid bad tidings until the Halloween festivities are over. Isn't this grand? Why, we're positively buzzing with excitement at the possibilities: more than two weeks of good news and glad tidings! More tomorrow on the exciting, inspiring developments here at romyb.com...
And I just noticed that it's past midnight as this is being posted-- which means that I don't have to contrive any cheerful news until the day after tomorrow from this perspective! Double yay!
--r.
October 16, 2007
Sulking more constructively
All right, that previous "sulking" entry was hammered out in a few crazed minutes and we've calmed down now. It's always disappointing when a long-planned piece doesn't work out as envisioned, but as usual the blame lies with various malevolent spirits and evil, flute-hating elves.
Well, a tiny bit of blame goes to me as well, so I've readjusted my frustration and resolved to harness it creatively. Just to spite those evil spirits and elves, I've resolved to turn out at least a dozen transcendently outstanding flutes by the end of October. Let's get the jump on those disruptive spiritual entities before Halloween arrives, eh? Sounds like a plan... --r.
(Postscript to those who have written to protest that elves are invariably good: Didn't you see LOTR? OF COURSE elves can *go bad* when presented with sufficient temptation! They may be "immortal," but since when has immortality guaranteed virtue? It would have been far too easy to blame the usual suspects.)
Sulking
Well, I've spent much of the afternoon in glowering, sulking self-pity because a flute didn't turn out as well as it should have. An old customer ordered a flute in a certain key and style many months ago, for which a certain select piece of bamboo was soon set aside. A few days ago I decided that it was high time for this one to be completed, and found a nice piece of rosewood for the lip plate. That was sculpted and affixed over the last two days, and today I set out to voice the flute.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out; in retrospect I tried to work too fast and took too much material out of the bore. With further effort it's likely that most of the damage can be fixed, but this flute will probably never turn out nearly as well as it should have.
So much for that-- the special piece of bamboo that's had that customer's name on it for months is ruined, and I don't want to start all over again and start looking for another piece! Aaarghhhh! So I've been fuming, sulking, muttering and raging all afternoon. Why did I get into this stupid excuse for a "business," again? LOOOOOOSER...
What's really annoying about this sort of disaster is that the flute isn't nearly as bad as you might imagine-- in fact it's probably better than most bamboo flutes even in its "ruined" condition. But it's certainly not good enough to send to the established customer for whom it was intended, and since my general pickiness has increased greatly in the past few years it's probably not even good enough to send to anyone sight unseen via the Internet.
See, in the old days when I regularly attended art and craft fairs every available instrument came along for the ride and was displayed to the public; flutes that I considered so-so were happily sold to people who picked them out themselves, which is important. Nowadays I don't have that luxury, and not much can be done with second and third-tier flutes-- I'm hesitant to recommend such items to anyone at all, and don't want to explicitly offer a line of "seconds." Guess it's time to start doing a few shows again.
Gotta run-- thanks for putting up with the rant. More on this soon... --r.
October 15, 2007
Leaf-Blower Haiku
The entries for that silly leaf-blower haiku contest finally closed, so that distraction's off the table. Might as well run a few samples here to display our productivity, so here goes:
Back in Earth's embrace
Vivid autumn leaves repose...
Don't blow it now, man.
Leaf-blowing madmen,
Cease thy fossil-fueled din!
Serene autumn weeps.
Fallen autumn leaf
Scarlet gem on verdant grass--
Quick, blast it streetward!
Two bright fallen leaves
Skip gaily down the sidewalk
Reeking blower fumes
Suburban music:
Leafblowers, lawnmowers, cars...
Louder iPod, please.
Rake the leaves? You jest.
Anachronistic nonsense!
Blast those leaves with gas.
Scarlet leaf-carpet
Back in Mother Earth's embrace--
Start your engines, men!
Autumn rhapsody:
Infernal-combustion din?
Get a rake, dimwit.
Vivid autumn leaves
Scarlet-gold, twirling earthward--
Blow us, nincompoop.
--And since we'd promised to write something about flutes, here's a token flute haiku:
Green bamboo rises
Tickling the blue sky's fancy
Music in the air
(That one took all of 45 seconds to compose on the spot; once you get the hang of the 5-7-5 syllable cadence these things roll out pretty quickly.)
---r.
October 12, 2007
More yummies
Wow, this food looks great, doesn't it? [Hopelessly snarled-up link deleted: it was to some incredibly gross deep-fried foods at the North Carolina State Fair, in an article posted by the clueless Charlotte Observer -- whose incompetent staff apparently couldn't set up a functional website if their very lives depended on it]
...Great for helping to depopulate backward states via obesity and cardiovascular disease, anyway.
All right, that's enough about food for a while; let's talk about haiku instead. I spent most of yesterday afternoon composing haiku about autumn leaves-- very characteristic subject matter in that milieu. However, these haiku were more specifically concerned with leaf blowers, which places them in somewhat less poetically venerated territory.
The entry limit is three haiku, and I already have close to a dozen in the works; never let it be said that this blog lacks industry and focus! Since I'd hate to prune the list to only three, we might have to figure out some way to stuff the ballot box via surrogate entrants. Keep that on the down-low, will y'all? Sample verses coming soon...
Some sort of flute topic will be next, we promise. --r.
October 10, 2007
Popping in to stuff a spud
As you're probably aware, we assume a wide stance on this blog and post all sorts of random stuff, much of which has nothing to do with our bamboo-flute Core Mission.
Food-related topics are a particular weakness. I've occasionally visited foodie blogs with mediocre, uninspired writing and been envious of their relatively vast traffic and active commentary-- not that I'd necessarily want 10-20x more comments to deal with, but still. Bamboo flutes are such a dead end, demographically speaking.
Not to complain! So, let's just feature a Recipe of the Day from our neighboring state, Idaho.
(NOTE: This blog assumes no responsibility for any twisted symbolic interpretations of that recipe in light of certain current events.)
--r.
October 8, 2007
Internal Server Error
I just made multiple attempts to post a long entry based on some recent customer correspondence, but for some reason it won't work, giving repeated notice of an "internal server error." Let's see if this short one goes through, and we'll try again to repost the longer one later on today...
(Later) Arrgghhh-- the stoopid system posted that long entry five separate times, and didn't show that it was doing so! Things should be straightend out now, though.
--r.
Recycled Correspondence
Today I've decided to post a sample of typical correspondence with a prospective customer, an experienced professional flutist who's accustomed to dealing with bamboo flutes but has played only the typical major-scale transverse types so far. As usual I've strongly recommended minor scales, and tried to assuage his concerns about their unconventionality. The following is a small sample of our correspondence thus far; it's yesterday's exchange, with more to come. Sometimes more time is devoted to consulting and explaining the options to a customer than goes into a flute's actual construction!
We refer to a "Mr. X" in the letters; X is a well-known Irish-type wooden flutemaker who made well-regarded bamboo flutes as well for many years. Anyway, here's yesterday's exchange... hope that this is confusing enough for y'all to digest for a few days!
Dear Romy:
I'm a little concerned about the minor scale thing. One of the things I noticed about Mr. X's flutes was that I would often play them in the key that was a 4th away from the key the flute was in. In other words often I would use the D flute for melodies that were in G. I'm somewhat concerned that the minor flute will be less able to facilitate this. To this end, do you find that a D minor flute will work well for playing melodies in A major? Do these fingerings work well and play in tune?
T+++/o++ (for F# on a Dminor flute)
T++o/++o (for G# ...)
Or would a D minor flute be more playable in F/Bb? Is there a good fingering for Eb on this flute? See where I'm going here?
I had figured out which flutes would best have me covered in the major keys and now I'm a little unsure which I would need. If this helps I was planning on buying a E, F, G, A and maybe a Bb flute from Mr. X, figuring that these would cover those keys and the keys a 4th away. The F and G flutes seemed to cover the most stuff so...which of your flutes would best cover those two keys? Those are the flutes of yours I'd like to start with.
All of this, of course, is totally irrelevant if I can't play the flutes comfortably at A=440 and at least without too much effort at A=442, realizing that they like to keep studios cold for some reason!
My reply to the above:
Yep, it's very common for major-scale flutes to be played in the key a 4th up from the bottom note. In fact, that's the designated primary key for traditional Indian and Chinese transverse flutes.
Minor-key flutes are an entirely different beast, of course-- it's difficult even comparing them to majors... where do we start?
Those two fingerings you wrote out might work, esp. in the 2nd register; depends on the flute. However, I generally go for a big sound with my flutes and the holes tend to be on the large side, which makes them relatively better suited for halfhole fingerings than for lots of workable crossfingerings.
No, A major isn't an especially convenient key for a Dm flute; its natural major key is of course F, and a fourth above THAT -- Bb -- is a much easier key to manage, especially on an eight-hole flute, which would have the right-pinkie hole for the note Eb. Eb would otherwise have to be played via halfholing.
For me, Cm is about the largest flute that's really comfortable in the eight-hole configuration, although I've made larger ones by compromising the voicing a bit.
You mentioned using a D flute for melodies that were in G-- that would give the mixolydian mode, unless you're throwing in a crossfingering for C#. Let's see: with a D minor flute, that mixolydian mode would start from the note C, Tooo/+++. It's also pretty easy to play in pure (Ionian) C Major by halfholing or crossfingering the B natural, and that's one note for which a good crossfingered voicing usually exists in both the high and low registers.
We haven't even gotten to the thumbhole yet... all sorts of interesting scales fall under one's fingers with this minor system that don't readily suggest themselves on a straight, six-hole major-key flute. As I said, they're completely different beasts and you'll just have to fiddle around with one for a while to get a sense of their varied possibilities.
I really hate to even hint at possible major-key flutes since I don't like to make them, but I've recently been adding a LH thumbhole for the minor-seventh (C on a D flute, for instance) on almost every major-scale flute that I've managed to produce lately. That way it's easy-breezy to play in pure G major without resorting to a crossfingered B-natural. But forget about that!
You asked about the keys of F and G Major, which would be best covered by Dm and Em flutes respectively. Either of these could readily be made in 8-hole configuration, which would then cover the keys of Bb and A; they'd also be readily playable in Eb and D by crossfingering/halfholing one note as was described above. Got that?
Of course, I don't have a Dm or an Em flute in stock right now, although that should change by, oh, 2010 or so-- I've learned through bitter experience not to give people unrealistic expectations of how long it'll take to finish something!
I've had Irish-music types write to ask why my flutes were so much more expensive that Mr. X's: just who did I think I was, since he's the "gold standard" for quality bamboo flutes among Irish types-- and did I really consider my product so superior?
I said, "Nope-- no way do I claim that my flutes are "better" than X's; that's entirely up to you to decide. However, they are very, very DIFFERENT. For one thing, bamboo's a mere sideline for him at best; he devotes his most serious efforts to wooden flutes. On the other hand, bamboo is my sole focus, and I love the individuality of bamboo instruments and have never seriously considered working with other materials. Also, there's probably about three or four times the labor involved in producing one of my flutes than one of X's bamboo instruments, for a wide variety of reasons we can get into later on. Gotta eke out a living somehow under the circumstances!
--r.
October 4, 2007
Still more apologies
Sorry about that pasted-in bit about didgeridoos yesterday; we'll get rid of it presently. Actually, I've been meaning to delete all references to didgeridoos from this site for a long time, since we've done absolutely nothing with the blasted things for at least five years. Why, I haven't even touched a didge during that time except for a few quick demos.
So it's completely pointless to bring them up here. For a few brief years when few in the USA had ever seen or heard a didge it was fun, but those days are long gone. My only lasting gain from those old didge days is an ability to circular breathe-- which doesn't necessarily translate into a similar ability to do so effectively on the flute, unfortunately! As we've pointed out before, the flute is probably the most difficult wind instrument on which to pull that off, and I've never devoted sufficient practice to doing so convincingly.
When exhibiting at craft fairs long ago I'd demonstrate snippets of didgeridoo throughout the day, and people were routinely amazed and impressed by the circular breathing, lavishly praising my transcendent skills. In that situation I'd often pick up a flute and play a quick, five-second arpeggio, remarking that that was actually much more impressive and difficult to learn (never mind designing and building the flute in the first place.) Circular breathing on a didge is downright easy, at least on the spectrum of skills needed to play any wind instrument well.
--Hey, the foregoing is a shameless rewrite of material that appeared here previously! Well, at least it beats blatantly pasting in an old article verbatim... when we start plagiarizing ourselves, it's time to step back and take a good, hard look at our priorities and goals.
OK, first goal is to get rid of that didge stuff on the splash page... now, why does that resolution sound familiar? --r.
October 3, 2007
Last-Minute Entry
All right, I'd promised to come up with 1,000 words by midnight tonight. Wow, it's been quite a while since any lengthy entries have appeared here... let's see, what should we talk about?
Hmmm, don't know if I can do it right now; it's getting late and energy is flagging. Would it be OK if I pasted in an old entry -- a really old one, just for now -- and tried again tomorrow? I'll delete the older entry when new material appears, promise. So, let's see:
Didgeridoos have a reputation as being very difficult to play. In reality, it's not particularly hard to 'doo, and is certainly easier to learn than most other wind instruments. The concept of circular breathing, so central to didge playing, has a rather mystical, elusive aura. However, I've seen people learn to circular breathe, and be sounding quite impressive on a didge in less than a week! After all, there's only so much one can do on the instrument -- that is, speaking as one who has an extensive musical background, and plenty of other avenues for musical expression. For these reasons -- the lessening of the novelty factor, the saturation of the field by so many other enthusiasts, and the plentitude of other musical challenges -- my didge activity has been scaled back. For more information (and, I daresay, much sheer nonsense) about didgeridoos, you can peruse about 1,000,000 websites these days. You're on your own there; just be sure to check alternate spellings of the word while doing searches for sites, and don't believe everything you read! Of course, there's plenty of good stuff, too.
Just as the difficulty of didge playing is often overestimated, it's also no big deal to make a simple didgeridoo. One can go to any hardware store, buy a few feet of appropriately sized plumbing pipe, stick on a mouthpiece of kneaded wax or other material, and produce a decent-sounding instrument, just fine for a beginner, in five minutes! Today hundreds -- thousands -- of people worldwide are making didges, from a wide variety of tubular materials, both natural and synthetic. My own didges are made of bamboo -- surprised? The most famous type of authentic Aboriginal didges are made of termite-hollowed logs! However, in the moister regions of Australia where bamboo can be found, this material was also utilized. As a matter of fact, in some Aborigine dialects the word for "didgeridoo" is the same word as that for "bamboo!"
Please note that the Aborigines, who originated the didgeridoo, have a strong, living musical/mystical tradition built on the instrument. Authentic Aboriginal instruments are in a separate class, and the many variations on the theme which are currently being made around the world are less artistically legitimate, in the view of traditionalists. Incidentally, the very name "didgeridoo" isn't an Aborigine word -- it's an onomatopoeic Anglicization! (Sorry; couldn't resist.) There are a number of distinct regional/tribal dialects spoken by Aborigines, and each dialect has its own indigenous name for the instrument; yidaki is one alternate name that's fairly well-known, and some didge players, even outside of Australia, prefer to use this term, regarding it as more authentic.
While one must respect the customs and beliefs of the Aborigines regarding this instrument (which they developed, after all), such beliefs remain deeply conservative and impose many restrictions. For instance, according to tradition women are never allowed to play, or even to touch, the instrument. Some Aborigines resent the broad global dissemination of the didge, and its resultant culturally-promiscuous use. For example, a few years ago the pop star Madonna paid a visit Down Under, and was given a didgeridoo as a gift, by a non-Aborigine fan. There was considerable press coverage of the resulting fuss: a number of Aborigine leaders publicly denounced this sacreligious act of giving the instrument to a woman! (And Madonna, no less...)
...Well, at least we got to see didgeridoos in the news...
Fact is, such a furor merely illustrates the sort of rigid cultural traditionalism to which I personally am allergic, in any ethnic context. Sometimes tradition can be the enemy of art, especially of innovation and inventiveness in artistic endeavors -- but I won't linger on that well-worn soapbox right now. After all, any people as historically abused and repressed -- well, let's just say systematically exterminated, as the Aborigines were by Europeans -- are bound to develop reactionary attitudes about perceived breaches of their surviving cultural traditions. We can't blame them for that, and if I were in the Outback among a group of Aborigines, I'd scrupulously respect their views on such matters. However: in the world at large, all bets are off, and all musical instruments belong to humanity as a whole. Music ain't called the Universal Language for nothin'...
The didgeridoo actually represents the oldest, most "primitive" form of the trumpet family -- which in the broad sense, refers to any tubular wind instrument whose sound is produced by a buzzing of the lips, in "raspberry" fashion. As a matter of fact, it's a frequently-overlooked fact that didgeridoo-type instruments have appeared all over the world, at various times in history. In many ethno/geographical zones, the continuing evolution of the trumpet-concept has proceeded so far as to obscure the memory of its earlier, more didgeridoo-like manifestations. However, even in a place like Europe there are still examples of historical instruments that resemble didges much more than they resemble modern trumpet-family instruments.
There are other, still-surviving traditions of simple trumpet instruments closely resembling didges. A number of native Amazonian tribes play tubes -- generally of bamboo -- which closely mirror didgeridoos in structure and technique. And the Pygmies of Africa play an instrument called the molimo, which is essentially a didge; in Colin Turnbull's fascinating account of life with the pygmies, it's described in some detail. Interestingly enough, according to Turnbull's account the Pygmies have the same (as the Australian Aborigines') strict prohibition against women coming into any contact with the instrument -- or, in the Pygmies' case, even openly acknowledging that it actually exists! (The sound of the molimo is attributed to the voice of a mythical beast, as far as the womens' belief-role is concerned.) Hmmmmm...Freud would have a field day there! The music of the molimo is evocatively described in Turnbull's wonderful book The Forest People: a Study of the Pygmies of the Congo. Check it out!
A bit of research would reveal numerous other examples of didge-like instruments. But having said all this, it does seem that the Aborigines have gone farther than any other ethnic group in developing a sophisticated playing technique on these simple trumpets. I suspect that this phenomenon is related to the relative stasis of Aborigine technological development over a long time period; the instrument has remained in its Stone Age form for millenia, which gave ample time to fully develop its mythology, as well as the playing techniques...which brings us to another book recommendation:
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond
"Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: the global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on race."
--I'm currently immersed in my third reading of this book, which is absolutely amazing. Check it out, too!
See y'all later,
RB
October 1, 2007
1,000 words coming tomorrow...
Oh man, what have I gotten myself into? Well, at least there's the small comfort that this is being written shortly before midnight on Monday-- so most of you will read this on Tuesday. So, "tomorrow" for our purposes extends until midnight on Wednesday. Got that?
Ahhh, a glimpse into the mind of a chronic procrastinator... not that this will be news to any of y'all who have followed this site for more than a week or two. Anyway, voluminous and substantive content coming *tomorrow*!
Gotta run now, before that coach turns into a pumpkin... and speaking of pumpkins, if driven to desperation we may resort to yet another interminable vegetable-blogging entry. --r.
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