Bamboo Flutes

Very nice Mario! You are on a roll!!

Thank you Sydne, I found making these flutes was a real learning experience, it's incredible how much physics is involved in the whole process, it's a simple instrument but there is a lot more to it than meets the eye, it really is amazing the sound that comes out of these flutes, I was blown away by it and can't wait to learn to play it with some proficiency, it's also a very relaxing and spiritual experience to play this instrument.

Those are nice Mario... I would use "natural" feathers... but that's just me. ;O)

The sound of a hand made wooden flute is a unique thing. Each does have it's own personality due to the variations of the materials.

I like these, Mario. Are you saying you will be making instruction videos, too? I'd love to hear how they sound. I don't know where you find the time for all our various pursuits, but if you could ever bottle time, I'll take some of that.

The feathers look to have been coloured red, white and blue, using dyes, possibly to reflect the colours of the American flag. The flutes might look better if they included feathers that retain their natural colour but are there any birds from the USA with small feathers that have similar colours?

I never knew that bamboo grew in America.

Bob, they are natural feathers, the the red ones may have been dyed but they are all natural, not to mention a pack of 50 for $1.88, can you beat that?

Thank you Patricia, I might, the first one took me two days to figure out how to get sound coming out of the true sound hole and how to carve it, it's really technical and much attention is required to get the size of this hole and shape correct. Now that I finally figured it out after going through 12 blanks, Now I can make one in less that 20 minutes, if I'm making a copy of one I have. I just made another this morning. I think I will make a short video to show how I make them, when I get a chance. I am practicing playing them and I am able to make some pleasant music, at least to my ears, so I may also post sound clips of the various flutes I made so far, but I need a few more days to get to know each one a little better.

Geordie, actually bamboo can almost grow anywhere, depending on the species.

Yes Mario.. I was referring to the dye...

And yes I can beat that ;O)

http://www.tmart.com/50pcs-Home-Decor-Brown-Duck-Feather_p138792.html

Browse around.. search for feathers.. and look.. free shipping.. ;O)

Oooo look at these... and still cheaper than yours.. still free shipping

http://www.tmart.com/50pcs-Home-Decor-Chicken-Feathers-Green_p138757.html

Oh, ok, those are nice, the first flute in my picture has some natural ones with really beautiful colors but they are small, they are placed above the colorful ones and hard to see, they might be turkey feathers.

Those are cool!

Making all these flutes, I have worked up on heck of an appetite, I'm about to stroll over to hunt down some meat for the grill and some roast peppers, and might as well get a good bottle of wine.

How bout hunting a wild turkey.. think of al those feathers ;O)

Lol, I don't have the killing in my heart any more, I can't do it, that's why I sold my rabbits, and I do love eating them.

But if I did have a need to hunt, well I make my own weapons...........................out of bamboo..................lol

Mario you are a bit like the Ever Ready Bunny these days. Weird how small things take on a life of themselves, and send you into a unique new direction.

So true, if I would not have thought what to do with the large growth of bamboo that I have been looking at every day for 10 years, I would never have made a walking stick, the walking stick got me thinking about a bow and arrow, then came the flute, and of all the things I made I love the flutes the most, I have always loved the flute, when I was I teenager I tried to learn to play one, I took about a month of lessons. It was a a modern flute and I found it very , very difficult to play. These Native american flutes have this unique sound and they are so much easier to play. I see myself playing these flutes regularly, and it's music from the soul, I don't read music but it's not stopping me.

Mario.. in case you run out of bamboo projects search youtube for bamboo water fountain or water feature.... some interesting contraptions you can make for your garden area.. and power with solar cells...

Funny you should mention that Bob, I have been looking at water features, so far nothing caught my eye, I'm picky when it comes to that, remember I had a business building koi ponds and used to make some large ponds.

Well there are many variations of these Japanese water fountains.. some are called deer chasers..

There are many variations, one thing I learned, it's an expensive thing to maintain a pond. Here is the last one I built in Miami, over 5,000 gallon pond with running water fall and stream. It required 30,000 lbs of hand laid stones, I like my water features to look totally natural, you won't see the liner, I dug this one out by hand, only used heavy equipment to lay one 2 ton rock. That's my wife Alina in the picture feeding the koi .

That's my kind of water feature.. very natural. ;O)

I really enjoyed making this one. I remember the day when I finished digging it out, and I installed the liner. That evening it rained, when i got to the job site the liner was blown up like a giant air balloon, some natural phenomena having to do with the rain pushing air under the liner as the rain water drained into the soil around the pond. I was very surprised to say the least, it went down on it's own and it was intact to my great relief.

It must have been an unusual sight Mario.

Sydne, it was a special liner, in that because of the size I had to join two liners together and I thought when I saw it looking like a hot air balloon about to fly away that it would be damaged. I did have a good laugh afterwards.

I bet you did.

Time for my flute relaxation session, stay tuned.

I may have to order one of those!

Patricia, after hearing this you might not......LOL This is my first sound clip of me playing the largest of the flutes pictured above, it's my favorite because of the low tones, it has the widest bore 3/4". This clip is titled talking to the rain, I was sitting in the dark on my front porch and it was raining and stormy, if you listen closely the thunder was talking back to me, I think I made a screeching sound it did not like.

I like the basic tone you are getting out of the flute... practice will get more control of the notes, but those crickets would drive me crazy. LOL

Do they do that all year long?

Thanks Bob, oh yeah! they chirp up a storm, now it's my turn to get even with the little critters. lol I also have these black crows that land on our metal roof every morning at around 7 am, sounds like they are playing hockey on the roof and sliding around, then that is proceeded by the song birds, and they pack some lungs let me tell you, by 8:00 am my dogs are shaking the bed, yawning really loud and anything to get us up.

Wow no wonder you are grumpy sometimes... ;O)

Lol, yeah especially when I'm up till like 2am

I like the low tones, too. The sound of the rain is nice. I have blue jays that peck on my roof, so I know what you mean. I think they are trying to break open nuts or something. My soffits are all dented.

Who needs an alarm clock with friends like ours? lol we recently set out a cardinal feeder and now it seems like it's the neighborhood eatery, we get blue jays and they are the bullies, we get beautiful wood peckers, cardinals, and a whole gang of others including doves who clean up what the others spill.

It's for me to go walk the property and play my flute, my neighbors must think I'm some kind of cuckoo. lol