Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Nose-Flute Encounter




This past March I had an interesting Nose-Flute encounter. I was stuck in Toronto for about a month. The only job I could muster up in the middle of winter was a babysitting job. In fact SFW alumni Kristen Mcgregor gave me the contact of Cathy Nosaty and Mark Korven. They are the parents of two great and talented kids. The whole family is very musical and Cathy and Mark are actually musicians/composers for theatre, film and television in Canada. Upon my arrival they took me into their basement (music studio), and pulled down an instrument which I recognized immediately.....The Hawaiian Nose-Flute.
They were on vacation in Hawaii and noticed a local playing the instrument. Mark went up to him and asked where he might buy one. For some strange reason the musician just gave the instrument to Mark as a gift. And what a very special gift it was. It makes a beautiful sound. I wish you all could have heard it.
I have to say it was a very strange coincidence.
I will eventually put up a video of Mark playing the nose-flute.
And here is a link to Marks website www.markkorven.com

Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Nose-Flute Blog #1


Hello Nose-Flute Fans!!!

Hard to believe that for the past 7 years the Slappyfeatherwhistle Nose-Flute Ensemble has been enriching the lives of people through , well the Nose-Flute. In the past year I have been travelling the world meeting with other Nose-Flute Enthusiasts. In Miami Florida I came across a musician by the name of Tom Proctor. He has been playing the Nose-Flute since 1975. He conducts choirs and ensembles and edits music. Great guy. He mentioned to me that the small mysterious hole in the Humanatone instrument was to do vibrato with your free hand. I have heard this method before although SFW members have been able to produce vibrato without useing their free hand. I still call it the mysterious hole.
Tom also sent me a link to www.noseflute.de for those of you interested in purchasing a flute from Germany in wood.

Anyhow, at the moment I'm in Bath, UK. Great music scene in this town. I already know of some musicians here who incorporate the Nose-Flute and the Ukulele together. Until further posts....keep your noses dry and let the music fly!