Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

That's a beautiful flute, and a beautiful idea, Kel.  Fantastic!

Karmajampa wrote:

I enjoy playing them, ... the clay is cool but nice to hold.

I don't know why, but that sounds very appealing.  (Maybe because it's 10:30am and already too hot in here.) 

Once you get the upper register and other issues sorted out, do you plan to "scale up" the flute into fatter/longer sizes?  Are there limits to the clay?

-Darren.

Justin.....

I was surprised that length gave me a 'D', I was expecting at least an 'E'.
The internal diameters run from 20 - 14mm which is what I was intending. The outer from 27 - 19mm.
I think also that some of my kan problem may lie in the utaguchi.
I will be making some more using this design, so expect some variation in results.

There is as much work in making them from clay as from bamboo.


Darren.......
I already have my next model ready, it is fatter and longer, I am not having such a reduction in the taper, it will be interesting to see what happens compared to this first one.
I like to play my 2.1 jinashi so hope to make a cerute that will match pitch but be different in timbre. I see no reason why a 2.4 could not be made, my kiln has a depth dimension of 800mm so I could go to that length.

I will keep the forum informed as to my progress.

Brian......

Yes.


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geni wrote:

Do you have any samples of  you playing them?
That will be cool...(a good way to merket them too;-)

keep it up.
Geni

Geni, I could make a sample, perhaps along with a jinashi to give a comparison, though  I may wait until my next version....I'll keep in touch, email a short mp3 to you.

Kel.

Thank you Kel,
Looking forward to the e-mail.
I will email you back, some new music:-)

peace
Geni

I am open to a different name, but so far 'Cerute' feels the most appropriate, cigar or no cigar.
Difference with this one is that rather than 'suck' you 'blow'.

Kel.

Nota Bene:


     Cheroot: pronounced 'Sha-ROOT'

     Cerute: pronounced 'Seh-ROOT' (as in 'ceramic'...)


I know: picky, picky, picky...

I absolutely love your flute! I one day dream also of making a flute from ceramic. The interesting thing is that making flutes out of clay gives you almost complete control over your flute if done correctly. Also, since you have made a flute that worked well, I would like to offer a suggestion on decoration. Visit this website and find out how this Native Flute maker turns his flutes into Art. It will blow your mind. His method for making flutes is also very interesting.

http://meadowlarkflutes.com/

Also, you may want to look at this innovative solution to octave balance. There are also two other ways to make the registers play in balance as well as a mountain of other information on this site.

http://www.navaching.com/shaku/synthesis.html

Finally, from what I have so far learned about flutes there are three major factors affecting the ability to achieve higher octaves in order of importance; Aspect ratio (bore diameter multiplied by length), utagachi size, and back-pressure.

In other words, the thinner, the more octave power.
The smaller the utagachi, the less octave power. (A "proper" utagachi should be about 1/4 of the flute circumfrece according to navaching.com)
The more back-pressure (i.e. tapered bore) the more octave power.

Many years ago I picked up a ceramic xiao at an antique store in Hong Kong. The xiao is a Chinese vertical flute with a deep V-notched utaguchi, generally made of bamboo (and the ancestor of the shakuhachi). This old ceramic one is modeled on a bamboo one, with nodes and all, and interestingly enough, the inside is also modeled on a real bamboo bore, with indentations where the septa would be. Perhaps it was made in sections and joined. Anyway, it plays quite well!

Congratulations on your cerute. If you get it down, it could be an excellent all-weather substitue for a bamboo flute, as long as you don't drop it...

Toby

I just like the meadowlark flutes' colors! Its so amazing the colors and color patterns one can get by throwing in various organic matter with clay. His "pit-fired" flute method is so simple (or appears to be) and yet produces the most amazing visual patterns I have ever seen in ceramic. I now know what I'm going to do with left over organic matter, burn it and impress the colors in flutes!

FluteSwordsman wrote:

Too bad you can't show pics in these posts so my Avatar is now a meadowlark flute for the moment.

Actually, you can show all the pics you like. Since you have the images hosted on your website, you would use this format:

     [img]Insert the link to your image (properly sized for the forum post) here[/img]

For more info, look just below and click on "BBCode".