I own a concert flute, a glass flute, a jade flute, flutes made of various hardwoods, and several dozen bamboo flutes. I play well enough for my own purposes: music for meditation, for ambient music, for my own compositions for flute and other instruments. One kind of music that will always excite me is modern is a small but growing genre of early music specialists working with jazz musicians to reestablish a modern early music that includes improvisation, a skill which was essential centuries ago... Making these photographic portraits of some of my favorite flutes from among my collection of musical instruments was an exercise in more than one photographic technique. Since I began playing flutes, some 30 years ago, I have focused on ethnic flutes, especially bamboo flutes. In December 2011, when I was commissioned to record a new CD to be used for meditation, yoga, Reiki, and/or massage, which I titled Darshan, this flute was one I wanted to use on the recording. I’ve never tried to play a flute but I did learnt the recorder at school and I had three eventually, a sopranino, your bog standard descant and a treble. I don't claim to be a virtuoso flute player, as I am primarily self-taught, with the occasional guidance from more professional players. I used narrow depth of field to create the close-ups, desiring to emphasize the parts of the flutes where the mouth is placed, where the breath gives life to the music.
With heavy use, a flute will need an overhaul about every 5-10 years to make sure that it lasts as long as it is meant to. If you don’t get it overhauled, and COA, the pads will eventually get distorted, and the mechanism can slip out of alignment... When an overhaul is done, places will often remove all dents as well as fit the head joint and foot joint to make sure they are connecting like they are supposed to. Overhauls cost around $400-$650 for a student flute, and between $1,000-$1,200... An overhaul can be done fast, but it is a very time consuming process and if you need your flute for something, you either need to try and schedule the repair time around it, or have and use a backup flute. That is why playing on an professional flute when you are a beginner, can end up destroying the flute, because they don’t know how to handle and care for it. COA, and overhauls, are something that should be done for the life of flutes, and will... A normal COA should cost around $60-150 for a student flute, and up to around $250-400 for a professional flute. Most places will hand polish the flute, and this is preferred because if polished with motor armed polishing arm, it can cause damage to the flute metal, and wear it down over time. Higher quality flutes allow the player to have more control over them, and student flutes (although some can be great) are often made for durability. An overhaul should be done between every 5-10 years, depending on the use and play of the instrument.
Although primarily known for his flutes, Cox has also made other musical instruments like classical guitars, mandolins, bodhrans (a small handheld drum made with goatskin and a wooden frame), bouzoukis (an eight string guitar similar to the... Cox said he had musical experience from playing in accordion bands as a child in Ireland and continuing to play other instruments as he grew older, but had never played the flute. Among the several musicians playing his flutes, Jane Mettham, of London, began using Cox’s instruments after she went to the London Irish Folk Club about five years ago. Cox originally started calling his flutes Irish due to his heritage, even though what he makes aren’t traditional instruments of his native country. As a member of the London Irish Folk Club , Cox looks to his Irish background as a reason for making these instruments. Since then, he has sold 169 flutes, which gives him pride in knowing that throughout North America his instruments are being used to make music and entertain people. “The old traditional instruments are the harps and uilleann pipes and the fiddle and flute came later. It was after he took a night class with the Irish harp maker Jan Muyllaert in Navan, Ireland in 1972, that Cox began to craft instruments as a hobby. Although he began with more traditional forms of woodworking like millwork, cabinetmaking and furniture, he gradually moved towards musical instruments in the 1970s.
Native American flutes get very wet and care must be taken to dry your flute after you have played it. When you have finished playing the flute, always remove the totem from the flute. Allow the Native American flute time to dry before you place the totem back on the instrument. As with all wooden instruments, do not leave your Native American flutes in direct sunlight. If you must take the flute into very cool or very hot environments, allow the flute to gradually change in temperature. Do not apply any oils to the outside or inside of the flute, as oils could cause the finish to delaminate from the flute.
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