Saturday, July 19, 2014

Miniature Instrument #4: Clay Animal Whistle from Vietnam

Clay whistle from Hoi An in Central Vietnam

This little clay whistle was discovered by my friend Patricia on her trip to Vietnam. She brought it back so I could add a Vietnamese miniature instrument to my collection! What a friend.

She told me that she was walking with her boyfriend along the streets of a town in Central Vietnam called Hoi An when she heard the sound of the whistle. "I stopped dead in my tracks," she wrote me. "What was that?" she asked her boyfriend. Patricia set out to find where the sound was coming from.

"I heard it again, but it came from a different direction," her email to me read. "It was dark, so we couldn't see very well. At a certain point, I felt like a cat chasing a quickly moving fly trying to catch this melodic sound. It ended up that there were several merchants tucked away on stairways and corners selling these whistles. The only way you could find them in the night was to follow their call."

The whistles are shaped as animals, and Patricia chose the tiger for me. Here's a short video she found on YouTube that shows a Vietnamese woman making a whistle out of fresh clay: Clay Whistles in Vietnam



I did some research to find out more about these Vietnamese whistles. According to Nick Ray's e-book, Vietnam, Hoi An was popular for its pottery during imperial times, and craftsmen would make items for the royal court at Hue. Today, the whistles are a way for locals to earn a living. The clay is collected from nearby fields and hand-crafted into whistles, pots and jars, and are mostly sold to tourists visiting Hoi An.

If you happen to know more about these clay whistles from Vietnam, please share it in a comment.

 

Question: Do you play a whistle, or know someone who does? If so, what kind of whistle is it? Share your whistle story in a comment!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Miniature Instrument #3: Isoka Flute

My dolphin Isoka flute. Hand crafted by Luis Gervasi in San Francisco.

I was visiting my college friends in San Francisco when I discovered the Isoka flute. We were walking down Market Street on a Saturday and came across an outdoor open market of local artists. As we browsed the art, jewelry and photography, I spotted a table with dozens of colorful flutes, some shaped like dolphins and fish. The artist, Luis Gervasi, picked up a dolphin flute and began to play it. The cheerful, bright notes floated through the air and people began to turn and look around in curiosity.

That was it. I was hooked. There was no way I was going home without a few of these flutes. I learned that Luis makes each flute by hand out of clay, and he hand paints them too.

The Isoka flutes, dating back to pre-Columbian civilization, were used by the Mayans and Incas, especially by the ruling elite in ritual. It is intriguing to hold and play a flute that holds so much significance and has survived centuries of time!
Small Isoka flute with the highest tone.

I bought a dolphin flute, a small round one with the highest tone, and a fish. Luis gave me a pamphlet that includes information on the history of the flute, tips for playing, and finger charts for songs to get started with, including Frere Jacques and Guantanamera.

In the pamphlet, Luis writes: "You do not need to be a musician to play Isoka." This made me grin from ear to ear—it spoke directly to my goal to become a miniature instrument expert.

About five months later, I took another trip to San Francisco, and I went downtown to see if I could find Luis and the Isoka flutes again. I did. I had a few questions about technique, and he gave me a short lesson. I learned tips from him that I couldn't have learned on my own, and I was grateful.

If you're ever in San Francisco, stop by the SF Arts Market in the UN Plaza to find Luis Gervasi and his Isoka flutes! I'll provide the email from his pamphlet here: isokaflutes@gmail.com

Luis demonstrates the different tones of his hand-made Isoka flutes. Demo Isoka Flute Tones

Tips on Playing Isoka Flute

1. Isoka flute has six holes: four on top and two on the bottom. The thumbs are placed on the bottom holes, and the index and middle fingers on the top four holes. *Note: use the ring fingers to support the bottom of the flute. This will help when you lift your thumbs to open the bottom holes!

2. Always wear the lanyard. The flute is small and can easily be dropped, so wearing the lanyard will prevent you from accidentally dropping and breaking your flute if you lose grip.

3. "Tongue" each note using short, sharp breaths. Do not blow air continuously as in Tooooooo; each time you change a note you should blow in a Too Too Too way, so that the tongue is tapping the flute's mouth slit. Luis said this is the most important thing to do in order to produce clear notes.

4. Be patient when learning the finger charts. It takes (me) a little while to get the hang of following the open versus closed "tabs." With time and practice, it starts to flow, and your fingers will remember the notes!

5. As Luis explains in the video below, developing a vibrato when playing comes with practice, and it originates in the throat. I've got to get to it now...

Have FUN!

Luis Gervasi gives Jessica a lesson on how to play the Isoka flute. Video of short Isoka lesson




Sunday, February 23, 2014

Miniature Instrument #2: Egg Shaker

The egg shaker is a really fun, simple instrument to play that I recently used in an open mike performance. Well, it's simple in that all you have to do is shake it to get the sound. It's not so simple to keep the beat consistent. The thing with instruments like the shaker or the clave is that they seem simple, but if you get off beat with these instruments, you can definitely hear it. So it does take some practice to keep that rhythm solid.

I'm a storyteller learning how to play miniature instruments so I can use them to add texture to my storytelling performances. If you know of any small instruments that are easy to play, post about it here!

In the meantime, get your own egg shaker and find out how much fun it can be!

Miniature Instrument #2: The Egg Shaker