This months issue: October

Innovative flute designs


Matthias Ziegler
Matthias Ziegler, Professor at the Musikhochschule Zurich, Switzerland, is one of the world’s most versatileand innovative flutists. Accordingly, his performances take place in a vast range of contexts, such as concerts with percussionist Pierre Favre, with the American contrabass player Mark Dresser, as well as with ”Collegium Novum Zurich“, where he has worked with Mauricio Kagel, Heinz Holliger and George Crumb. Searching for new sounds he enormously broadened the expressive potential of the traditional flute and the electroacoustically amplified contrabass flute.
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	Eva Kingma - Quote “We specialize in making the ‘lower’ flutes which include Alto-, Bass-, Contrabass Flutes in C and G (Contr’alto). The flutes are hand-made and we dedicate time and effort towards building instruments to suit the wishes and physical needs of our customers. The results of these efforts have led to the development of a line of instruments with extra musical possibilities starting with the open-hole alto flute. Following the development of the Key-on-Key mechanism and the patented Kingma System ® a series of open-hole and quarter-tone Alto, Bass and Contrabass flutes were created. As a result of an inspiring collaboration with Bickford Brannen and the Brannen Flute Company a full quarter-tone mechanism on the C-flute with the patented Kingma System ® is now available. For me every innovation opens a new door to another world and inspires me to make the next step. There is no end. I see it every time as a start to something else. There are still so many things to discover. Isn’t that exciting?”     -Eva Kingma - Subscribe to read the full article

Hearing Protection


Earplugs For Musicians - Dr Grant D Searchfield
Hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing or other sounds heard in the head orears in the absence of sound), and hyperacusis (reduced toleranceto sound) are common signs of ear damage but ear damage due to loud sounds is preventable. It is impossible for musicians to totally avoid sound - hearing music and its elements of pitch, loudness and timbre are essential for good performance. Since sound cannot be avoided how can the ears be protected? While the most practical method is to use personal earplugs, not all earplugs are created equal. Most musicians who have tried listening to music while wearing foam earplugs will identify several problems; the sound is hollow and there is ‘no high-end’. This will almost always result in rejection of hearing protection and possibly a fatalistic conclusion that hearing loss cannot be avoided. Indeed, some musicians appear to want to ‘bury their heads in the sand’ and imagine that they will escape the effects of years of unprotected exposure to loud music. Subscribe to read the full article

From Alexa Still


From Alexa - Alexa Still
This issue looks at some very latest and very fun flute designs, and also at a MUST-discuss topic: potential hearing damageand hearing protection.

I have used plugs in orchestral sessions (both rehearsals and concerts) and in my solo practice (especially for loud passages using the third octave) for over 20 years, and with every day I am more grateful that some spark of inspiration from somewhere caused me to do so. Many of my colleagues readily acknowledge some degree of hearing loss that can only be attributed to their occupation. Unfortunately this is a reality for professional musicians my age or older, and particularly for wind players with orchestral experience. They generally didn’t know about potential damage and certainly didn’t know about hearing protection. Subscribe to read the full article

Other features & columns

More on our main topics plus:

Teaching notes - Helen M Colthart
Jim on jazz - Jim Langabeer
Irish flute - Brendyn Montgomery
Dear Cathrine - Cathrine Bowie
Piccolo notes - Nancy Luther Jara

Junior section
Recent CD releases
What's on in the world
Directory of flute societies

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email: mary@flutefocus.com