Chiff and Fipple Forums

Anybody know where this thing comes from? Comments on videos are mostly in Russian with the odd remark in Azeri (which I can sort of read but there isn't much to go on). It seems to have five holes, played left-handed with the lowest hole covered by the left thumb and forefinger. Like a Moldavian ka...

The Chinese have been breeding special decorative lions for 1000 years.

http://arts.cultural-china.com/en/31A2138A7378.html

They are difficult to breed as they only eat dragon-flavoured catfood.

My harpist pal says you actually won't go far wrong buying a cheap Pakistani harp to learn on, PROVIDED YOU TAKE THE LEVERS OFF AND THROW THEM AWAY. The rest of the instrument is fine and it will work well in a fixed tuning (say two sharps for Scottish music).

Another approach for more comfortable finger spacing was used by Frans Twaalfhoven for his "piccolino" recorder, in F an octave above a sopranino. He used very steeply angled holes, with the external openings overlapped between the two hands. It had feasible spacing and normal fingering. I...

I have a Susato G sopranino recorder, which lets me play pipe tunes using something similar to Highland pipe chanter fingering at a volume that will cut through a roomful of fiddles - that is, its fingering mostly matches a sopranino whistle in A. I have fairly average hands for a man and don't have...

Most of those solutions leave the labium exposed so it can bang against other whistles in the bag. The labium is the bit of the whistle that needs the most protection, so that makes no sense at all. I use separate fleece pouches, longer than the whistle or recorder, in different colours so I can tel...

Lemon zester.

Microwave oven.

I do have four cataplanas, which might be considered a bit excessive. One big one and one small one would do.

lightning bugs are all over the place, including inside our house.

You mean, laser pointer dots you can EAT???

I have tried a knick bass recorder and hated it - it just didn't seem to want to stay put without continual wrestling. (I've tried woodwinds of just about every conceivable shape from soprano ocarinas to fujaras - this is the only one I've ever had that much trouble with). I'd say try before you buy.

A Susato can take more pressure in the lowest notes than most whistles, but it doesn't otherwise have much going for it.

I second "what whistle have you got?" - there are duds.

I have a whistle with weird normal-alternating-with-tiny fingerholes like that "Arabian" one. I thought mine was African but I have got it wrong.

Where's that design from and what kind of music are you meant to play on it?

I have seen a guy get thrown out of a pub for jumping on the musicians' table and attempting to do a sort of Highland sword dance over the pints and fiddles on it.

Somebody just posted an ad selling one of these. http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=88376 Seems I'm not allowed to reply in the same section of the forum and there's no automatic method for directing replies to the right place, so... Did Ebblewhite ever make anything? I have a...

Csakan or flageolet (they are basically the same thing). The missing bit at the top is a windcap which would usually have an ivory mouthpiece and a sponge to absorb moisture.

If you think you might have Marfan syndrome, get medical help, as it will usually kill you in middle age without it.

The classic example is Abraham Lincoln, who was probably not far from sudden death even without the assistance of a bullet.