Futujara

Irish Flute
1

I’m not even sure what category this should be filed under to be completely honest, but I was wondering if many of you have come across this new hybrid instrument called a “Futujara”?

It seems to be a development of the Fujara (the Slovakian shepherd’s fipple flute).

I seen it posted on YouTube about a couple of months back and just thought it sounded “mad”!

I’ll post a link to it for anyone who has never seen or heard it before:

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vv9OHA1lPw

Well, that was something “different” for me anyhow.

On a completely different note, I had a few tunes with Cathal Mc Connell who was up in Derry yesterday, and he was showing me a couple of new flutes that he had.

One was made by a guy whose name escapes me just now (I think his Cathal said his surname was “Gallagher”, but I can’t remember 100% to be honest). Anyhow, the flute was made out of ‘dogwood’, which I thought was a very interesting choice of wood, and it almost felt as light as a bamboo flute. It was definitely very interesting.

The second one he showed me, I am guessing was oriental. I think it was Chinese, (I was told but can’t remember) so again don’t quote me on that. There was a massive length of extra wood beyond the tone/finger holes and the embouchure hole (like in some Japanese flutes I’ve seen), so instinctively, I was moving my head up to the top of the flute to find the embouchure hole, and Cathal kept having to direct my head down towards it, laughing while doing so, as I’m sure he must have been doing the same thing the first time. Now the thing about this flute was that it had SEVEN instead of SIX tone/finger holes, with the seventh tone hole covered being D. I’m trying to work out again what the fingering system was, as with one tone hole covered, you got B, 2 = A, 3=G, 4=F NATURAL, and from there on I’m not 100% sure.

I know that (as already said) that with 7 fingers down, you got D, and I’m almost sure that with 6 tone holes covered you were getting E, so I’m guessing that with 5 fingers down it was most likely F#?

It was very handy for doing rolls on F natural, but then it made it a bit harder to do E rolls with your wee finger (4th finger), as it’s obviously weaker and untrained, if you are used to rolling with your 6th finger for an E roll. Another thing, now that I remember, was that it had this hole between the embouchure hole and the first tone hole, and Cathal was telling me that the purpose of this was that it was usually covered with rice paper? But he said he didn’t really bother with that and I think he just had it taped over.

I think it would be too frustrating for me to try and get my head around it, but Cathal really liked it, and was getting some nice sounds out of it.

Sin é,

Murrough

2

Dogwood ? Must be John Gallagher…VERY interesting flute…(yep..tried it..)

3

Yep, I suspect it is, and ditto Jack. It’s a cool flute. I also played a Bb flute of his made out of holly and it was like a feather. Anyway, he told me he makes a lot of his prototypes in dogwood or holly as those are trees that basically grow in his backyard. I was kind of after him to make one for me out of the same wood, but he said he’d rather work with blackwood as the Bb was still kind of new to him. Either way, mine’s great.

I just got to play a brand-new 8-key small-hole Gallagher Rudall this weekend, and though I only had a couple of tunes it felt lovely. Martin McCann told me this weekend he’s ordered up a Gallagher for himself as well.

Look out, Johnny! :smiley:

Hey Murrough, aren’t you supposed to be off getting married? And here you are, talking about flutes. I sure hope Mrs. Murrough’s a musician. :wink:

Congratulations to ya! :slight_smile:

4

Aye, I think John Gallagher was his name alright. Was definitely a lovely flute. Nice and light and nothing too fussy about it. He was telling Cathal that it was an “experiment”, and I have to say it was a very nice experiment! Well done John Gallagher!

Hi Cathy,

Yep, got married on 08•08•08, so back from our honeymoon and all now, and settling back into reality. Thanks very much re: the congrats.

5

thanks for the post on the Flutara (or whatever it was called) Took me back to the psychedelic ‘60s… javascript:emoticon(’:boggle:')

Deisman

6

Sounds like a Chinese dizi to me.

The “extra” hole is meant to be covered with a “membrane” called a “dimo” (it’s not rice paper)-- gives it a buzzy, almost crystal-like sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxsOks4V35w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvPi56INSxA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZsfl3UWD5g

…it had this hole between the embouchure hole and the first tone hole, and Cathal was telling me that the purpose of this was that it was usually covered with rice paper? But he said he didn’t really bother with that and I think he just had it taped over…

You can cover the membrane hole with scotch tape but then it’ll sound like any ordinary Olwell bamboo flute.

7

The Hybrid “Futujara” is just a variation of the Standard Fujara with a few simple modifications and extra foot joints. This instrument is a Contrabass “Tabor Pipe” and works with the same overblown harmonic scale. The bore diameter/length ratio of 1/40 to 1/42 provides enough restriction to the fundamental scale to provide great overblown harmonics.

The Chinese instrument called a Ti-Tzu (Tee-T’Zoo) uses a similar harmonic technique with a tuned harmonic chamber above the embouchure.

http://muh2051-04.fa04.fsu.edu/students/lessons/35/ti-tzu1.jpg

This instrument also has a “Kazoo” membrane at the nodal point between the top tonehole and the embouchure for an enhanced reedy tone.

Are you interested in the history of these instruments? Making them? or finding a quality instrument to buy?

Thomas Hastay.

8

Ti-Tzu

Same as Dizi, slightly different transliteration.

This instrument also has a “Kazoo” membrane at the nodal point between the top tonehole and the embouchure for an enhanced reedy tone.

Well the nodes in a flute change position with the pitch that’s played so there is more than one “nodal point”, right? Anyway, for most dizi players it is desirable to have the membrane always positioned at an anti-node so that it maximizes it’s vibration and produces the greatest buzz. Obviously there’s only the one membrane position and consequently it’s effect on the instrument’s timbre is inhomogeneous, that is, it’s dependent on the note that’s played.

http://www.gim.ntu.edu.tw/gia/dizi/diss/ch03.html

9

that was waaaaaay cooler than those boxing yo-yos.

!!

can you imaging ripping into that on a bodhran/futujara solo on stage? cripe! that would be wild.

i love the comment on the youtube, that it looks like he’s sucking on an IV. ha!

was way weird when he started speaking and it took me a minute to realize it wasn’t English. I just thought my ears were diluted from what I had just heard that I couldn’t readjust fast enough to English.

whoa

10

visit this dude’s website.
some very very interesting material.
and we think we can play? ha!

11

i just watched the clip of him playing percussion on the teapot.

oh my effin gawd

i think i’ll just crawl home now and take up knitting.

12

here it is…the ultimate:

http://nadishana.com/flvplayer/BrainMassage.wmv

I think i heard this in a bathroom once :laughing:

13

I got to visit with John Gallagher at his workshop during the Timber Flute Festival last summer in Elkins, WV. His flutes are absolutely superb, but the wait is LONG. I would love to get one of his baroque flutes…

Pat

14

Still a bit OT, but my Gallagher Pratten set is on the way back from John…just got the notice.. YIPPEE ! :party: :party: :party:

And, our own Frank Claudy recently got his much-awaited Rudall…I don’t think he’ll mind the quote from woodenflute…

After a playing lifetime with old restored concert flutes, I
finally broke down and ordered a flute from John Gallagher, which arrived here
about 4 weeks ago. I am quite excited about it and would like to share some
salient points.
For Irish music, I was looking for an instrument with a reliable and rich
bottom C and D on which I could also play sonorous 2nd octave. A few summers
ago, John brought a flute he had made for Fr. Charlie Coen, a keyed instrument
based on a medium-holed Rudall, with the bore modified to correct the tuning
at the low end while preserving the Rudall sound throughout the range. This
was the ticket; I ordered one on the spot.
Mine is an eight-key in blackwood. The foot-joint c and csharp are
overlapping keys and work perfectly as long as both touches are depressed for
the Cnat. I also use the Eb a lot. It is handily located near but a little
lower down from the Csharp key, allowing pretty quick changes from Eb to
Csharp. I get my best results by rotating the foot joint so the c and csharp
holes are in line with the finger holes. This is new for me – I used to have
the joint rotated more to the thumb side, but now I couldn’t imagine going
back.
The short F and Bflat touches are very low on the body so that I can slide
on and off them easily. This is working very well for both, making tunes in F
more approachable. The long F touch is also very easy to reach (it comes
about 1/2 way up the G sharp key) if I line the RH joint up so the F key is in
the same plane as the Gsharp, another new position.
I asked John to put a Nicholson-style cutaway into the body for the LH
index finger. I find this frees up my A and B ornamentation and generally
assists me in keeping my hands relaxed. The finger-surface is not flattened
like a full Nicholson, but John was able to soften up the hole edges so my
fingers seem to ‘self-center’ on the holes.
The head joint sports a silver lip plate covering just the player’s side
of the blow-hole. John secured this inlay with both cement and a very subtle
riveting process. There is no leakage. The head-joint lining is silver, as
is the facing on the cork, and there is a functional stopper adjustment with
hatches on the cork shaft.
Another lovely feature is the thinned black-wood with hatch-marks,
covering the tuning slide. The wood is actually an extension of the barrel,
very nicely crafted and useful for recalling tuning slide positions.
The blow-hole edge is not cut away to any where near the degree of my
older flutes and plays best for me with very little turning in of the
head-joint. A focused embouchure results in very even and complex tone that
works well with box or pipes, without having to blow my lungs out. In marked
contrast to my original Rudall, the second octave A and B are not sharp.
All of the keys have light, quick springs and all seal well with kayak
foam pads.
John describes the present tuning as conservative and likes to have his
customers visit him after 6 months or so to make small tuning adjustments. I
will follow through, but I am quite happy with the present set-up, especially
after the instrument warms up. Like all good and lively instruments, I get a
wonderful buzz under my fingers when my embouchure is dialed in.
I adjusted the cork position to bring the D D" and D"’ into tune and to
get OXXXXX to agree in pitch with OXX000k. With the cork-face at 21 mm from
blow-hole center, the flute is at A 440 with the slide out 1/8".
With this bore, a lot of the one-key fingerings work in the third octave.
I can get a nice E"’ with XX0gshXX0k, but XX00XXk also works, which I think
will be easier for tunes that need it.
This flute’s responsiveness is very much affected by both temperature and
bore condensation. John tuned it to perform best at around 75F. To warm up,
I am back to whistle tones, long tones and scales, all very beneficial for
exploiting the expressive capacity. All in all, I can’t keep my hands off
it.

15

Thanks very much for all that Thomas, sorry just seeing it now.

I suppose I was just interested in the instrument when I saw it that time, but I think I’ll stick with my Sam Murray flute for now. :slight_smile:

Thanks for your useful information though.

16

I actually bought one of Nadishana’s fujaras (not the futujara – a “standard” PVC fujara with two bodies, tuned to different keys). I have a nice wooden fujara from Slovakia, but thought it would be fun to have the PVC version to knock around on, and to have different keys to play in.

The PVC model is much quieter than the traditional wooden model, and much more sensistive to breath pressure, which makes it a bit harder to control. I find playing melodies and overblowing to the right notes easy on the wooden model, but much touchier on the PVC. The tone of the wooden instrument is superior, too, richer and more haunting. However, the PVC model still sounds fujara-y, is well in tune, and handy for practicing late at night. It’s also hundreds of dollars cheaper than a good wooden instrument! I have to say that Nadishana’s service and communication was top-notch, as well. I also bought a set of kou xiang, which are a blast to mess around with, and seem to fascinate people. You can see/hear them by clicking here. Fun instrument to stick in your pocket to have available to play whenever you like.

Also to add: I have a Pratten-model six-key flute from John Gallagher that is a lovely, lovely instrument, both to see and to play. Gives up nothing to the Olwells, Hammy’s, and such that I’ve played (they’re all great flutes, of course). I’ll never need another flute, for Irish music, anyway, though this reminds me that I need to contact John and have him give the flute a check-up. John’s a super nice fellow, to boot.