The Flutarina

Behold, a new generation of wind instrument has arrived! Well, it is my original design, the flutarina, a flute - ocarina hybrid. It's made of bamboo, which is a traditional material for flutes. It also has the flute embouchure hole. But the embouchure hole is located right in middle of the instrument, making the acoustic closer to ocarinas than flutes.

Unlike standard ocarinas, the hole placement counts. Finger hole further away from the embouchure hole produces lower pitch. But
unlike flutes, the hole size plays more important role than location.

This instrument has 9 finger holes, 2 of which are the natural hole formed by bamboo ends, operated by thumbs. It is pitched in Eb, with a range of approximately from middle C up to Bb (nearly 2 octaves). Just like ocarinas, overblowing doesn't work on this instrument.

It features internal lacquer (white colored), embouchure hole and finger holes inlays, bamboo-tree carving, and a matte-lacquer finish. I haven't figure out all of the fingerings yet, but I believe full chromatic should be possible. Because it is basically a stopped pipe, its length is about half of that required for a flute with the same pitch. May I call it the eco-flute?

Another nice thing about it is its extreme ability to pitch bend. And the thumb-operated end-holes can serve as a special effect device simillar with the koudi (The koudi is a very very short flute with no fingerhole used to imitate bird songs).

How about the sound? Well, you be the judge. Listen to the sound here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?vdemmtztxxy

Trumpet Multiphonics

I figured that using a funny embouchure and fine control, it is possible to play multiphonics on the trumpet, especially in the high register. The sound is unstable and not very musical, just like any other wind instrument multiphonics. But I guess a good composer out there might find a good use for this unique voice, and a good player might figure out how to do it reliably.

Listen to it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?w0gmzz4jymm

If you don't get it, it is the vibrating sound between the two notes. It is unstable as it easily drops into either one of the more stable tones. But when everything is correct, the funny vibration comes. I know it sounds weird because of the funny embouchure involved, but it is an ordinary Bb trumpet, a Constellation, not a clarinet or some weird custom-made instrument. And, No! It doesn't involve playing while singing the 2nd note.

Shakuhachi Project

I finished my first Shakuhachi, the Japanese traditional end-blown flute.

Following the "standard" specification, it has 5 equal sized finger holes, beautifully arranged at even spacing of 1/10th of the flute's length.

After drilling the bamboo nodes to create a continuous pipe, the bamboo was initiated with fire. The heat treatment process left burn marks on the bamboo, which I found aesthetically appeasing.

The next step is cutting the utaguchi (blowing edge) at the end of the bamboo. Finally, the finger holes were drilled. Fine tuning was done by adjusting the finger hole size and adding or removing materials from the bore.

For finishing, the word Shakuhachi (in Japanese character) was inlaid at the back of the utaguchi. Then three strips of rattan binding was introduced. The strips served as decoration as well as adding some strength to the bamboo.

Finally, a thin layer of lacquer was applied to give the bamboo a nice, smooth, shiny appearance. Listen to the sound of this instrument here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?xogmvzcuxst

USB from hell

In the middle of the night, when I was recording the last track for the ending credit of the movie KURSInya, my mic started to introduce a very annoying constant clicking noise. It was rather loud and occurs approximately every half second.

Tinkering with the cable connections did not help, so I decided to open the microphone. Due to its weird construction (it is a cheap dynamic microphone) I had to cut the cables to take out the mic out of its casing. I found that wiring the mic ground connection into a large, electrically isolated body reduces the noise. So I proceeded and finished the recording session.

However, the problem persists. The noise is reduced, but never fall to zero. The worst thing about it is I cannot put the mic back into its casing (I still cannot find a way to open it). So it is now hanging, naked on the stand.

Today I found that unplugging my USB printer from the computer eliminates the noise completely ...

New Recording on Youtube

New recording of Carawitta and Fugue for two guitars are now available on Youtube.

Listen to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHI8fTNnG4U

Played by Oskar Satria and Riston Adenan, in Substantially Guitar Concert, Jakarta, 2 Mar 2008.


Thanks to Sudirman Leman for uploading the performance.

Variations on a theme in D Minor

I just wrote it this afternoon. It is short work for a trio of guitar, violin, and cello. It is going to be premiered on 23rd Feb 2008 at CCF, Bandung. Basically it is a very short, 2 measures long theme being repeated again and again with different variations. As the music progress, the original theme become the background and a new material is introduced. Repeating this process produces an original work quickly and easily.

The full score is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?inwnvngcibd

Indonesian Rhyming Dictionary

I've finished my project of writing the Indonesian Rhyming Dictionary, or "Kamus Rima Bahasa Indonesia". Hopefully this book can soon be released to the public. Currently in the process of finding a publisher.

Currently I'm just having fun with it

"Sonata Duta Junta Pendusta"

Dewata semesta,
beta bercerita nyata, beta meminta cinta wanita jelita berkacamata, juwita berpita magenta. Pendeta buta renta berkata terbata bata, serta merta bersukacita, berpesta bergempita beserta anggota tahta mahkota junta pendusta.

Ternyata, penderita kusta ternista serta anggota kasta jelata, mengkudeta, bersenjata, meminta harta permata, bercita cita menata gulita dukacita, mencipta pelita sukacita.

"Kita terlunta lunta, penderita tata kota. Junta menyita harta, kereta, talenta, unta ... Vendeta!!"

Dewata semesta, beta meminta cinta wanita jelita berkacamata, juwita berpita magenta. Fakta berkata, "meronta ronta!", wanita berkata "airmata", junta berkata, "Anumerta."