Category Archives: Art

Musicians interested to play flutes with a directed airflow might find my remarks helpful today concerning end-blown flutes without those details. I insist they are much more interesting because they have more expressive possibilities. What is an end-blown flute? This … Continue reading →

What is a Xun? Xun is a very ancient musical instrument, originally of clay. Is an end-blown wood Xun, a Xun in the strictest sense? Is a clay Ocarina strictly speaking a kind of Xun? Xun is often presented as … Continue reading →

Tea bowls specifically for Matcha tea have many subtle characteristics that make them most suitable for the enjoyment of Tea. Over the last 60 years I have made and sold a variety of chawan and here are a few photos … Continue reading →

LPKaster · Birdsong windbells.wav This recording started with an improvisation on my Zheng, tuned to Japanese Minyo scale. Then I layered it with a live recording of the tubular windbells in the photo below. These are the windbells I have … Continue reading →

Here are some photos of the process of making the ancient clay musical instrument called Xun. Rolling coils Adding coils to the base Personally, I prefer to let the surface show the slow work of my hands and fingers Firing … Continue reading →

Last Summer I grew a little grove of sunflowers, then in the Fall I collected a few of the bigger stalks. Lately I am making flutes with an embrochure or “utaguchi” similar to the end-blown Shakuhachi flute. Recording of Sunflower … Continue reading →

Here are photos of Xun and some other recordings.         Xun with Tibetan Singing Bowl  

Last month I bought a 2000X endoscope camera to look more closely at my Silk strings.? I find it very interesting to compare some of the fibers from different sources. To the left is a Chinese Bombyx Mori silk that … Continue reading →

I acquired several medium sized gourds a few years back, and slowy discovered how to best use them as I intended, to make musical instruments.  Gourds have traditionally served as resonating bodies in musical instruments, either as the main body, … Continue reading →