The Good Musician

I have a 1977 Sankyo Prima flute, sterling, low B foot. I love it. It has been my faithful companion for three decades. Flutes can be made out of wood, metal, stone, clay, most any material you can fashion into a long tube. The sound is made by the air spiraling through the tube, usually with finger holes to change the pitch of the notes. Instruments that are played by blowing air into or over them are called aerophones.
Cornell Kinderknecht plays several kinds of flutes, sometimes with Tibetan bowls.
Paul Horn plays an alto flute, among other woodwind instruments, sometimes in …read more

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My three favorite foreign movies this decade are Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, Deepa Mehta’s Water, and The Kite Runner from Swiss director Marc Forster.
I happen to adore Bollywood, it reminds me of the sumptuous saturated colors of 1950’s musicals of my childhood. Operetta under the stars on a Dallas summer evening was a treat for the family, following a dinner at the original El Fenix downtown.
Back to The Kite Runner. I always check out the music credits, and saw the composer was Spanish. Interesting. Then I remembered that there is an Arabic musical tradition in Spain from the …read more

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Any ethnomusicologists out there who are curious about the great Hungarian composers? Talking mostly about my faves, Bartok and Kodaly. The Good Musician will be in Budapest mid-June and welcomes suggestions for good sounds. in addition to churches and cathedrals.
The exquisite Hungarian Opera House is one of Europe’s jewels.
Speaking of jewels, here’s a nice one. Image by The Good Musician.

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