one, two, three, four, fife

[arethinn]

A while back I asked the president of the (now inactive) club I (used to) advise where she had gotten one of the flutes she brought to the club meetings. She said she bought her instruments at a shop called Lark in the Morning in San Francisco. Since I tend to like to avoid driving in San Francisco whenever I can, I didn't think any more about it. I have been wanting to buy a keyless flute of some type, preferably of a fairly deep voice (although that's hard to deal with with my small hands, because the deeper-voiced, the larger and the bigger the spaces between the holes; but I digress) for many years now, but have never gotten to it mainly because I think, what would I do with it? I don't think I'm prepared to really put in the effort to learn how to play the flute, although it would be cool to be able to do so, and more to the point, to write my own music (tried and failed this many times on several instruments; it seems I just don't have the creative wherewithal, never mind the necessary skill). But neverminding all that, like a hammered dulcuimer, I just like the sound. I can make a flute make the right noises in general so I might be able to use single notes or aimless noodling in a magical context (I hear that shakuhachis, a type of Japanese flute, are sometimes used in meditation). But in any case, a couple weeks ago a catalog from Lark in the Morning (with the address marked as Fort Bragg - yikes, way up the coast; it'd be practically a pilgrimage to drive there, although I dunno but what that might beat the trial-by-fire that driving in SF is) showed up at my house, addressed to me. Jeanne can't possibly have given them my mailing address because she doesn't know it. I can't think of any possible connection to any other catalogs I receive, that is, who might have sold my name to them. It was utterly precedentless (at least in my perception - they must, logically, have got my name from somewhere) and synchronistic. So I can only guess that I am supposed to skip things I might otherwise have wanted to buy in the next pay cycle and go get me a flute. *boggle*

(despite the subject, I don't want a fife. way too high pitch. it was just the only flute-like instrument name I could think of a silly phrase to go with.)

Comments

better call it a six

[dionysusdevotee.livejournal.com]

Because it doesn't get any more expensive than Lark in the Morning. I've been to both stores a few times. The one in SF is in a cannery. Also, I bought an instrument there that wasn't any good cause I didn't know better, and paid a fortune to boot. If you go there, be careful you don't pay six for a fife, or worse a four!

[tyrsalvia.livejournal.com]

Wow, neat. I love synchronicity like that.

[happydog.livejournal.com]

Chinese Dizi flute. It's not chromatic - all the notes are in one scale, so it's easy to start playing melodies, and it sounds very earthy and wooden. It's a mid-voiced flute, not too high or low. That's my recommendation anyway. There is also the good old recorder, which is not hard to get...