Woodsong Instruments

 

Flute Production Tour

 
 
  Planting is the first step in creating a sustainable, continous harvest from a healthy and well-tended bamboo stand.
 
  From these humble and wonderful beginnings, bamboo musical instruments will grow.
 
  Yarrow and Kathryn outside a majestic stand of bamboo, preparing harvested pieces for transport.
 
  We only harvest the dead stalks, thinning the patch and giving it more room for healthy growth.
 
  All the sticks must be trimmed and carefully bundled for transport. Here Rob helps out Yarrow and Gaea with the process.
 
  This is Yarrow. She is bundling up the harvested stalks in preparation for loading the truck.
 
  Rob and Scott loading the truck. You can get an idea of just how long these sticks really are!
 
  There! Now all we have to do is cut, burn, tune, finish and make the carrying cases.
 
  We always clean up our act. In this picture, Rob is tossing something up onto the truck, while Kathryn strides to the other side to catch the overflow.
 
  The last load! Scott and Yarrow are ready to cart off the last of the cleanup and head for dinner.
 
  Rob uses super-hot metal rods to burn the holes in each flute, utilizing an ancient technique passed down from master to apprentice over many centuries. Note the stroboscopic tuner through the haze of bamboo smoke.
 
  This is a great photo, because it shows several steps of the process at once - Rob is burning holes in a flute, Kathryn is making flute bags while Yarrow helps. You can see unburned flutes, burned flutes and even a small portion of Rob's stroboscopic tuner.
 
  Rob Yard is shown testing the meditative properties of a freshly made flute.

 


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