Horror of horrors, disaster, gut wrenching pain, disbelief, shock, the death or at least serious injury to an old friend.
My beautiful Monzani and Hill 1834 flute was sat on!
Having travelled the world with it, played it at my wedding, played for my kids' births, played it at the funerals of friends and family I was devastated when I saw the damage done to it.
At a party, everyone full, no table or other suitable flat surface to put it down on so I wedged it into the corner of the armchair I was sat in and was gone but a sec or two when one of the [other] drunks launched himself into the poor wee flute and cracked it below the foot joint, shattered shards of the flute left on the seat!
My hero Sam Murray has just confirmed to me that he can repair it [the man is a genius of the first order] but it will never quite be the same again.
Around the same time two of my friends mislaid their instruments [got them back thankfully] and they were equally bereft.
So - the moral of the story is - NEVER, I repeat NEVER let your pride and joy out of your site unless you hand it to a trusted friend and fellow musician who understands the love affair that we have with our instruments.
A tale of woe indeed, Breandan. My Deepest Sympathies...especially so, since I recently dropped my block-mounted blackwood flute on my kitchen floor, tiled by yours truly. Don't ask for the details of this folly...let's just say alcohol may have been involved. The foot-joint landed first, splitting the timber at the joint. The damage doesn't sound as bad as yours, though. I took it to a friend, a very good repairer, but although he did a sterling putting it all back together again, it still doesn't play low D. I might have to enlist the services of Mr. Murray, if you have his contact details.
Good luck with the repair. Let's hope it's not as bad as he says.
His address [for the workshop] is the Old Forge, New Road, Galway city. You can send the instrument registered post and insure it - mate of mine Seamy McKibbin did that recently when getting some repair work done to his Rudall.
I'll let you know the outcome of the repair. I am hopeful as Sam is one of the best flute makers around these days.
Indeed when I dropped the Monzani off I ordered an Eb and a concert fom him at the same time!
Thanks for the details, Breandan.
I tend to play Boehm system, but like to have a simple system yoke around, as it's better for playing along with just one instrument, eg fiddle. Also I have an emergency back-up simple system yoke in D, so I got off lightly compared to Mr. B.C.
Dang. What a bummer. Hope Sam Murray can put it back together. I live in fear of someone sitting on my bow or fiddle or knocking them off a table. I guess now I'll never leave them on a chair, either!
There but for the grace ..... etc etc. It makes my blood run cold to think how close I've coming to mangling my flute on various occasions - usually in circumstances not unconnected with the taking of alcohol. I do know of at least one other flute which suffered 'death by sofa'. They are obviously a bit of a blackspot.
Hope it gets well soon!
I've never dropped a fiddle or bow, no knocks or dings at all in 20-plus years. But within a week of getting my first flute I'd dropped it once, let it roll off a table onto a tile floor, and slammed it in a car door right where the foot and middle joints come together. But it's one of these Delrin Seery jobbies, and there's not a mark on it.
Now I'm in the market for a nice wooden flute and will have to remind myself not to be so cavalier....
Breandan, best of luck with it! I hope he can conjure it back to life!
I nearly reversed my car over my cello, back when I played one. I thought I'd put it on the back seat - started reversing - felt an obstacle, looked at the back seat, and stopped just in time. I actually managed to tear the case (soft fabric job) but didn't cause *any* damage to the cello itself! Incredible. But Jeez, I still feel sick when I think about it.
I did have a guitar reduced to a pile of matchwood, by someone who will go un-named. My Dad had given it to me and my Grandad had played it for years - totally irreplacable. Just have to not think about it and let go.
Yes, tragic! I was once a guest at a wedding in the mountains near Boulder where the groom played his flute. It took courage. I thought it was wonderful because, as you say, the instrument becomes symbolic to the event forever. I've never suffered damage, but I have suffered a theft. A huge emotional loss, far exceeding the financial.
My thought on this posting was the disgust I feel towards instrument abuse. Like the bands that smash guitars and kick over amp columns and drumsets. I've seen gorgeous custom acoustics slung against the floor like an axe. There have been numerous movies which drop a Steinway Grand Piano being hoisted on ropes down to the sidewalk,... in slow motion devastation. Horrendous!... And a recent commercial featured a truck driver, driving through a hail storm of instruments, crashing down around him, bass violins, horns, piano's, all shattering and smashing on the road while he weaved in and out. Anybody else feel this way?
Not really relevant, just my 2 cents worth for the month...
you had better not see my burning banjo pics,then.
breandan,hope your flute recovers well.
Helen,you might be interested to know that a well-known scottish viola player did reverse over his instrument.
and then there's the story of the unattended viola being blown up in a controlled explosion.
just in case,the above cases really happened.SO: if there's any of youse out there wanting to chuck in a few smart comments and viola jokes - come on if you think you're hard enough,i dare ye! i will get to know where you live and then you'll be sorry.oh yes.
Hey, Irishruff, I couldn't agree more. Let me get a few seconds of "preaching" in here (not my choice of term - but been indirectly accused of it by a regular). Imagine how many lives those wasted instruments could have bettered if they'd survived and gone out to some Romanian orphanage, rather than to remain 'ere (sorry, bad moment for a pun).
One of the main reasons that the dudes (and dude-esses)on this website play music, is very simply, that we have access to instruments!
Personally, I despise such wantonness.
That's all folks!
Reminds me of the tale of the lady violinist in an orchestra in Bristol (UK) - not one of my orchestras, I'm glad to say.
After a rehearsal one winter's evening the members of the orchestra dispersed and the lady violinist came out to her car, putting her violin case on the road behind the car before loading it into the boot. She got distracted by someone and then got into her car and drove off, completely forgetting about her violin in the road. A couple of other musicians coming out of the hall saw what had happened, picked up the violin, got into their car and chased after her, right to her address, where she parked. One of the pursuing musicians had a brilliant idea. They stopped a little way behind her, and one of them got out and put the violin down on the road behind her car (she hadn't yet got out), and ran back to his car to watch what happened when she got out of her car to get her violin out of the boot ...
Trevor
Years ago in a previous life i was doing an outside gig at a beach cafe at Tamarama beach (locally known as Glamarama).with a jazz trio. It was a beautiful afternoon, and after the first set i put my alto sax on a nearby table that had a huge parasol coming up through the middle of it and walked away to get a cold drink.
Out of nowhere (one for the jazz cats, there!) came a great gust of wind thet caught under the parasol and blew the table clean over in two seconds. The sound of my saxophone hitting the concrete will be with me forever. I still feel sick thinking of it now and almost cried. i got it repaired but it was never the same again.
...Come to think of it, neither was I :\
B
On the subject of instrument abuse, what about collecting instruments you can't play and never will, and keeping them locked in a cupboard for decades. I can hear the fiddles crying in those cupboards, its tragic.
My old German fiddle belonged to my mother, who was a music teacher, and she locked it away in a cupboard at the outbreak of WW2. The case was never opened until about 3 or 4 years ago when it came into my possession. The instrument was in a dire state, after several house moves over a period of nearly 60 years - a crack in the belly, damaged varnish on the belly (the back was in perfect condition, strangely), soundpost down, broken bridge, unturnable pegs, gut strings now mere ragged wisps of material, scored fingerboard, and a few other things. It was worth having it refurbished, and its beautiful dark sonorous tone has now returned, after 2 or 3 years of playing.
I had a Spanish guitar which I hadn't played for about 20 years, but its recent sale funded the purchase of my second fiddle, a Jay Haid, which I am using a lot now in sessions. So I agree with Stewardy, if you're not using an instrument and aren't likely to, why not sell it and use the money to better effect? I know my guitar has now gone to a good home.
Trevor
Hmmm...you're making me feel very guilty. Our house boasts endless number of whistles, 5 or 6 flutes, 4 accordions (3 button one piano box), 3 fiddles, 3 harmonicas, 2 bodhrans, a piano and a keyboard, and probably more stuff that I can't think of right now. Probably only half of that lot is used.
Danny, there's a good argument for having more than one fiddle (provided you use them!), especially if they have different tone colours and responses.
It is this. My two fiddles are a 200-year old German instrument with a deep, dark and resonant tone, and a brand new Jay Haid which is also resonant but with a lighter more brilliant, but less powerful tone, especially on the upper strings. Both are a pleasure to play. A friend uses Obligato strings on her fine mid-19c French violin, and they sound magnificent. (I also use Obligatos on my cello, and they give a superb sound.) So I bought a set for my German fiddle. The result, after allowing a few weeks for them to settle in, was disappointing. So I swapped them onto the Jay Haid, where they are very effective. The strings that work best on my German fiddle are either Zyex or Helicore, which according to the received wisdom aren't supposed to be in quite the same class as Obligatos. A concert soloist I know uses Helicores on his early 18c Cremonese violin for preference (and tunes them from the pegs, btw!), so string choices can be somewhat unpredictable. My violin dealer tells me this sort of thing isn't at all uncommon. Which is why, if you have two fiddles, strings which are a disaster on one are likely to be successful on the other.
Trevor
Let this be a warning to ye all
Let this be a warning to ye all
Horror of horrors, disaster, gut wrenching pain, disbelief, shock, the death or at least serious injury to an old friend.
My beautiful Monzani and Hill 1834 flute was sat on!
Having travelled the world with it, played it at my wedding, played for my kids' births, played it at the funerals of friends and family I was devastated when I saw the damage done to it.
At a party, everyone full, no table or other suitable flat surface to put it down on so I wedged it into the corner of the armchair I was sat in and was gone but a sec or two when one of the [other] drunks launched himself into the poor wee flute and cracked it below the foot joint, shattered shards of the flute left on the seat!
My hero Sam Murray has just confirmed to me that he can repair it [the man is a genius of the first order] but it will never quite be the same again.
Around the same time two of my friends mislaid their instruments [got them back thankfully] and they were equally bereft.
So - the moral of the story is - NEVER, I repeat NEVER let your pride and joy out of your site unless you hand it to a trusted friend and fellow musician who understands the love affair that we have with our instruments.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
I'm losing my marlies today - should have read sight and not site!!
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
A tale of woe indeed, Breandan. My Deepest Sympathies...especially so, since I recently dropped my block-mounted blackwood flute on my kitchen floor, tiled by yours truly. Don't ask for the details of this folly...let's just say alcohol may have been involved. The foot-joint landed first, splitting the timber at the joint. The damage doesn't sound as bad as yours, though. I took it to a friend, a very good repairer, but although he did a sterling putting it all back together again, it still doesn't play low D. I might have to enlist the services of Mr. Murray, if you have his contact details.
Good luck with the repair. Let's hope it's not as bad as he says.
Danny.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Danny,
Know how you feel!
Sam can be contacted on Galway 532848.
His address [for the workshop] is the Old Forge, New Road, Galway city. You can send the instrument registered post and insure it - mate of mine Seamy McKibbin did that recently when getting some repair work done to his Rudall.
I'll let you know the outcome of the repair. I am hopeful as Sam is one of the best flute makers around these days.
Indeed when I dropped the Monzani off I ordered an Eb and a concert fom him at the same time!
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Oh Breandan--and Danny too! Makes my belly go hollow just thinking about it.
Good luck to both on the repairs. Keep us posted.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Yep - it's every's musician's nightmare. My heart goes out to you. Best of luck.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by deblittle
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Thanks for the details, Breandan.
I tend to play Boehm system, but like to have a simple system yoke around, as it's better for playing along with just one instrument, eg fiddle. Also I have an emergency back-up simple system yoke in D, so I got off lightly compared to Mr. B.C.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Dang. What a bummer. Hope Sam Murray can put it back together. I live in fear of someone sitting on my bow or fiddle or knocking them off a table. I guess now I'll never leave them on a chair, either!
zls
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
There but for the grace ..... etc etc. It makes my blood run cold to think how close I've coming to mangling my flute on various occasions - usually in circumstances not unconnected with the taking of alcohol. I do know of at least one other flute which suffered 'death by sofa'. They are obviously a bit of a blackspot.
Hope it gets well soon!
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Ottery
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
I've never dropped a fiddle or bow, no knocks or dings at all in 20-plus years. But within a week of getting my first flute I'd dropped it once, let it roll off a table onto a tile floor, and slammed it in a car door right where the foot and middle joints come together. But it's one of these Delrin Seery jobbies, and there's not a mark on it.
Now I'm in the market for a nice wooden flute and will have to remind myself not to be so cavalier....
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Yes, They really do get to be old friends don't they. God bless and keep all our instruments save.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by deblittle
or safe I meant - amen
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by deblittle
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Breandan, best of luck with it! I hope he can conjure it back to life!
I nearly reversed my car over my cello, back when I played one. I thought I'd put it on the back seat - started reversing - felt an obstacle, looked at the back seat, and stopped just in time. I actually managed to tear the case (soft fabric job) but didn't cause *any* damage to the cello itself! Incredible. But Jeez, I still feel sick when I think about it.
I did have a guitar reduced to a pile of matchwood, by someone who will go un-named. My Dad had given it to me and my Grandad had played it for years - totally irreplacable. Just have to not think about it and let go.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Nell
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
I just saw this note....
Yes, tragic! I was once a guest at a wedding in the mountains near Boulder where the groom played his flute. It took courage. I thought it was wonderful because, as you say, the instrument becomes symbolic to the event forever. I've never suffered damage, but I have suffered a theft. A huge emotional loss, far exceeding the financial.
My thought on this posting was the disgust I feel towards instrument abuse. Like the bands that smash guitars and kick over amp columns and drumsets. I've seen gorgeous custom acoustics slung against the floor like an axe. There have been numerous movies which drop a Steinway Grand Piano being hoisted on ropes down to the sidewalk,... in slow motion devastation. Horrendous!... And a recent commercial featured a truck driver, driving through a hail storm of instruments, crashing down around him, bass violins, horns, piano's, all shattering and smashing on the road while he weaved in and out. Anybody else feel this way?
Not really relevant, just my 2 cents worth for the month...
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
you had better not see my burning banjo pics,then.
breandan,hope your flute recovers well.
Helen,you might be interested to know that a well-known scottish viola player did reverse over his instrument.
and then there's the story of the unattended viola being blown up in a controlled explosion.
just in case,the above cases really happened.SO: if there's any of youse out there wanting to chuck in a few smart comments and viola jokes - come on if you think you're hard enough,i dare ye! i will get to know where you live and then you'll be sorry.oh yes.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by biggus dave
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
So if I make enough viola jokes you'll show up over here, Dave? Score! How about in time for the August Montana bash?
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
doh! yes,you've got me there! i will get over to the USA sometime but it won't be this year,i'm afraid.have a good one,though
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by biggus dave
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Thanks all for the tea and sympathy - I'll let ye all know how Sam gets on with the repair.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Hey, Irishruff, I couldn't agree more. Let me get a few seconds of "preaching" in here (not my choice of term - but been indirectly accused of it by a regular). Imagine how many lives those wasted instruments could have bettered if they'd survived and gone out to some Romanian orphanage, rather than to remain 'ere (sorry, bad moment for a pun).
One of the main reasons that the dudes (and dude-esses)on this website play music, is very simply, that we have access to instruments!
Personally, I despise such wantonness.
That's all folks!
danniello.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Reminds me of the tale of the lady violinist in an orchestra in Bristol (UK) - not one of my orchestras, I'm glad to say.
After a rehearsal one winter's evening the members of the orchestra dispersed and the lady violinist came out to her car, putting her violin case on the road behind the car before loading it into the boot. She got distracted by someone and then got into her car and drove off, completely forgetting about her violin in the road. A couple of other musicians coming out of the hall saw what had happened, picked up the violin, got into their car and chased after her, right to her address, where she parked. One of the pursuing musicians had a brilliant idea. They stopped a little way behind her, and one of them got out and put the violin down on the road behind her car (she hadn't yet got out), and ran back to his car to watch what happened when she got out of her car to get her violin out of the boot ...
Trevor
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Well.............what happened next, Treabhar???? don't leave us hanging!!
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Andee
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Andee, best left to the imagination! I wasn't there, but I believe hysterics came into it somewhere!
Trevor
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Years ago in a previous life i was doing an outside gig at a beach cafe at Tamarama beach (locally known as Glamarama).with a jazz trio. It was a beautiful afternoon, and after the first set i put my alto sax on a nearby table that had a huge parasol coming up through the middle of it and walked away to get a cold drink.
Out of nowhere (one for the jazz cats, there!) came a great gust of wind thet caught under the parasol and blew the table clean over in two seconds. The sound of my saxophone hitting the concrete will be with me forever. I still feel sick thinking of it now and almost cried. i got it repaired but it was never the same again.
...Come to think of it, neither was I :\
B
# Posted on June 28th 2003 by bacchus
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
On the subject of instrument abuse, what about collecting instruments you can't play and never will, and keeping them locked in a cupboard for decades. I can hear the fiddles crying in those cupboards, its tragic.
# Posted on June 28th 2003 by stewardy
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
My old German fiddle belonged to my mother, who was a music teacher, and she locked it away in a cupboard at the outbreak of WW2. The case was never opened until about 3 or 4 years ago when it came into my possession. The instrument was in a dire state, after several house moves over a period of nearly 60 years - a crack in the belly, damaged varnish on the belly (the back was in perfect condition, strangely), soundpost down, broken bridge, unturnable pegs, gut strings now mere ragged wisps of material, scored fingerboard, and a few other things. It was worth having it refurbished, and its beautiful dark sonorous tone has now returned, after 2 or 3 years of playing.
I had a Spanish guitar which I hadn't played for about 20 years, but its recent sale funded the purchase of my second fiddle, a Jay Haid, which I am using a lot now in sessions. So I agree with Stewardy, if you're not using an instrument and aren't likely to, why not sell it and use the money to better effect? I know my guitar has now gone to a good home.
Trevor
# Posted on June 28th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Hmmm...you're making me feel very guilty. Our house boasts endless number of whistles, 5 or 6 flutes, 4 accordions (3 button one piano box), 3 fiddles, 3 harmonicas, 2 bodhrans, a piano and a keyboard, and probably more stuff that I can't think of right now. Probably only half of that lot is used.
# Posted on June 29th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Danny, there's a good argument for having more than one fiddle (provided you use them!), especially if they have different tone colours and responses.
It is this. My two fiddles are a 200-year old German instrument with a deep, dark and resonant tone, and a brand new Jay Haid which is also resonant but with a lighter more brilliant, but less powerful tone, especially on the upper strings. Both are a pleasure to play. A friend uses Obligato strings on her fine mid-19c French violin, and they sound magnificent. (I also use Obligatos on my cello, and they give a superb sound.) So I bought a set for my German fiddle. The result, after allowing a few weeks for them to settle in, was disappointing. So I swapped them onto the Jay Haid, where they are very effective. The strings that work best on my German fiddle are either Zyex or Helicore, which according to the received wisdom aren't supposed to be in quite the same class as Obligatos. A concert soloist I know uses Helicores on his early 18c Cremonese violin for preference (and tunes them from the pegs, btw!), so string choices can be somewhat unpredictable. My violin dealer tells me this sort of thing isn't at all uncommon. Which is why, if you have two fiddles, strings which are a disaster on one are likely to be successful on the other.
Trevor
# Posted on June 30th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Let this be a warning to ye all
Fair enough, trevor, but I don't play beyond the occasional tinkering! I wouldn't be so foolhardy as to let people hear ME in public.
# Posted on July 1st 2003 by Rudall the time