These are some of the rare/odd flutes that I have aquired.

This is a picture of a Hall Crystal Flute in the key of D. It was given to me by my wife, whom I cherish!

To learn more about this flute and its maker see: http://hallflutes.com/

I was amazed at the tone of this flute when I heard a sampling of it. It is a simple instrument with only six finger holes and no keys. It also takes only half the air of a typical flute according to the manufacturer.

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Another flute that I aquired is a more rare type of instrument known as the Kaval. It is an ethnic instrument that is end-blown which requires a different lip technique. This kaval is small. About the same size and pitch of a penny whistle in the key of D. As you can see, it is in terrible condition in the photo. This is how I found it at an antique show. The owner knew that it was some sort of "fluty thing" but did not know where it came from or how it worked. I also have a full size instrument in similar condition. The larger one has animal horn as the tenon joint as you see in the photo below. I plan to restore both as soon as I can. If you have information on this type of instrument, I would enjoy discussing it with you. Please email me!

 

I am learning about this instrument at this time. The photo is of a man playing the full size version of the Kaval. I found this image online. Unfortunately, I did not save the info of where I found it to give the webmaster proper credit.

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An interesting find at the same antique show where I found the kaval is this ceramic flute. It is interesting because of its unusual paint job and short length- yet full bodied tone. Don't play this one in a small room without earplugs or with the lights on! My wife named it for me when she saw it. She said it reminded her of vomit on mold. She may have something there!

Flutes and pennywhistles sound very similar as their nature is similar.  Most flutes are transverse blown where as pennywhistles are end-blown.  The Kaval and the Shakuhachi are the most apparent acceptions to this statement.