EarlyMusicNews.Org

Early clarinet maker.

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Added on: Feb 08, 2010 | Hits: 460

"Sand Dalton began playing the baroque oboe in 1975 after graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied modern oboe with Allan Vogel. A year later he made his first instrument and began an extensive and on-going study of historical oboes which has taken him to many museums and private collections both in Europe and North America.

Concurrently, he has pursued an active career as a performer and teacher. Over the years he has performed and recorded with many ensembles, including the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, Magnificat, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra of Vancouver, B.C. His long experience playing in baroque orchestral and chamber music has provided him with an ideal 'laboratory' in which to test and refine his ideas about making good musical instruments.

He has been of the faculties of the New England Conservatory, the University of British Columbia and Longy School of Music, as well as taught at the summer workshops for the San Francisco Early Music Society, Vancouver Early Music Program, Amherst Early Music Workshop and the International Baroque Institute at Longy. In 2000 be began directing his own summer workshop for baroque oboes and bassoons on Lopez Island in Washington State.

Described by CBC Radio as "one of the leading baroque oboists in North America whose fine instruments are played around the world." Sand Dalton is dedicated to making oboes of the highest musical and technical standard. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Feb 26, 2008 | Hits: 453

"Adriana Breukink started playing the recorder at the age of nine. As a teenager, she already wanted to be a recorder maker, but there was no appropriate training available. When she was sixteen she went to the Conservatory in Rotterdam, and three years later she went to the Royal Conservatory at The Hague. There she studied recorder with Ricardo Kanji and Frans Bruggen. During her last year she took a course with Fred Morgan in making recorders, in the Conservatory workshop.

For many years she has been known for making Renaissance Consorts and Ganassi recorders, and she sends these to top soloists, ensembles and conservatories all over the world. In recent years, she has developed many new instruments, such as the Slide Recorder for Moeck, and the Dream Soprano, Dream Alto and Dream Tenor for Mollenhauer. The Dream bass is currently in development. One of her recent recorders is the 3 metre (10 foot) long Sub-contrabass in Bb. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 23, 2008 | Hits: 450

“On this website you will find pages devoted to two types of wind instruments, quite different, but ultimately close in many aspects. These are my two passions which I now devote my life to creating and which I offer to you.

Firstly, there are the baroque transverse flutes, also called traversos or one keyed flutes.

I offer several hand-made concert flutes, the perfect woodwind instrument for playing baroque music, in it’s varied styles and typical of that period.

In my work, I am looking to recreate the unique sound peculiar to the musical individuality of each of the baroque flute models that I offer and to provide an individual musical quality, sympathetic to the original sound. ..“

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Added on: Feb 08, 2010 | Hits: 448

" Eric Moulder and Tony Millyard have combined their research and manufacturing facilities to develop Baroque Bassoons at A=415hz. After a number of years of research and development we have produced two instruments which we are pleased to offer. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 445

"I started making wooden flutes in 1994 and my interest rapidly expanded to include wooden whistles, low whistles and recorders. My thirst for information on woodwind instruments and their making led me to Matthew Dart's evening classes at the London Furniture College (now the London Guildhall University). Having had some 30 years experience in mechanical engineering, my progress was rapid, and very soon the new dicipline had completely taken over my life.

Today I make woodwinds of the flute family (Transverse flutes, recorders, whistles and low whistles) for customers all over the world. I make instruments based on originals from as early as the 13th century, including my own versions of the Gottingen recorder and Dordrecht recorder, I also make flutes and recorders based on those from the Renaissance period as well as my own designs of flute, whistle,low whistle and recorder for use by todays traditional musicians. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 438

"I am Peter van der Poel and I make wooden wind instruments: recorders, clarinets and oboes. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 23, 2008 | Hits: 436

"Peter Noy has long dedicated himself to making flutes in wood. The finest quality materials, meticulous craftsmanship and intelligent, balanced design are combined to create beautiful instruments, sought after world-wide for their sound. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Feb 26, 2008 | Hits: 428

Bagpipe maker.

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Added on: Feb 08, 2010 | Hits: 427

During the period from 1974 to 2001, a large number of Renaissance and early Baroque recorders as well as Bible regals was built.

Due to my appointment of June 2001 as a curator of the Musikhistorisk Museum in Copenhagen, I am not able to accept orders for new instruments; but retuning, revoicing and minor repairs will be undertaken by arrangement.

I graduated as an M.A. in music and mathematics in 1973. Detailed studies of extant historical instruments provided the basis for establishing the workshop in 1974. Parallel with my work as instrument maker I have been active as a teacher at numerous courses of early music in Germany and Denmark, with the subjects Renaissance consort music and recorder ensemble playing. Since 2001 I am employed as a curator by Musikhistorisk Museum, Copenhagen.

Added on: Apr 27, 2009 | Hits: 425

Fridtjof Aurin  Transverse Flutes

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Added on: Feb 07, 2010 | Hits: 418

"Philippe Bolton graduated from Lille Conservatory in France in 1975 with a gold medal. He then established himself as a recorder maker, preferring to live from this type of activity rather than playing.

He has exhibited his instruments in many European countries (particularly Austria, Germany, Holland and the United Kingdom), in Australia, USA and Japan. He exports about half his production outside France. Over the years he has developed a several different types of recorders, of which some are "copies" and others entirely of his own design. In 1980 he became a "Maître Artisan" (Master Craftsmen) and the next year he won the "Grand Prix Régional des Métiers d'Art”) for the Provence region of France.

His production ranges from reconstructions of medieval recorders to pre-baroque and baroque instruments. He has also recently developed an electroacoustic recorder for widening the instrument’s repertoire towards jazz and contemporary music.

He has taught recorder making on various occasions in Australia, in Belgium and in France. " Well designed and informative site. Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 30, 2008 | Hits: 414

“.. My objective has always been to recreate the sound of the instruments as they were in their original state.

My instruments are available in Boxwood, Maple, Cormier  or Grenadille. Boxwood can be a bit capricious and requires a special stabilization process. Its particular tone color makes it a favorite of recorder players. Grenadille, also known as  Mozambique Ebony, is a very stable wood from the Dalbergia family and is considered top-notch among tropical woods.    Compared to Black Ebony from Africa, it is very resistant to cracks. Maple is an amazing wood because its sound is velvety and powerful but is light in terms of weight. In addition, recorders made of maple are very resistant to the problems of condensation. Cormier is a wood from the Alisier family, a precious wood from our area.  It resembles pear wood, though harder and a little bit more dense.  It is not porous, which make it very appealing. ..“

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Added on: Mar 18, 2010 | Hits: 412

"Offering fine antique & vintage flutes of the 19th and 20th centuries restored to playing condition, including traversi, flageolets, whistles, and other woodwinds and modern reproductions of historical instruments. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 04, 2008 | Hits: 406

"I promised in The Keyed Flute by Johann George Tromlitz (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, p. 261) to make available the index of flute information I compiled for that study. You are welcome to make use of it, as long as you send me new material and correct any mistakes you find. Please note that I am not systematically updating or improving the database: it's presented here, for what it's worth, in form and content already 10 years out of date. If anyone would like to make an ongoing project of it, please contact me.

The database file contains listings for about 1800 instruments, with details of attribution, maker's mark, materials, keys, and reports in the literature. (My own copy also lists drawings made by other researchers, and materials (drawings, photos, mouldings) in the collection of Folkers & Powell.) " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 08, 2008 | Hits: 403

"Christopher Monk was amongst the first to make reconstructions of the cornett (or cornetto), the highly regarded virtuoso wind instrument whose top players commanded higher fees than any others in the early seventeenth century. He put cornetts in the hands of the late David Munrow and, largely through Munrow’s Early Music Consort of London, the cornetto began to regain its former popularity. It is now played at amateur and professional levels across the world from New Zealand to New York, heard with increasing frequency at major music festivals and enjoys excellent and increasing representation on recordings. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 08, 2008 | Hits: 401

“This is the website of Mark W Venn and is concerned principally with early music in various manifestations. Current sections of the site deal with:

• Handmade renaissance woodwind instruments. Principal instruments made are the crumhorn and the cornamuse.
• Handmade recorder stands / other instrument stands
• Maintenance and minor repair work of instruments.
• Cotswold Early Music Festival (formerly the Cirencester Early Music Festival),
• The "Mozart"™  music software for developing high quality music scores,
• "The Waites of Gloucester", a renaissance consort, that also performs as "Her Majestie's Pleasure" ..“

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Added on: Apr 17, 2010 | Hits: 388

" ... Graduated from high school in 1960 (or was it 61) went, no not to a conservatory, but to University to study Mathematics. I have been a math's teacher some years and then worked as a mathematician in research in Industry . In my thirties I started trying to play the Traverso. Some sixteen years ago I did the evening joiners education. Bought a lathe. And from one thing to another I found that flute making was a professional vocation for me. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 04, 2008 | Hits: 384

"Chris Wilkes is a painstaking flute maker whose objective in working is to constantly improve and try to combine good playing characteristics and superior tone with fine craftsmanship, aesthetic design and ergonomic keywork. He is self taught and has been making flutes for the last 20 years based on master instruments of the early to mid-nineteenth century. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 04, 2008 | Hits: 368

Shawms, curtals, baroque and classical bassoons and large baroque oboes made by Robert H. Cronin.

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Added on: Apr 17, 2010 | Hits: 347

“Leif Eriksson's combination of true workmanship and a steady sense for style and instrument building knowledge is unique. Leif is one of the Swedish folk instrument makers' veterans. The interest for the newborn Swedish bagpipe is largely due to Leif and would be unthinkable without his pioneering work.

Leif Eriksson also makes hurdy-gurdies, nyckelharpas and other instruments.

He has satisfied customers not only in the Nordic countries but also in the rest of Europe, the US and even in Japan...“

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Added on: Jul 29, 2009 | Hits: 343

“I felt sure that by breaking free of traditional design ideas, it should be possible to create
the best recorders in the world.

I started working in fall 2003 on such a design, with my new inventions in it. I made and bought tools and jigs, found sources for obscure supplies, and I learned fine woodworking, "jewelers" metalworking for making keys, and some pottery skills.
Along the road new ideas arose that made it even better. It took until fall 2005 to work out the various "bugs" associated with any new design, but I am now able to supply instruments that musicians will be pleased or even proud to own.

These strong and flexible alto recorders are fine general mixed ensemble instruments that fit in with flutes, clarinets, string quartets, pianos, guitars and so on without apology. They are available in models from regular baroque fingered to the 7-key fully keyed "orchestra ready" recorders with no weak forked fingerings, all with the strongest achievable sound, over 2-1/2 octaves range, the ability to fine-tune and play dynamics, and a lovely pitch-vibrato.  …“

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Added on: May 28, 2011 | Hits: 327

" ... At that time there was a great deal of interest in making more historically based instruments and I jumped directly onto the bandwagon of the authentic movement. I read all that was written about old recorders and visited as many museums and collections as I could, playing, measuring and photographing their originals. I had additional tuition from Eric Moulder and Graham Lyndon-Jones, who were both professional woodwind makers and part time lecturers at the college. I think it was quite early on that I realised I would have to travel if I were to make a business out of recorder making. The recorder scene in England was very large but extremely amateur and from a playing point of view, not nearly as wonderful as I had at first thought. So I travelled a lot in Europe, visiting both museums and music conservatories, learning about the original recorders at the same time as trying to develop contacts with players. This practice carried on long after I had finished my course at the LCF in 1982 and had established my first workshop in Reykjavik. My contacts with players were essential, to give me the necessary feedback on my work, which as a rotten player, I was unable to judge for myself. Even now, with twenty years experience, I still rely a great deal on the opinions of my customers, to help me develop my work. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 23, 2008 | Hits: 318

“ .. . In the 1930s Carl Dolmetsch completed the upper end of the family with the sopranino as well as producing recorders at modern pitch - until then all production had been at low pitch. Production at low and modern pitch continues side by side to the present day. The company continued making many kinds of hand-made early musical instruments (viols, lutes, harps, rebecs, harpsichords, spinets, clavichords, recorders, pipes and tabors, tambourin, psalteries, and so on). A delightful, though not wholly uncritical, description of the Dolmetsch workshop (as it was in 1947) is given by Frank Hubbard who, in that year, joined the firm as an apprentice.

The first Dolmetsch plastic recorders were manufactured in 1947, establishing the name in the area of educational musical instrument manufacture. More recently the Company has formed manufacturing and design associations with other manufacturers (including Coolsma in Holland - owned by Aafab b.v.) to broaden the range of instruments bearing the Dolmetsch name. However, the family (Jeanne Dolmetsch, Marguerite Dolmetsch and Brian Blood) continues to this day to play a central role designing, promoting and making, setting the standard of craftsmanship and reliability for which the company is justifiably famous. ..“

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Added on: Jul 29, 2009 | Hits: 295

“Wooden flutes maker specializing in Irish flutes, pennywhistles, military fifes, baroque flutes, renaissance fifes, folk flutes, piccolos, wooden whistles and tabor pipes.

We have been making wooden instruments since 1974 and are widely recognized as giving excellent value for your investment.”

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Added on: Jan 28, 2011 | Hits: 294