Dizi Dimo

I've been wanting to get back into shape as a flute player for some time now- a couple of years, actually. I've been stymied by carpal tunnel bilaterally, as well as dealing with the constant needs, requests, demands and desires of three children so the flute always manages to be at the bottom of my priorities. I went so far as to schedule 10 minutes of practice into my Chorebuster schedule, but alas, even that allows it to fall by the wayside.

I hereby resolve to do a much better job prioritizing pleasures in my life!

There- you heard it here first.

Today I stopped by a neighbor's garage sale and found an unused Chinese Bamboo Flute, about which I knew nothing, except that it was long and would have a lovely deep, rich tone. There was an "extra" hole in the flute, between the mouthpiece and the finger holes. The seller and I discussed the hole and what might possibly cover it- she played flute when she was younger but never learned to play Chinese flute and didn't understand the extra hole any more than I did. For reasons I don't understand I had to buy the flute- and planned to look it up on Youtube as soon as I could.

When my 7 year old son got home from a work day at school he discovered the flute right away and we learned the name is "dizi", it's in the key of C (I think- that's what's written on it, along with a lot of Chinese characters) and it needs a "dimo" (bamboo paper membrane, with perpendicular creases and wrinkles) to cover the extra hole. The dimo is crucial for proper tone creating the harmonics and richness that make the sound of the instrument unique. It's playable with substitues but with a very different sound, like with this very nice rendition of Suteki Da Ne, played with a piece of tape in lieu of the dimo. Contrast the more Western tone with this incredible tone of a Chinese performer. When I heard her play I realised I have enjoyed listening to the dizi for years, but didn't understand exactly how a Chinese flute differs from a Western one.

We discovered a small envelope in the case with some dimo and apparently I can use garlic juice as glue- even though one online store refers to "toxic" garlic juice! I guess that's a risk I have to take, but I'll make sure I use the organic stuff from the organic farm down the road, just to decrease that scary toxicity! Now to find a teacher, or music....