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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Lupus / March 2006flute
I have lung problems with lupus, as many do; have had lupus pneumonitis, pleurisy, asthma, etc. & I've gotten a bit of relief when I took up the flute 2 years ago. I LOVE it! I guess it could be any wind instrument; I just personally like the sound of the flute. Used to play clarinet in school but I just don't like how it sounds. All the little girls wanted to play the flute & I didn't sign up quick enough so I was stuck with clarinet. Even playing a horn would be good - maybe even better for the lungs, as long as your significant other doesn't mind. So, anyway, if anyone out there has ever had a hankering to learn a wind instrument, it will help your lung capacity. I have a Hall Crystal flute (they're GORGEOUS), among others that I've been collecting. I'm thinking of getting a silver keyed flute because the Hall is a simple Irish system (no keys, just holes on top that are harder to cover, which can make tendonitis worse) but maybe next year I'll get a keyed flute. Or a Native American flute. They're even easier to play because they're end blown, not side blown, so you don't have to worry about embouchure. Heck, I have a Flutofone in plastic that was only $10.00 & it sounds good. My hubby made me a side-blown flute out of PVC (got instructions on the internet) & I decorated it with spray paint & it sounds good too & is easy to play. Candi What a coincidence! I wanted to play the flute as well, and the Band Director said "We have 20 girls who are playing flute, and no one to play saxophone. If you take up the alto sax, you can be playing 1st chair within a year. Jazz band also" I went for it in a flash. I had so much fun. I dont have the sax anymore, but I have a soprano recorder... you know what that is... wooden rennaisance instument with a whistle mouthpiece and just holes, no keys. It is fun for playing simple melodies, and I think it helps my lungs too, to exercise them, like that dumb thing they give you in the hospital... to blow in it and make the balls go up the chute. Anyway, just thought I woudl "chime in" so to speak. Mair >I have lung problems with lupus, as many do; have had lupus pneumonitis, > pleurisy, asthma, etc. & I've gotten a bit of relief when I took up the [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Candi Hah! Bet I made you get it out to play, didn't I? A recorder IS a flute; you can play more than simple tunes. If you practice. Yeah, that stupid plastic thing with the balls & they're not at all melodic. I decorated mine with hippie flowers; are they still back in style or do we have to wait another 20 years? Candi > From: "Mair" <nobody@nowhere.net> > Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] >> >> Candi > Hah! Bet I made you get it out to play, didn't I? A recorder IS a flute; > you > can play more than simple tunes. If you practice. [Mair hangs her head] Yeah, I guess so. My embouchure is totally out of shape, so often when I pick it up and blow into it, it just gives of this high-pitched whine... I guess to me a "real" flute is the standard kind that you play in band or symphony. I rented a "real" flute for one summer (the "off" season for my saxophone playing), and of course after honking it out on the sax for a year, I picked up the flute and found it such a gentle and easy instrument. the keying is all the same, except for the really high notes. I wish I could play flutes without keys, but I have these incredibly short fingers. Oh dear. Now I am going to have to go downtown to the Tibetan culture house and play with the flutes. On the subject of things Tibetan, I have three Tibetan prayer bowls--or bells--the kind you ring around the outside with a stick. Y'all have probably heard this a zillion times from me this year.... but my lupus has left my hands. Not the rest of me, but just my hands! Which means that I can play instruments and hold common everyday objects. I used to play guitar, but sadly could not play when my hands went bad. Well, now I have a guitar, but I did a really neat thing--I got a 3/4 guitar, which is only 34" long. It is much easier on my arms and shoulders. I would recommend this to anyone as an alternative before "giving up" on the guitar. I'm gonna make some other posts on this thread, so if your'e interested, look back for them. Mair >> From: "Mair" <nobody@nowhere.net> >> Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] >>> >>> Candi Mair, Get a piccolo! They're shorter (I have short fingers too & have a hard time) so the holes are closer together but Hall Crystal Flutes has a special on a C piccolo for $50, which is really cheap. I've never played one & have heard the embouchure is more difficult than a D flute, but who knows? Plus, they're REALLY pretty; they're made of clear pyrex & you can get ones with designs on them or plain. The one on sale right now is a purple lily design & no, I'm not touting their flutes & have no stock or anything else in their co. Or rent one to see how it goes. I'm thinking of trying a piccolo for the finger thing. But I broke my D flute on Tues, it slid out of the case & crashed into hundreds of slivers, & ordered a new one which should arrive Mon so the piccolo will have to wait for a while. Halls aren't supposed to be very fragile, like the cookwear, but when one does break, it's toast. Even Gorilla glue wouldn't put it back together. Candi > From: "Mair" <nobody@nowhere.net> > Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com [quoted text clipped - 90 lines] >>>> >>>> Candi But I broke my D flute on Tues, it slid out of the case & > crashed into hundreds of slivers, & ordered a new one which should arrive > Mon so the piccolo will have to wait for a while. Halls aren't supposed to > be very fragile, like the cookwear, but when one does break, it's toast. > Even Gorilla glue wouldn't put it back together Well, according to Pigmet's observations (see below) the D flute should still play, no problem. :o) > Get a piccolo! They're shorter (I have short fingers too & have a hard > time) [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > heard > the embouchure is more difficult than a D flute I think that soprano recorder is the equivalent of a piccolo. My emboucher is really good for high instruments (I am the proverbial high-strung person). Piccolo was another alternative for me in band... but at that time the piccolo cost too much to rent, they wouldn't do it. Then, the following year, this Freshman came in and blew us all away... literally. We changed our competition march to "Stars and Stripes Forever" and that girl could carry the entire piccolo part... I still have a tape of that, and you would no way think that was one piccolo... let along a high school freshman. Honestly, I'm not going to get too much more into music right now... I've got writing and picture-making that I am already avoiding. But I do play just a couple of pieces on the guitar most nights right before I go to bed.... to sort of mellow me out. maybe I'll mellow out right now... for sure I will play my instruments more just because of this thread! Mair , but who knows? Plus, > they're REALLY pretty; they're made of clear pyrex & you can get ones with > designs on them or plain. The one on sale right now is a purple lily [quoted text clipped - 126 lines] >>>>> >>>>> Candi Maybe this is a bit off topic (what I am saying) but for years I lived next door to a flutist. It was pure heaven. This gal moved into the townhouse next to us and she knocked on my door and said she played the flute and hoped it wouldn't bother me. Well, considering in another building there lived two members of a rock band and no one ever heard them practice I figured I'd never hear her. For whatever reason when the kids left in the morning for school and all was quiet she would sit in her dining room and play her flute and I could hear her. It as wonderful. I just got to the point I would brew a pot of coffee and take it over and sit and listen to her for about an hour. She had played professionally with one of the big symphonies before she got married so her ability to play was awesome. Musicians have a way of finding one another and soon she had a guy who played cello join her a couple of times a week. It was wonderful for the soul to hear that kind of music every morning, what a perfect way to start the day. There is nothing like good friendship, good coffee and beautiful music for the spirit. Now my granddaughter is learning to play the flute. She wanted to take violin until she found out she couldn't march in the band with it. The only instrument left for her to play was the flute so she said okay. She's now playing with a full set of braces on her teeth. Did I really say playing? Um, well, she makes a lot of puffs and whistles. LOL Go for it, Candi. Everybody needs something fun in their life. Bev > I have lung problems with lupus, as many do; have had lupus pneumonitis, > pleurisy, asthma, etc. & I've gotten a bit of relief when I took up the [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Candi >Maybe this is a bit off topic (what I am saying) but for years I lived next >door to a flutist. It was pure heaven. On the other hand ... when I was younger I played the Scottish Bagpipes.  SignatureAndy Taylor [Chair, N E Lupus Group] See http://www.northeastlupus.org.uk for more! Boy, Andy, that'd give your lungs a workout. When I was a kid, my dad bought me bagpipes (we're Stewarts - in Ohio no less & I still wonder where the heck he found them) but at the age of 10, I never quite got it. I LOVE them tho; hired a piper for his funeral & still cry when I hear them. Candi > From: Andy <andy@kitzbuhel.demon.co.uk> > Organization: meathome [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > On the other hand ... when I was younger I played the Scottish Bagpipes. >Boy, Andy, that'd give your lungs a workout. Well, it was a tough contest... eventually I lost :) But I sold them to a good home. SignatureAndy Taylor [Chair, N E Lupus Group] See http://www.northeastlupus.org.uk for more! > On the other hand ... when I was younger I played the Scottish Bagpipes. You must have had quite a "set of lungs" on you! <wink!> Mair >> On the other hand ... when I was younger I played the Scottish Bagpipes. > >You must have had quite a "set of lungs" on you! "Size isn't everything" applies here too... SignatureAndy Taylor [Chair, N E Lupus Group] See http://www.northeastlupus.org.uk for more! My eye doctor is Jewish and he took up the bagpipes for fun. Apparently he's pretty darn good with them. We've got a big "fraternity" of Scots in the area and I think one of his clients belongs to it. The doc did it for the exercise and because he liked the sound. I like good bagpipe music - always did. I've always liked Celtic music - long before it became popular here. I remember when I was a kid I wanted to learn to play them but my parents said no. I don't think my mother liked them. LOL Bev > >Maybe this is a bit off topic (what I am saying) but for years I lived next > >door to a flutist. It was pure heaven. > > On the other hand ... when I was younger I played the Scottish Bagpipes. >My eye doctor is Jewish and he took up the bagpipes for fun. Apparently he's >pretty darn good with them. We've got a big "fraternity" of Scots in the >area and I think one of his clients belongs to it. The doc did it for the >exercise and because he liked the sound. > >I like good bagpipe music - always did. So do I - not that mine was :( SignatureAndy Taylor [Chair, N E Lupus Group] See http://www.northeastlupus.org.uk for more! Bev, It's not OT if a wind instrument can be used as therapy, I think. But how cool about your neighbor. Afraid I'll never join the symphony but at least my dogs have stopped accompanying me & even the granddaughters say 'She's really getting good!" But with braces?! That's GOT to hurt. Why don't you play around with her flute for fun? Ya never know . . . Candi > From: "Beverley" <beverly.brown28@verizon.net> > Newsgroups: alt.support.lupus [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] >> >> Candi Reply at bottom... > Maybe this is a bit off topic (what I am saying) but for years I lived > next [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Go for it, Candi. Everybody needs something fun in their life. > Bev Hi Bev... Regarding living next to musicians. I have lived in apartments all my life, and most of the time lived upstairs from a musician, specifically guitarists... good guitarists, professional. These guys don't usually even do the "hope I'm not bothering you" routine, but fortunately, I enjoy hearing the guitar music floating up. At one point they were cutting a C&W tune for a guy to take to Nashville for an audition. They were making 16 tracks, and that had me a bit snappish. The third guitarist neighbor I had (just before I moved to my present place)--he would sit out on the deck and play, and I would open up the French Doors to my balcony above. It was just great. And he burned CDs of his tunes cause I told him that I missed them so much! Living close to professional guitar players could be a problem for some, because they sleep so late, but I sleep almost as late because of my lupus. they get 5-6 hours of sleep, and I would get 12 hours! Now about Deme: I am surprised they put wire braces on her... I thought they were using other methods now. But encourage her: it can be done. Most of the girls I knew in band had braces put on their teeth and were very upset. The dentist gives you that wax to cover over the rough spots, so just slap it on and don't lose hope. She needs to develop emboucher, so don't blame the braces.... Any wind instrument is going to clash with braces... I think the trumpet is probably the worst. I knew a trumpet player whose emboucer was so good, he could squeak out "Silent Night" on his lips without even using the trumpet! LOL! Ah, the flute.... now I'm all nostalgic I just watched "Walk the Line," which I gave mixed reviews. But I grew up in a similar environment. My stepdad was a C&W harmonica player, and there was music at all hours in the house, and that's how I learned to play the guitar. I'm a pickin'... and I'm a grinnin' --Hee-HAW! Mair An interestin thought to consider: It is not actshually the instrament that makes the music, but the air flowin through it. This is a Taoist type meditation, my favorite one, and I will print it here. Ya don't have to read it. ELEVEN (Tao Te Ching) Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub; It is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore profit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there. Thanks for lettin me share my thoughts Yer Devoted Nephew Pigmet > Reply at bottom... >> Maybe this is a bit off topic (what I am saying) but for years I lived [quoted text clipped - 69 lines] > > Mair Good thoughts, Pigmet, thank you. Antibev > An interestin thought to consider: It is not actshually the instrament that > makes the music, but the air flowin through it. This is a Taoist type [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Yer Devoted Nephew > Pigmet Thank you Antibev. I was not sure how my comment would come across. Would it be appropriate? Would it not? I just most of all *love* all of you here... all my Anti's and Unckles, and want you to feel as good phisically and spiritually as you can! From yer Devoted Nephew, Pigmet > Good thoughts, Pigmet, thank you. > Antibev [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >> Yer Devoted Nephew >> Pigmet Yeah, they still use wires but the braces have changed - they aren't so terrible anymore. Just tiny things that don't tear up their mouths like the old stuff. Actually the braces don't really get in her way. The flute fits under the lower lip. I used to try to play my neighbors flute. Her flute was gold - real gold. She wanted a platinum one but it was way beyond her means. She often threatened to sell her flute because they often needed the money. Anyway the point is I could never learn to play the flute. Some of us just have to love what other people do and be satisfied with that. My DH plays a load of instruments. Wish he'd break out his harmonica and play that a little more often. He doesn't play his recorder because I bought it for him and got the wrong size. His fingers don't reach. He's got stubby little fingers. (Be thankful he's a computer programmer and not an OB. LOL) He can play anything with strings and I think any woodwind. I'm not sure he's ever done reed instruments but give him one to play around with and he'd do it. I know he can play a trumpet and bugle. I can play a kazoo! See I do have musical talent. I even know how to make a make-shift one. LOL Bev > I can play a kazoo! See I do have musical talent. I even know how to make > a > make-shift one. LOL These are important skills, Bev, don't downplay them just because they are yours. :-p Mair Sniffle sniffle.... I can't even whistle.... Always wanted to play the piano..Thought I might get me a keyboard and try...But you have to be able to read music and I don't know if this brain of mine is quick enough to do that anymore...use to be, but now...hmmmm I don't know... But I am trying that writing stuff...Having a real good time of it... Hugs Cindy >I have lung problems with lupus, as many do; have had lupus pneumonitis, > pleurisy, asthma, etc. & I've gotten a bit of relief when I took up the [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Candi Cindy, You don't have to be able to read music! Many many people play by ear so don't beat yourself up. I have a cheap ($60.00) keyboard from K-Mart & if it's something you want to do, then go for it. I can't whistle either. And I get paid to not sing. But keyboard pro'ly won't help lung problems. I took piano when I was a kid & learned how to quickly read music but now at almost 50 that ability has fled, so I play by ear. I'm writing too & trying to get published. I paint also, that's my claim to fame; I've sold a lot of stuff at outdoor art fairs, etc, but haven't done any shows in the past 10 years; it's just too grueling. But that's the one thing I'm REALLY good at. Once, the director of the Cleveland Art Institute offered me $3,000 for a painting but I had just finished it & it's like having a baby - you can't part with it right away (well, I'm not saying you can part with your baby later, but I hope you know what I mean) & I lied & told him I'd promised it to my brother. It's still hanging on my wall, duh. Candi > From: "Cindy" <nospamcindyl57@cox.netnospam> > Organization: Cox Communications [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] >> >> Candi |
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