Raffaele Funky Flute

Sorry for being so out of the loop lately, but I have been traveling to remote places in Sicily-Italy to visit my parents, relatives and old friends. I won’t bother you guys with the crazy fun I had over there (check this place out! - I also managed to play at a wedding O.o) but I am going to tell you something about my little research on House Music Fluting that is always ongoing.

House Music has often some very repetitive patterns, melodies and harmonies that make this kind of music suitable for dancing. However, this “lack” of variety poses some specific challenges to the soloist who tries to improvise on it. If, on the one hand, it is easy not to play “wrong” notes, because often just a few chords are involved, on the other hand it is VERY easy to end up being boring. When the drive doesn’t come from harmony, the tendency is to loosen up and become – yes there is no other word for it – boring.

The job of the flutist is to keep the interest alive even in such a simple harmonic context. How?
Here are some strategies I use that I picked around (from my jazz teacher Umberto Petrin and from this book) and that I use regularly:

Create harmonic variety by playing “outside” notes to slip in and out of the main harmony. This way we can create a dissonance that, if resolved, generates interest. Example. Say you are playing on Gm, say you are using a Bb pentatonic to improvise on a section of the tune: you can always go “out” of the Gm harmony and play, for instance, a B pentatonic. This creates a dissonance that will make listeners twist their heads. But you can’t stick with the “outside” harmony for too long, because it will soon sound just wrong, and people will twist their head back again with disappointment. You always need to go back to the “inside” scale (Gm, in this case) to resolve. After creating some tension (dissonance – B) it is good (i.e. necessary) to release it by coming back to the original chord. It takes some practice, some experiments (not everything works – more on this on future blog posts), but you will be rewarded by the endless possibilities this little trick opens up. I am always trying new things this way.

Take advantage of the repetitiveness and turn it to your side. Individuate a place in the tune with a build. Come up with a cool lick (three notes is enough) and repeat it obsessively along with the music. Start low and then get progressively louder till the end of the build where you will be free of busting out the coolest things your breath can possibly produce ☺

When I get a little more organized in terms of equipment I’ll post some video samples. Meanwhile, if somebody tries this out, I’d like to hear from him/her to see how it goes.

Let’s face it: I have two personalities. A deep-rooted Italian psyche coexists with an acquired, English nature. Probably many people who have lived abroad for a reasonable amount of time came to the same realization earlier, but I only did a few days ago, two years after I moved to LA. I know it may sound obvious, but I discovered that my English and Italian sides come out according to which language I am speaking.

In Italian, I love to use a sophisticated vocabulary, I love to play double sense, and I often use some subtle hints to convey a message that I don’t want to speak out loud. My brain is always at top speed looking for the more interesting way of saying things: I feel like even the most obvious and boring concept can be conveyed in an exciting and/or entertaining way, it’s a continuous intellectual challenge supported by creativity. How cool is that…

On the other hand, in English I am way more straightforward, I just can’t make up funny things unless I tell stories about my stereotyped sleazy-Italian-ness, or unless I get hammered with some other Americans - as respectable and unique this is -. Doing almost everything is different in English, my brain is always thinking about the proper way of saying things and there is not much room for creativity. In one word: I am boring. I am not the real Raffaele in English. Guys, it is hard to connect with people if you can’t be the true yourself, but fortunately I have music, where you need no words to communicate.

Che vita di stenti e privazioni.

I bumped into this book (Strengthsfinder 2.0) last month. Although it could be categorized under the usual “you are dissatisfied with your boring life here is a little story about yourself that will cheer you up for a couple of days” sort of books, it does have some interesting concepts.

Here is the main one:
If you want to say something to the world you’d better do something you are good at. (Grazie al cazzo) Obvious? not quite.

I grew up in a fix-your-weaknesses environment (mostly school) and there was one rule: you are good at maths? nice, now do some Italian Literature ‘cuz you suck at it. If there is something you can’t do naturally, well, study hard, work your ass off and you’ll succeed. I don’t think this is the only way to go and the book is on the same page.

Great minds and spirits (the ones that are remembered after their deaths, or the ones that do something for the world we are in, or, very simply, just the ones that do something that they enjoy doing) have another approach: they do what they are talented at. They do something that they are programmed for, so they don’t have to spend energies in adapting their mind to that activity: their mind is already meant to do that. Apparently -the book says- everybody has some talents; apparently, even if you feel not talented at all, there must be something that you enjoy doing, and that just happens effortlessly. Everybody has some talents. Think about yourself when you were 10 years old. Ask your mum and your dad as they probably remember. There were things that came to you naturally and others that didn’t. The book says that if you focus on your strengths, you will probably enjoy a better life.

So here is my opinion: I believe that the fix-your-weakness approach must be experienced in some way, because it prepares you to face difficulties -that will inevitably pop out on your life journey- for which you are not prepared. However, it’s probably wiser, at some points of life, to back off and see whether you have just embarked in a job that you hate with all your heart or you are really planning on taking advantage of your talents. I also believe that some societies don’t push this kind of reasoning, and neglect to have their individuals really ask themselves what their true path is. As a result, there is a quite big amount of educated, mid-class, frustrated people nowadays.

The book also has a psychological test and comes up with what it thinks your strengths are. Here are mine, still have to figure out how accurate this response is:

Futuristic, Learner, Communicator, Self-assurer, Activator, Minchione

I’ll try to put the aforementioned at work and keep you guy posted

I believe more or less everybody who lives in a city has thought about quitting his/her job to start a completely new life on a desert island, maybe bringing over his/her love. A way to deeply connect with mother nature without the interference of other (busy) metropolitan souls. What else do you need when you have food, shelter, health and love? Nothing, probably; yet I gave up on this dream the moment I left Italy two years ago (!). I moved from a quiet, cute little town in Italy -Pavia, to which I owe everything- to Los Angeles, certainly among the busiest, craziest, biggest damn cities in the world. No desert islands for me, thank you.

I need people, I need people to share. I need people to benefit from what I do, whatever I do. That’s my ultimate goal and that’s what I am thinking when I take up my flute and start playing in front of you guys, dancing. Also, that’s what I DON’T get when I am in front of a computer, programming the user interface for a integrated chip used in high-efficiency washing machines - yes, that IS as nerdy as it sounds. It’s not that people are not going to benefit from what I do, it just takes too many steps. My software goes to the developer that gives it to the customer that implements it in a washing machine that goes to the regional sales departments that, eventually, sells it to my mum that enjoys a wonderful environmentally friendly washing machine that wastes half the energy. Cool, but not for me.

This blog is going to keep track of my little accomplishments along my escape from engineering. My flute (Raffaele Funky Flute) projects are a part of my plans for the future and I want to share them and hear from you. Obviously, I hope my written English is going to get better with time!

Raffaele