Asturian-American Migration Forum

Paul, we may have some confusion about the practice punteros. The ones that Carlos makes are very cheap (10 Euros or so) and very quick and easy to make. These are not wooden pipe chanters but plastic store-brought recorders. He enlarges four (I think) of the holes in each.

Carlos did talk about other practice puntero options, but I don't think any of us were interested in the others. As you said, they are a lot more expensive and will take much more time to make.

These tweaked recorders produce a similar scale to what you'd get from a real gaita asturiana, although they're in a different key. The tweaked recorders are in the key of D (Re). That's not a big deal because you finger them the exact same way, except that the spacing between holes will be a little shorter on the recorder. This is what Carlos recommends. His recommendations for Do (C) and Si bemol (Bb) were for the real gaitas.

Everyone will have their own recorder.

As Paul wrote, I'm sure I've read that the Galician gaita was adapted for use in military bands, but I'm not sure when that was. Carlos once told me that their gaita was more like the asturiana in the past but that it was simplified. They wanted to make it easy for a woodwind musician to pick it up and play. They succeeded: if you can play a recorder, it's easy to play a gaita gallega.


On buying the recorders, so far we've requested this many flautas:

UPDATED again, evening of 05/02/07

Alberto: 0 (found his!)
Natalia: 1
Art: 1
Paul: 1
Bob: 3
Tony: 3
Reyes: 1
Pablo: 1
Fátima: 1
Paz: 1
Marisol: 1
Santiago: 1
Ben: 1
TOTAL SO FAR: 16

On asking Andres to pick them up and paying for the recorders:
Who will ask Andres if he will pick up our recorders and bring them back for us? If he doesn't want to mail them to each of us, he could mail the whole bunch to me and I'll send them out to each of you. Or we could simplify mailing by chosing one person in each of the three locations to receive them for the others.

We also need to ask Andres if he'll need money in advance. It may be simpler to just pay him when he gets back and knows the true cost.

Thanks for the explainer, Art. Please add me to the list for a recorder too. Glad we opened the thread on the web site now, it's alot easier this way to keep track of people's ideas. -Paul

Art: There's a spelling blooper in the name of this thread. The thread in the forum should not be titled "Banda Gaities" (which could be interpreted as a 'Band of Gay Affairs') and should instead read as 'Banda Gaites', withouth that extra 'i'.

Also, while we're on the subject, a nicer/warmer way to welcome people in to the web site would be 'Afayaivos' which translates literally as 'Make yourself at home'. The 'Bienveníu' sounds too much like an adaptation from Castilian Spanish and is rarely used, at least in Allande.

From the online Asturian dictionary of the Nueva España:

afayar.


<ahayar [Cl]. fayar [y JH. y DA]. achar [Bab]. hayar [Cl. Pa]. /////hallar [Lln].>

1. Hallar, encontrar [Lln. Cl. Sb. GP. Ll. Bab. Vd. Cruce. JH. OLLA. DA. R].

Frases hechas y locuciones: -se ‘encontrarse o sentirse bien en algún sitio’ [Cg. Ac. Sb. Pr]. ‘encontrarse bien o mal en un sitio’ [Sb. Ay]. ‘encontrarse a gusto, en un sitio, con alguna cosa’ [Lln. Pa. Cb. Sr. Ac. Cp. JH. Cv]: Yo siempre me hayé nesi pueblu [Pa]. ‘encontrarse a gusto en un sitio’ [Llg]. ‘encontrarse a gusto o a disgusto’ [Cp. GP. JH]: ¿Afáyaste bien? [Ac]. ‘encontrarse, hallarse en un mismo sitio dos o más personas’ [JH]. ‘darse maña’ [Ar]: Nun se t’afaya [Ar].

I've added Paul's name to the list for ordering recorders. Our total is now 8 or 9.

I'll email Tony to see what he wants to do.

I got the sense that Andres was not interested in playing. Is that correct?

I'm pretty sure that Alfonso is not going to be playing with us. He's more interested in promoting the culture at festivals, I think, but would like to have us participate with him as gaiteros.

Xose in DC and Suronda have also said they are too busy to play.

Thanks for noticing that typo, Paul. I've also written to the moderators so they can decide what to do about Afayaivos. That sounds fine to me.

Tony has replied.

Tony/El Tampeño wrote:Yes, I want 3 recorders. I had already emailed Alberto, but wasn't sure who was coordinating the ordering, thanks for taking that on!

... Back to the recorders.....I think 3 are enough for starters...can we order more later if needed??

That's a good question.

Although it's quicker and easier to get them the way we're doing it, yes, Carlos can easily make more of these when we need them. Actually, with a little training any of us could make them if we have the right recorder and drill bits.

We're now up to 11-12 recorders. I've not heard from Andres yet, so I'll write him to find out if he's taking part and if he minds picking these up for us.

I found my wooden practice recorder, so now I have two: a good one and a pink plastic one. I think I'm going to donate the last to the Gaities Society... Just kidding! In any case I won't need any more, and as I'll be going to Asturies in May I can bring some myself, so I won't take any at this time.

I will ask Andres to bring the recorders home. I am confident he'll be fine with that. The number now is 9, including Tony's.

Afayaivosnos!

We have 11 requests so far. This can become a little cumbersome for Andres, I just talked to him. He is going to Asturies this Thurs. He wasn't plannig to go to Gijon, although he offered himself to do it. Wouldn't it be easier for logistics if we have Carlos mail us the recorders directly?

Carlos: qué te paez a ti? Cuánto costarían? Nosotros podriamos mandarte el dinero, incluyendo los gastos de envio. De esa manera las puedes mandar cuando estén listas, sin tener que depender de un dia específico, para nosotros es mas sencillo y no tenemos que empaquetar a nadie con 11 punteros en la maleta.

Eveybody interested could send Art a check to cover the recorder plus shipping (Ast-US./MD-your home). We'll figure that number out once we know the price of the recorders from Carlos.

I think we'll have to email Carlos because he may not be checking this forum.

Also, I'm not sure we need to collect funds until we know the actual cost.

How do you think we can pay Carlos? If someone had a Spanish checking account, might work. I don't think he takes credit cards or PayPal.

Okay, I now have a good idea of how to make the flautas de práctica. Carlos has been good enough to answer my many questions. I have one that Carlos made for me here and I've found a reasonably priced source for the same model here in the US. (In order for our measurements to work, they have to be the very same recorder.) His process involves a little trial and error with a tuner, but we'll soon be able to make our own practice punterus without having to haul them across the Atlantic.

I'll be ordering the flautas soon, but first I'll need a firm number. Do we need to ask anyone else or is 12 a good estimate? Actually, it would be good to order a few extras because shipping just a few as expensive as shipping many. What do you think 15? 18? more??

Paz, Marisol and Santiago also said that they wanted flautas de practica

Okay, that brings us to 15. Do you think I should order 20 so we'll have a few extras? They're inexpensive.

Hm... I'll ask if there's a discount for ordering a bunch.

Bob (in another thread) wrote:On the issue of the practice flautas, can we really make them ourselves, or would it take someone with experience and a trained ear to guarantee that they all play together harmoniously?

That's a good question. As long as we use the same brand of recorder to make our practice instruments and use the same measurements in adjusting them, they'll be very close to each other in their scale and tone. Testing with a tuner helps ensure consistency. Once we have one playing accurately, I'll just copy that to make the rest. Carlos says it's the first one that takes the most time. Even if we used instruments that aren't exactly matched, we could still practice together. Folk musicians do it all the time.

Hmm. If Alberto wants to play with others, he may want to verify that his instrument is similar to the others. The ones Carlos has given me instructions for will play in the key of D (Re), so they may not be the same key as Alberto's. At home by yourself, it doesn't matter at all what key you play in to practice. (I practice the same tunes on D, C, and F penny whistles depending on where I am in the house.)

But you wouldn't want to try to play with friends using in two different keys. I did that last week at a jam. I thought I had a D whistle in my hands, but it was a C. For a couple of minutes I couldn't figure out why I could no longer play the tune!

Should I order the recorders now? So far we have 15 requests. Do we need to ask anyone else?

How many extras do you think I should order? I'm thinking I should order about 18 or 19 in total (3 or 4 extras), but I'm open to suggestions.

If anyone is envisioning a rapid increase in our numbers, please tell me now!

Bonas xente:

Sorry, but I've been bogged down with work for weeks. I suggest we order 20 of the practice recorders, a nice round number. At an average of $10-12, they are cheap enough. As ASUSA grows and there is more noise about an Asturian piping band here in the US, there are likely to be more candidates.

I'm not sure I understand, Art. Are you ordering the recorders online for US delivery? If so, remember I'll be flying to Asturies on May 23rd and can take them to Carlos' bagpipe shop. I'm afraid I'm a little out of the loop on this, so let me know how I can help with logistics.

I wouold be happy to contribute a little extra money toward additional practice flautas, to be recovered as we get more members signing up for the banda de gaiterus.

Bob