Hi all,
 
Re Conch-blowing:
 
There was an article a year or so ago ("Steve Turre: Shell Maestro" by
Marjorie Hoachlander  Dec 1997) in American Conchologist on the conch- (and
other large shell-) playing abilities of  Steve Turre, a well-known
trombone player  who plays his (brass, not shell) horn on Saturday Night
Live, has performed in concert at Carnegie Hall, and had professional
engagements with the Ray Charles Orchestra, Woody Shaw, Art Blakey, Dizzy
Gillespie and others --  too bad! -- on the trombone.  But he has pursued
the idea of playing shell horns to the point of forming a shell-playing
group called the Sanctified Shells (who are also brass players in their
more conventional guises.)  For more information about where this group of
shell musicians can be heard visit:
 
<http://www.verveinteractive.com/tour.html>.
 
The last I heard, Steve had produced three shelly CD's, Sanctified Shells
(Island/Antilles label, 1993); Rhythm Within (Island/Antilles label, 1995)
and Steve Turre (Verve label, 1997)
 
The dark eyed and Fu-Manchu-bearded Steve Turre is pictured in the article
in American Conchologist in a marvelous and moody looking portrait holding
a huge Syrinx aruanus horn (the photo was submitted to me flopped, so that
the Syrinx is left-handed, and the author insisted on its being published
this way ! Oh well.)
 
Steve crafts his own instruments. On the subject:
 
"To turn each one into a musical instrument, Turre must first saw off the
apical end. With acrylic plastic he builds up the cut edge to form a
mouthpiece similar in size to the one on his trombone. Only then is it
ready to be blown. Each shell can produce a primary tone. The larger shells
have a lower pitch, the smaller ones, a higher pitch.
 
"As certain notes are called for in arrangements being performed, Turre
reaches over to a table by his side that holds an assemblage of shells. He
picks one up, blows into it, then picks up one after another in rapid
succession, according to the phrasing, holding each shell in one hand and
manipulating it with the other. By inserting his hand into the shell, Turre
can lower the pitch chromatically from its primary tone. Over time, he has
become technically aware that most shells have an interval of a fourth,
some shells the range of a sixth or more, whereas the largest shells
usually have a third."
 
I also understand that Steve is a cousin of some degree to shell dealer
(Worldwide Specimen Shells) and former Conch-L member Rich Goldberg, who is
the person whom I credit with first bringing Steve to my attention.
 
Another shell musician closer to home than Steve, and dear to my heart, is
COA member (and another FORMER Conch-L member) Winston Barney of Fort Worth
TX. Winston produced a digital recording of a little piece he created for
the conch-horn and I wound up with a copy. My son nipped off a few bars of
it and installed them on my computer as the sound notification that I have
new email.  "TOOOOOO!  Too too TOOOOOO!" it trumpets!
 
I might add that Winston will be at COA this year to open our sessions with
a little surprise for us all, what else but a HORSE conch horn, especially
made to use for the convention in the Derby City!  Come listen to it
yourself!  And let's hear it for Winston, a creative an multi-talented man
who is a band leader in real-time.
 
This horse conch performance plus the fabulous Celtic Harp with a murex
pecten inlay designed, crafted and donated to the COA auction by Conch-L
member Ross Gundersen, will add a new dimension of shells in music to COA
conventions!
 
Lynn Scheu
[log in to unmask]
Louisville, KY, Home of the First COA Convention to feature shell music.
June 27-July 1, 1999
(Get your registrations forms completed and sent in! Anyone can attend a
COA Convention...you need not be a member to feel welcome! And we'll be
having a Conch-L party again this year! Hopefully Winston will announce
that as well!)