Dear Recipients,
For those of you, who do not know me yet, allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Alfredo Castaneda-Garcia, 17 years old, and I am currently
attending Glencoe HS which is in Hillsboro, Oregon. I have just
completed my 11th grade, and am on vacation. I am totally blind. I have
various interests in many fields, particularly in one. My main two
fields where I have the best of my abilities are music, and technology.
I participate in some after-school activities; I am on the track team.
This year I plan to join the band now that I have two instruments,
including the piano which I can play. I now play, trumpet, piano, and
flute. The flute is what I will discuss in my letter as follows.
On Friday, April 21st, 2006, a friend I met a few years back came over
to talk. She gave me a flute for reasons I cannot remember right now, I
think it was because I showed such interest in the instrument. When I
asked how to blow into it, she said it would take practice. So, I got
to practice blowing on it and soon I had the head joint part mastered.
I began to take a short while of taking flute lessons. I soon realized
my cousin also showed an interest in the flute as well. Together we
took different lessons at different times. We both quit for a reason.
The teacher was not being too clear with the ways the fingerings were
set up. They tried to teach all fingerings at once, and at that time we
could not remember them very well. I remember a few times when no
matter what I did to change my (embouchure) I could not get the note to
play. I gave up after that, and did not get the flute for four years. I
got it once because a friend wanted to try it. There would be some
times when I felt like, if I could play this thing I would play very
nice music. Of course, I had no way of knowing that I would soon be
able to accomplish my dreams. I had no way of knowing that there was
nothing wrong with my blowing. There was something wrong with the flute
itself.
Last summer of 2010, I bought a trumpet because the one I had as a
Christmas present, broke three years ago. I began to play it once again
after being idle for a long time. It took me a few weeks to get back
where I was three years ago, and that will be the instrument I will
play in band this year because I have not yet fully mastered the flute,
even if I know all of the concepts. Since I have fully mastered the
trumpet, I had nothing else to do except to practice playing songs
along with my computer or just playing songs out of memory.
So how did I get reminded of the flute? How did I come up with the idea
of making a solution that would allow blind users who learn
independently to be able to play the flute? It started at the beginning
of the school year. I and someone I met were having a conversation
about things in general, not too specific. A few weeks after that, I
got to think about that conversation. It made me think about my
memories of 2006. Then I remembered that I have not heard anything
about my cousin playing the flute, so I called him up and asked him the
question. He said the answer which I stated earlier. The teacher did
not have the ability to describe fingerings to him. That is why he
quit, plus it was a rented flute, it was not his own. Right after that
call, I began to think, there should be a way a blind person can learn
how to play it independently. I spent two months researching online for
any possible solutions. At the same time, I used the flute I have to
test out what they were describing on YouTube videos and articles. I
could not find any solutions, so I asked one of my older cousins who
could help me in this research. We found one solution, but the problem
was that it was completely inaccessible. The solution was to make a
fingering chart. It already seems to be the fact that many fingering
charts exist. The problem with these charts is that they have lots of
images and graphics that interfere with the tables. So, I decided, why
not just create one that would be accessible to a blind independent
learner that is image free? I had to think of how I can make it
accessible. Should I use just numbers, should I use braille labels on
the flute, or should I apply my technology background to make an html
document that will have a real chart that has numbers? The second
choice I knew would not work since it would not make sense, and it
would not be practical for any flute that a blind person would have
braille labels. So, on October 23rd I composed the outline plans for
the start of the project. It started out in a plain simple text format.
Then I began to ask around for anyone who knew how to play the flute. I
found no luck, and since I really wanted to get started, I decided to
bypass the students who were in band altogether and see the band
teacher instead. This is where I got to learn about the flute. I was
able to play the first note he showed me how to play, but when I came
to the second note, I could not hear a sound. All I heard was rushing
air. I was sure it was me and not the flute, but the teacher had a
different thought. He said, "Here, let me try." He started to play some
notes, but he too, had problems with the same note I tried to play.
When we both saw that we both could not do it, I realized that it was
not me, it was the flute. There was something wrong with it. I found
out what it was, thanks to the help of the band teacher. He showed me
where there was a leaky pad. He suggested that I borrow a flute for me
to play. I mainly kept that at school. I found a way to fix the leaking
pad, and was surprised that I could play the notes I wanted to play. I
began to practice playing the flute, and at the same time, complete the
rest of the chart and revise things around. This whole process started
on November, and ended in late December, just about a month. I have
gotten myself in a position where I can play the flute in an Ok manner,
not too perfectly professional, but if I try, I can get it to play good
tones.
So now, I would like to bestow you a document in the HTML format. This
was originally given out on New Year’s Day, at 12:00 AM on January
first. I would like to introduce you to my new chart and set of
instructions that I have been working on, where I have put a lot of
effort to complete and have it ready for the New Year. Below will be a
link you can access to read the chart. It is in great detail and has
been made very accessible for a blind user to navigate and understand.
I would like to give my thanks to the teacher who provided me with the
fingerings, and to help me find the problem with my flute. I would like
to give thanks to a friend I met for reminding me that I have a flute,
for, had I not been reminded, I would have not have ever remembered
about the flute. It so happens that a few weeks before school started
in September of 2010, I had some ideas about other instruments, how to
make them easier to play using braille labels. I asked some users about
that, but they said it would take up much space and it would only help
one person, not the community. So I gave up that idea. I would like to
list some sources of where I FOUND SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE
FLUTE.
The first three URLS are YouTube videos on how the flute is played.
This was one I found helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1cmUaaU6tg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rWod9erODY
And: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G9zWV55grQ
All of these helped me, even if they were not clear with the
fingerings; they gave me some good information. I did not know you
could keep the fingering the same and be able to play notes on
different octaves, as well as playing harmonics.
Here is the link to my fingering chart. It describes how to start out
for beginners, the chart itself, all of that good stuff.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5550379/Alfredo_site/How_to_play_the_flute_documentation.htm
I hope you enjoy reading it, and I wish you all success playing! Note:
before providing feedback, it is recommended that you read through the
chart thoroughly so as to avoid negative feedbacks. So far, I have
received none, though as a result of not reading enough, I got one, but
was quickly replaced.
Alfredo C
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