Hello, my name is Michael Ryan.
For the past four years, I have been developing, demonstrating and marketing my seashellmusic.com flutes and seashell whistles to school children, professional musicians, and adults who enjoy making their own discoveries in sound. Collectors of rare and unusual instruments have also purchased my seashellmusic.com products.
Over these past few years I have discovered that I can make sounds as basic as a loud, high-pitched whistle (see my Sea Siren Whistle), and as complex as Celtic music (see my hand-drilled Whorled Flute), in a style that sounds similar to a penny whistle.
My Whorled Flute, currently my most popular shell, (made from a turritella, or screw shell) contains a full octave and a half of notes. Finding a western octave inside of a seashell – by determining where to drill finger holes into it and how to play it – is a completely new discovery about seashells. It took me three years to determine where to place the finger holes, how big to make the holes, and how to shape the aperture of the shell…
A good place to start is my “Seashell Instruments and Sounds” page, which offers a list of my products, and a primer on sounds they can make. Once you learn the technique, you can make many sounds with one instrument. (Each shell comes with its own instructions.)
Before I started making sounds and music with seashells, I learned how to make a whistle with an acorn cap. Check out my page “From Tree to Sea” which tells the story of Jon my nephew, and the beginning of this venture.
Bird and animal calls with seashells? I am very interested in finding sounds that call and imitate birds and animals – using my seashell instruments. My Whorled Flute, for example, can be used to call doves. You can also manipulate my Sea Siren Whistle so that it imitates ospreys. I’m not sure that it “calls” Ospreys, but they certainly do listen.
My Seashellmusic.com Childrens Program is for ages 6 – adult, and can be adjusted for a particular audience. I invite both small hands and big hands to give it a try.
I also offer an adult workshop on how to make my Whorled Flute.
Thank you for joining me in the adventure.
Michael Ryan, Shellist
Tags: seashells, unusual instruments, music with seashells, shellist, seashell instruments, professional musicians, flutes, whistles, seashell collecting, unusual seashell collecting, unusual uses for seashells, seashell music programs, seashell music is more than conchs, children and music, rare instrument collector, collect unusual instruments, Turritella Shell, Whorled Flute, Celtic Music, Seashell Whistle, Sea Siren Whistle, Animal Calling, Add new tag, Bird Calls
