in which the Urban Flute Player falls in love with the Artely Wilkins Flute

I am excited to be getting a new flute; an Artely the Wilkins Model. This flute is like a flower with an unusual and delicate fragrance. - Passed over in it's time it has become a lore, a legend, a tale capable of virtuosity. Many flute players have turned to flutes that are more efficient and forthcoming than the Artely Wilkins, but none of them compares to its transcendent capabilities.

I first encountered this flute at my music teacher's on a day when I arrived for a lesson sans flute. He was very gracious and allowed me to play on his other flute which was none other than the perfume rose of an Artley Wilkins flute.



I read somewhere that Paul Horn played an Artely Wilkins in his Taj Mahal recording and I'm not surprised about that. Not that I have unrealistic expectations of my own abilities at the flute; coming to it as I did as an adult. It still soothes the spirit and lifts the heart to have a vehicle by which to travel farther than oneself. And my neighbor has not recently flung a chair against our mutual wall which is a good sign.



My Artely Wilkins is being restored by none other than Steve Deutsch; an engaging and excellent flute technician. The term "technician" seems too strait laced for the abundantly creative spirit that Steve is, but it does describe one of the ways he earns his living.

I think the main reason the Artely Wilkins flute was passed over, despite its gorgeous tone was it's poor marketing and its rather homely name. We can do better than this.

Help Princess Haiku rename her new flute.

BTW it will be ready on the Day of the Dead which will give it a certain cachet or Mojo. I can live with that and I hope my neighbor can. :)