How the Manufacturing of the Modern Metal Flutes Impacts the Ecological Environment? By Yip Huen Isis

The process of making the flute is sophisticated. It had been disliked by famous composers and musicians in different periods before the 19th century since flutes tended to play out of tune, where the holes were placed never giving the best intonation. Until Theobald Boehm came and saved the day in the early 1800s when he worked out the best size and position for every hole, key and gear. Flutes nowadays are based on his design.

Flutes comprise hundreds of parts, ranging from a relatively massive body to small pins and screws. The keys are die-cast and have cork and felt pads. Tone holes are produced in the flute's body by pulling and rolling or cutting and soldering. The holes are drilled in the tube, and a machine removes the metal from the margins of the hole and rolls it around the hole to produce a raised ring. If the tone holes are to be cut and soldered, die-cut metal rings are attached to the drill holes. 

 


Haynes Platinum Flute (The 13 Most Expensive Flutes In The World)

 
Lunn Green Gold Flute (The 13 Most Expensive Flutes In The World)

 

The flute bodies are typically made of copper-nickel alloys, silver and gold. The percentage content of the metals varies in different flutes, depending on their prices. Some play on flutes of other metals like white gold and platinum to have the optimum sound quality and aesthetic beauty.


However, pursuing the best metals for aesthetic beauty comes with a price. Metal mining has to be carried out to obtain the raw materials for making flutes. Large areas of land have been dug out during the mining process, and precious rivers and lakes are ruined. It could be quite awkward when looking at a stunning, shiny finished product of the flute, yet this is the truth.


Metal mining causes erosion and physical land disturbances. The actual mine workings, such as open pits and associated waste rock disposal areas, cause the most physical disturbances at a mine site. Although heavy chemicals will remain in the rock and soil for hundreds of years, care must always be taken in what is placed on this 'waste rock.'


(a): Machinery used for gold extraction, (b): deforestation of an affected area

Metal mining contaminates groundwater and soil. Toxic chemicals are used in developing countries to extract precious metals for example silver and gold from streams and rivers. This can harm the health of miners, their families, and those who rely on local waterways. One of the bloggers from Luna & Rose (which claims to be a sustainable jewellery brand) recommended that people watch Netflix's 'DIRTY GOLD' to see how true this is.


 


Metal mining causes the formation of sinkholes. Sinkholes occur (often) when the closure of a shaft mine is not performed correctly, resulting in a large sinkhole later in life when the land has been repurposed. This can result in various problems, ranging from human or animal death to the destruction of homes and infrastructure.


 

Gold mining especially is one of the world's most destructive industries. It has the potential to displace communities, contaminate drinking water, injure workers, and devastate pristine environments. It pollutes water and land with mercury and cyanide, endangering people's and ecosystems' health. The production of gold for a single wedding ring generates 20 tonnes of waste. Imagine how much waste would a 500-gram 14k gold flute generate!!


To make the music industry more ecologically sustainable, people started to find ways to recycle the precious metals from the flute. I am talking about silver and gold again since these two metals would harm the environment as waste. The solution is to extract quantities of gold and silver from qualified silver or gold refineries.

 

            Precious metal refining plant from India

 

Some make woodwind instruments out of biodegradable materials instead of refining the precious metals from flutes to recycle them. The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra holds the Guinness World Record for the 'Most concerts by a vegetable orchestra.' To represent the entire orchestra, they use real fresh peeled vegetables. Once peeled and cut, the vegetables may only last six hours, and whatever the musicians don't use is boiled down into a soup served to the audience after the show.

 


                                                                     Radish bass flute

 


                                                                       Cucumberphone

 

                                                                             Carreco

I think the music industry has transitioned towards a sustainability motto. People on the internet would try to get creative, using biodegradable or eco-friendly products to create a band, orchestra etc. They even promote and educate this idea to the next generation. This reminds me of our tutor, Olivia, showing us videos that some volunteers teach children in developing countries to build and play instruments. It makes me feel like I shouldn't take anything for granted, and be previledged for what I have. 


Reference:

Carole B. Miller. (2002). How Flutes are made. Mostlywind. http://www.mostlywind.co.uk/howmade.html

How Products are Made. http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Flute.html

How a Flute is Made. Yamaha Make Waves. https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/flute/manufacturing/

Choosing a Flute, Choosing on the basis of the quality of the material. Yamaha Make Waves. https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/flute/selection

Carols Mestanza-Ramon. et.al (2021) History, Current Situation and Challenges of Gold Mining in Ecuador's Litoral Region. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/11/1220/htm

The Environment Impacts of Silver Mining | The Facts (2021). Luna & Rose. https://lunaandrose.co/blogs/news/4-environmental-impacts-of-silver-mining

Environment Impacts of Gold Mining. (2022) Earthworks. https://earthworks.org/issues/environmental-impacts-of-gold-mining/#:~:text=Gold%20mining%20is%20one%20of,health%20of%20people%20and%20ecosystems.

Barry Lenson (2014). Can You Recycle Precious Metal from Musical Instrument? Specialty Metals. https://www.specialtymetals.com/blog/2014/9/8/can-you-recycle-precious-metals-from-musical-instruments

Precious Metal Refining Plant (2020). Marketing For The Digital Age. https://www.warlimedia.com/precious-metal-refining-plant/

Eliot Stein (2019). Vienna's unpredictable Vegetable Orchestra. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190311-viennas-unpredictable-vegetable-orchestra


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Commercial Soundscapes of Han SHAO at Tsim Sha Tsui

Image
 On 17 September, I went to the Tsim Sha Tsui（尖沙咀） area to experience programmed music. I visited 20 locations and identified five of the more representative ones for my fieldwork assignment. At the same time, Meanwhile, try to find the relationship between commercial soundscapes and the selection of programmed music. 7-Eleven 7-Eleven's stores are very densely distributed in Hong Kong as retail convenience stores. Any corner of Hong Kong will find a 7-Eleven store. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven also gives people a convenient and relaxed shopping environment. Two audio is simultaneously placed in the doorway and above the cashier. Regarding the programmed music of 7-Eleven, it will mainly choose some light instrumental pop music as programmed music, which matches the brand tone of 7-Eleven and gives people a relaxed and cozy shopping environment. Harbour City（海港城） Harbour City is a shopping center that is the largest in Hong Kong. The location I chose for my recording was the G floor, where ...
Read more

Assign6 - The song Animism and desertification (Yating)

Image
 The song Animism and desertification (Presentation) (the MV of the Song 万物有灵Animism ) Little yellow horse (Mongolian Long Tune) References One Earth. ‘Alashan Plateau Semi-Desert’. Accessed 1 December 2022. https://www.oneearth.org/ecoregions/alashan-plateau-semi-desert/ . ‘Our Work_Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology’. Accessed 1 December 2022. http://foundation.en.see.org.cn/Project/ . ‘Sand Stoppers of China’s Inner Mongolia - China.Org.Cn’. Accessed 1 December 2022. http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2010-11/22/content_21392420_2.htm . Wu, Jiayu, Cheong Jan Chan, and Julia Chin Yee Chieng. ‘The Innovation of Mongolian Folk Song Music Cultural Inheritance Path Based on Intelligent Computing Analysis of Communication Big Data’. Security and Communication Networks  2022 (2022): 1–13. Zhou, Hai, Wenzhi Zhao, and Gefei Zhang. ‘Varying Water Utilization of Haloxylon Ammodendron Plantations in a Desert‐oasis Ecotone’. Hydrological Processes  31, no. 4 (2017): 825–35.
Read more

MUSI3041 Assignment4: The Thumb Piano

Image
MUSI3041 Assignment4: Musical Instrument  Jingwen Liang  The instrument I choose for assignment 4 is the Thumb Piano. Thumb Piano is an African ethnic instrument. In different African countries, the Thumb Piano has different names, for example, Kalimba is the name of the instrument in Kenya, while in Zimbabwe it is called Mbira, the Congolese call it Likembe, and it is also known by the name Sanza and Thumb Piano. It is named mainly for the thin sheet on the body that is plucked with the Thumb, and is very portable in size.  The sound-producing part of the Thumb Piano is a flexible metal bar of different lengths on top and a wooden resonance box underneath. In the past, these bars were made from metal melted down in ore, but nowadays they are made from higher-quality steel. The materials usually used to make thumb pieces are mahogany and steel, which is very durable and not expendable. Mahogany is one of the most valuable materials in the world and is often used for furni...
Read more