The challenge of making the Ancient Greek Aulos reeds

Some might inquire why I can be a bit protective with my reeds, some might wonder why I limit them exclusively to customers of my instruments. I hope this may go some way to explaining it. When the aulos reed arrives in my customer hands, it has already been on quite a journey: What does it mean to make an aulos reed? Depending on which season it was harvested in, the reed has already been seasoned for 3 years according to Theophrastus’ recommendations. The reed has survived a complex process, enduring whilst many others have been broken or discarded along the journey. It went through a process of many hours of playing in, scraping and balancing and only if it balances and matches its partner reed, which is cut from the same stem of cane, and again only if this partner survived all the same process, will it be played by my customer. It took me and my friends Callum Armstrong and Caleb Simone the last 7 years to understand the words Theophrastus left us on how to make aulos reeds, to find the right processes. To research the dimensions needed to fit each instrument. To learn what to harvest and what the source material needs. To make many hundreds of reeds, discarding them to find the ones that will sound with honeyed harmony and clear voice as described by Apuleius (Florida 4) and Athenaeus (Delphic Paen) The footage is from the Swiss television #rts #passemoilesjumelles documentary featuring my work made by Jochen Bechler. Check our Aulos Collective YouTube for more videos #wood #woodworking #lathe #woodcraft #woodwind #reconstruction #creation #nature #ancientgreece #ancienttrance #crafting #archaeology #ancientmusicalinstruments #hellenic #greekculture #ancientgreek #ancient #ancienthistory #experimentalmusic #earlymusic #doublepipes #greekmusic #louvre #experimentalarchaeology #ethnomusicology #doublereed #aulos #greece #earlymusic #classics