What Exactly are 'Quills'?

Subject: What Exactly are 'Quills'?
From: GUEST,Bryant
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 05:38 AM

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone on the Mudcat knew what "quills" are, how they're constructed, and how they're played. The only reference I've been able to find about this instrument is in the liner notes to the Anthology of American Folk Music for Henry Thomas' "Fishing Blues" - "a form of pan-pipes made from cane." When I think of "pan-pipes" I envision a half dozen hollow tubes with fingering holes, lashed together in some sort of harmonica-like arrangement. Is this the right picture? Obviously, Thomas played this instrument while strumming guitar and singing. Was it held in some sort of shoulder-supported contraption, like harmonica players use? Do quills require some sort of fingering? If so, how could Thomas have played this instrument and the guitar at the same time? Does anyone make this instrument anymore? Any other info?

Bryant

Subject: RE: What Exactly are 'Quills'?
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 06:09 AM

There are no fingering holes on pan-pipes,or quills(so far as I know). Each hollow tube is cut to the length you need to make the single note you want. From what i recall of the quills recording I've heard, the scale was just a few pentatonic notes, presumably a row of canes in a a straight line like pan-pipes hung round your neck, if youre playing guitar as well.
I've never seen a photo, though, that would be interesting to see.

Subject: RE: What Exactly are 'Quills'?
From: Tweed
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 06:30 AM

Bryant and Greg,
I looked for info on quills a while back too and got this feedback from Robert Jones. By the way, Alan Wilson used some of Henry's quill stylings for the flute part of "Going Up the Country". Here's what Robert wrote me regarding quills.

Hey Tweed,

Sorry that it took me so long to respond. Yeah, quills are actually pretty easy to find. The hard part is in finding a set that is tuned to a pentatonic (blues scale) like old Henry's. Quills are actually just the Mississippi name for the kind of panpipes that you see South American Native musicians playing all the time. So the basic ideas is to lash together some short bamboo tubes until you have a scale that you can play music with.    Naturally blues comes easiest on a set that is set up on a minor pentatonic (blues) scale.

There used to be a company that imported such a set for sale commercially. Unfortunately, they went out of business. So, I think that your best bet is to find a set of regular panpipes and then try to tune them by moving the little piece of wood in the bottom of each tube that determines the tube's depth. In other words, is kind of like those people who play tunes on soft drink bottles my adjusting the amount of liquid in each bottle.

Once you have the tubes that you need, then you can lash them together using another couple of pieces of wood as splints. Sounds like fun doesn't it?

Good luck, and let me know how it works out.

Robert Jones

I'm still in the thinking stage of building a set of these just to see how they work. If anybody works out the blues scale, let us know here.
Yerz,
Tweed

Subject: RE: What Exactly are 'Quills'?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 28 Feb 03 - 05:02 PM

Mr. Mike Seeger is a master of these. He has recorded several songs using them. Mikw would definitely know the proper notes and how to achieve those.

Art Thieme