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Color: Translucent Smoke Tint
Features
Description
Freedom to play ANYTIME, ANYWHERE… It’s rewarding to take music out of your practice room a bit more often… to play just for the joy of it… in the mountains, by the shore, traveling… whenever you have a spare moment. Through a process spanning several years, Coda was designed with EDC in mind — to bring along on your adventures. It is tough, light, ultra- portable, and waterproof, but without sacrificing the range and tone of a serious musical instrument. To make EveryDay Carry even easier, Coda’s unique (optional) Clip let’s you keep Coda clipped to a front pants pocket, belt, or waistband wherever you go. Also, Coda requires no assembly or special care, so you’re ready to play anytime, even if you only have a minute. For a lot of instruments, it takes at least a minute or two to get them out and put them together, or wet the reeds, or tune the strings, or warm up your chops, or clean up afterwards — so why bother? Your minute is gone, and you never got to play a note. But can you really play Anytime? What about the noise?! Every musician wishes they could practice more quietly sometimes. Coda’s innovative Silencers store right on board Coda and let you practice whisper-quiet whenever, without bothering anyone. Pocket-Size One reason our phones are so useful is that we keep them with us. Similarly, Coda is only 5 inches long (12.7 cm), so it’s easy to bring along. (As a reference, soprano recorders are about 12.5 to 13.25 inches long, or 31.8 to 33.7 cm.) And with the optional Clip, you can keep Coda clipped to your front pants pocket, waistband, or belt. Tip: Take advantage of Coda’s portability to play in frequent short sessions, even for just a minute or two. You’ll be surprised by your progress! Tough Coda is designed to be tough enough for everyday carry, so you don’t have to leave it behind because you’re afraid of damaging it. Even if you accidentally drop it overboard, Coda is waterproof and will float. Light Coda is way lighter than any smartphone at only 2.4 oz (68 g) — or 2.6 oz (74 g) with the Clip. “If you look closely, you can see Coda clipped to my waistband in the picture above. I love trail running and then playing Coda out in nature while I cool down afterwards. Coda is so light that I forget that I have it on me. There’s a big difference between portable and everyday carry.” —Karl Ahrens of Coda EDC Flutes But with two full chromatic octaves Why is “two chromatic octaves” important? It’s enough range… to play just about anythingto easily join in with other musiciansto compose on the go Coda is tuned in the key of C, so the notes you read are the notes you sound. Also, the intuitive linear fingerings for the C scale are exactly the same for the upper and the lower octaves. However, Coda is also chromatic —i.e., it has all the sharps and flats— so you can play in any key or any genre of music. Q&A — Coda Silencers (included with each Coda) When Would I Use My Coda Silencers? Whenever you want to practice, but… you don’t want to bother anyoneyou feel shy about practicing with an audienceyou need to practice a tricky passage over and over… The Silencers are so quiet that you can practice Coda without disturbing a person who is speaking on the phone in the same room. Also, you won’t wake anyone sleeping in the next room. And it’s great fun to be able to practice on the road in a lonely hotel room, or even on break at work. Where Do I Keep My Coda Silencers When Not in Use? The Silencers store securely in the specially-designed ribs on the back of Coda, so you are always ready for a little discrete practice. To store them properly, press the narrow-legged Silencer into the ribs first, and the wider-legged Silencer second. How Do I Properly Install My Coda Silencers? As shown in the picture above, insert the wide-legged Silencer into the larger D-shaped window. The orange pad should point toward Coda’s mouthpiece. Push the Silencer all the way forward toward the mouthpiece. Then, in the same way, insert the narrow-legged Silencer into the smaller D-shaped window. What Does Coda Sound Like with the Silencers Installed? It sounds like musical air, or a musical whisper. But the silencers are strictly for practice and not for performing. In fact, your friends will be completely unimpressed with the barely audible airy sound. Expect to have a bit of trouble distinguishing the whispery notes at first. However, once you get used to them, you’ll probably find that the Silencers allow you to fit in practice when you ordinarily wouldn’t be able to. So… while certainly not a replacement for playing without them, practicing with the Silencers is surprisingly productive. It’s also a lot of fun, and it helps you gain awareness of how blowing pressure affects tuning. Read more A Few Coda Tips to Get You Started Quick Tip 1 The diagram above is to help you QUICKLY grasp Coda’s simple linear fingering pattern. (Note: Coda is only 5 inches long, so its right-hand toneholes are beside its left-hand toneholes instead of below them like on a recorder, sax, or clarinet.) To play a C scale, from a lower C to a higher C, cover Coda’s 2 thumbholes, all 4 right-finger toneholes, and 3 left-finger toneholes. Blow to play a low C, and then simply uncover the following toneholes, one after another: 1. R pinky, 2. R ring, 3. R middle, 4. R index, 5. L ring, 6. L middle, 7. L index. Quick Tip 2 To play Coda, you simply blow into the mouthpiece like you would on a recorder. Blow into the left side of the mouthpiece to sound the lower range of notes and into the right side for the upper range. (Sharps & flats are obtained with cross fingerings, i.e., different combinations of toneholes.) You can use the same fingerings to play the upper C octave as the lower C octave! However, there are also 4 overlapping middle notes (middle B, C/Db, C, D) that you can sound by blowing into either the left side or the right side of the mouthpiece. This choice makes it easier to play challenging passages in a more fluid manner. Quick Tip 3 Play Coda with relaxed, fairly flat fingers rather than highly curved fingers. This allows your finger pads to lay flat on the surface of Coda so that you can fully cover the toneholes. Coda’s toneholes are split down the middle into two halves, but you treat the two halves as a single tonehole. Also, keep your fingers more or less in line with the toneholes instead of at an angle, and play Coda with your elbows comfortably at your sides rather than sticking out from your body. (Maybe not for NFL linemen, but Coda works well for ordinary folks, even with larger hands. The hands above need XL gloves.) Read more FAQ (by Karl Ahrens of Coda EDC Flutes) How did Coda EDC Flutes come to be? Well, I had played the saxophone for years but began to search for a serious instrument I could easily bring along… something I could play whenever I had a spare minute… around the house, travelling, visiting friends, waiting in a parked car, out in the woods — not just in my practice room! Along the way, I acquired and played several smaller instruments, but ultimately they were just too big or too fragile for everyday carry. I mean, a foot-long recorder or tin whistle wasn’t something I cared to keep in my pocket all day. And though the tin whistle is a great instrument, I wanted something that was fully chromatic so I could play in any musical context. The harmonica was another worthy option that I played for a while, but —as a former sax player— I preferred using all my fingers to fly up and down scales instead of just my mouth. I became so captivated by the idea of an EDC flute that I left teaching a couple of decades ago to develop and eventually sell “Mountain Ocarinas” — a kind of pocket flute. I loved how they helped me fit music into my busy life. But they had one major drawback: they needed more range! To fully join in with other musicians and to play all the music I wanted to play, I needed two full chromatic octaves. So the challenge was this: how can I expand the range of my pocket flutes without sacrificing sound, portability, or intuitive fingering? Solving THAT problem became my consuming goal. In fact, I spent the next 7 years working out the details! There were literally hundreds of partial and full prototypes, each testing some new hypothesis or small modification, each building upon lessons I learned from previous “failures.” But that was only HALF the battle! Finding a way to make enough of them (for a small company like ours) without compromising quality sometimes felt like climbing Everest without an oxygen tank. FINALLY we worked out enough of the details to launch Coda EDC Flutes. (By the way, EDC stands for EveryDay Carry.) There are so many wonderful instruments that you could play (and perhaps DO play). Where does Coda fit in? Well, it’s sort of like the difference between our smartphones and our desktop computers. Both are useful, but we wind up using our phones a lot because they are always with us. In the same way, I designed Coda to be an outstanding musical companion. Coda can be there for you even when all the other instruments have stayed home. What if I am a beginner and don't know how to read music yet? An online Self-Learning Music Curriculum is included with your purchase (and lots of other supports too). Details in your packet. Are Coda EDC Flutes made in the USA? Yes. Completely?! Yes! We mold the components for our Coda EDC Flutes in the USA using a tough, precision-molding, food safe, medical-grade plastic. Right here in Connecticut, we carefully assemble Coda ourselves using adhesives, ultrasonic welding, and a number of other secondary operations. Is Coda an easy instrument to learn? The Foreign Service Institute ranks foreign languages based on the average time it takes native English speakers to reach “Professional Working Proficiency.” For example, they have found that it takes much less time to attain that level of proficiency in Spanish than it does in Japanese. (Keep in mind that learning depends on many factors: time, interest, learning methods…) Similarly, every musical instrument has a learning curve. Some will take you less time to get up and running than others. I think of this as functional proficiency. How long does it take before you are ready to play songs for others? How long before you can make music that you are proud to share? In this context, Coda EDC Flutes have several attributes that make them relatively easy to learn. For example, unlike a concert flute, trumpet, or a reed instrument, you just blow into Coda to get a sound, and the fingering is linear, so even beginners will likely play simple songs like “Hot Cross Buns” from their first session. And you’ll progress MUCH faster on Coda than you would on, say, a trumpet, saxophone, or flute. Those of you who are already active musicians will get rolling on Coda surprisingly fast. (Power tip! Bring Coda with you and practice new songs for just a minute here, a minute there, whenever you have a spare moment. This really speeds mastery -- and it’s fun!) With all that said, any musical instrument requires practice and effort, and Coda is no exception. For example, although it eventually becomes an automatic response, you’ll have to get used to switching from the left blowing entrance to play lower notes to the right entrance to play higher notes. And you’ll struggle a bit at first to consistently cover all the toneholes. Finally, Coda’s sound (your sound) will improve dramatically over time, growing more beautiful as you gradually master the nuances of proper breath control and technique. As with any serious musical instrument, you can spend a lifetime growing and improving your skills. Is Coda too expensive? Maybe it is. If something isn’t that valuable to you, then it definitely costs too much! But… here's another perspective. We are a small family-owned business that has made many sacrifices to develop and produce our own unique products here in the USA. Unfortunately, we don’t yet benefit from the economies of scale enjoyed by large corporations nor are our products produced in overseas factories where labor costs are much lower. More importantly, you’d be surprised by the amount of hand labor that goes into our products, such as trimming, gluing, drilling, ultrasonic welding, sanding, buffing, quality testing, steam cleaning & disinfecting, packaging, etc. Of course, none of the costs mentioned above take into account years of unpaid labor, risk, and huge expenses in development and tooling. What type of flute is Coda? There are MANY types of flutes in the world besides the Western concert flute. For instance, both recorders and Coda EDC Flutes are considered duct flutes, or fipple flutes. However, while the recorder is a tubular duct flute, Coda belongs to an ancient family of musical instruments known as vessel flutes, or globular flutes, dating back several thousand years. Today, different types of vessel flutes go by many names around the world: gemshorn, xun, ocarina, hun, tsuchibue, etc. Is Coda an Ocarina? Well, Coda is a unique type of vessel flute. Ocarinas are also vessel flutes. So, it’s up to you. After laboring for years to develop Coda, I chose not to call it an ocarina for the following reasons. 1st, Coda doesn’t look like any existing ocarinas because it was painstakingly designed with EDC in mind. (EDC means EveryDay Carry.) In practical terms, single ocarinas of similar pitch to Coda are still a bit larger and heavier (and usually more fragile) than Coda even though they have much less range. Double ocarinas do have the range of Coda, but they are significantly larger and heavier, which makes them unsuitable for everyday carry. Coda’s combination of two chromatic octaves with full sound, and tough, light portability makes it unlike any ocarina. 2nd, Coda’s interior chamber design is unlike that of existing ocarinas, which allows it to have a wide range and big sound with a surprisingly small footprint. 3rd, Coda’s patented Uni-Phi tone holes are unique. They were designed to allow a more intuitive, fluid fingering pattern than those used by double chamber ocarinas. For instance, Coda uses only one set of toneholes to play both the upper and lower chambers, and you can use the same fingerings to play the 2nd diatonic octave as you do to play the 1st. In contrast, on a double ocarina you have to slide your right hand fingers back and forth between two separate sets of tone holes, and the fingerings for the 2nd diatonic octave are completely different from those of the 1st. (Of course, if you already play a double ocarina really well, you’ll probably prefer the fingerings that you are used to.) How durable are Coda EDC Flutes? Coda is very tough and light. It’s designed for everyday carry, so you don’t have to baby it! I have mine on me most of the time — clipped to my belt or left front pants pocket while working, hiking, running, biking, paddleboarding, in the grocery store… I play Coda out in the woods, up in the mountains, in sunshine or rain, in summer heat or freezing cold. Although it appears a bit polished from all the handling, my well-used Coda has taken its share of bumps and spills and still looks and plays great. By the way, you can disinfect your flute by wiping it with isopropyl alcohol. Alcohol won’t hurt Coda. What is the range of Coda EDC Flutes? Coda plays two chromatic octaves, from C5 to C7, plus B4 using a special technique. (An octave is the eight notes of a major scale: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. Coda plays two of those: C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C. Even though Coda is tuned in the key of C, you can play songs in ANY key because it is fully chromatic. Chromatic means that it can play ALL the sharps and flats in between the notes.) Why is a range of two chromatic octaves important? With two full chromatic octaves, you can reach all the notes in your favorite songs, you can join in more easily with other musicians, you can improvise freely, and you have plenty of range for composing on the go. All that in the palm of your hand! What should I do if my Coda seems out of tune? Two factors affect the tuning on your Coda: blowing pressure and properly covering the toneholes. 1st, be aware that you can raise or lower tuning by how hard you blow. 2nd, if a certain note sounds strangely out of tune, it’s probably because your finger pads are not in position to completely cover the toneholes. This is to be expected in the beginning and will quickly improve with practice. (See our online resources for in-depth instruction.) Why the name Coda? There were a few factors. When you work on something for a long time, you want even the name to mean something. First, there’s the descriptive acronym: Compact Optimized Dual Aerophone. Second, I liked the name. It’s easy to say in many languages, like the name of a friend, a musical companion. Third, coda in Italian means tail. In musical terminology, a coda is a passage that brings a piece (or a movement) to an end. For me, Coda is the end result of a long pursuit… and the beginning of the next movement. Who did I design Coda for? I designed Coda to be an instrument worthy of serious dedication but also portable and durable enough to easily fit into a busy adult’s life. Coda is for people who like the idea of making music anytime, even for just a minute or two, without having to make an appointment with themselves or go off to some special practice room just to play.
Item Weight: 4.6 ounces
Product Dimensions: 5 x 2.35 x 1.27 inches
Country of Origin: USA
Date First Available: August 22, 2022
Color Name: Translucent Smoke Tint
Material Type: Tough, Light, Food-Safe SMMA Copolymer
Instrument Key: C
