WEBVTT - 9 Very Important Facts about Flutes

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope

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<v Speaker 1>and iHeartRadio. Guess what, Mary, what's that?

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<v Speaker 2>My gosh?

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<v Speaker 1>So, do you know that in medieval times bad musicians

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<v Speaker 1>were punished with something called the shame flute?

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<v Speaker 2>Wait, medieval times the theme restaurant, or medieval times the

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<v Speaker 2>historical period.

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<v Speaker 1>Which is a good distinction, but I'm talking about the

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<v Speaker 1>historical period, and shame flutes were the super weird form

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<v Speaker 1>of medieval punishment, which I'm kind of obsessed with now. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>it was a heavy clarinet looking thing that was made

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<v Speaker 1>of iron and attached to a metal collar. So if

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<v Speaker 1>you're forced to play the shame flute, the color would

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<v Speaker 1>hang around your neck, and then to hold it up,

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<v Speaker 1>your hands would actually be like clasped or locked into

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<v Speaker 1>place around the keys of this non playable clarinet. So basically,

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<v Speaker 1>for offenders, it looked like you were holding up this

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<v Speaker 1>ridiculous flute and playing it.

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<v Speaker 2>So do you know what kind of musical crime would

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<v Speaker 2>cause you to get sentenced to wear the shame flute?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't really. There are a bunch of these shame

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<v Speaker 1>flutes in various museums across Europe. A medieval crime museum

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<v Speaker 1>in Rothenberg, Germany, and there's Amsterdam's Torture Museum, but they

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<v Speaker 1>don't really specify the crimes. They mostly say it was

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<v Speaker 1>for bad musicianship, so maybe it was just invented by

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<v Speaker 1>medieval tiger parents to get their kids to practice more.

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<v Speaker 1>But getting classed into a so called flute of shame

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<v Speaker 1>was only part of the punishment, because after we were

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<v Speaker 1>locked in, offenders would be paraded around the streets where

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<v Speaker 1>the public could taunt them by throwing rotten fruits and

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<v Speaker 1>vegetables at them. But that's just the first of nine

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<v Speaker 1>essential flute facts we've got today, so let's dive in. Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>their podcast listeners, welcome part time genius. I'm Mungishtigula, and

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<v Speaker 1>today I've got my good friend Mary Philip Sandy sitting

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<v Speaker 1>in the studio with me and on the other side

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<v Speaker 1>of the soundproof glass wearing a novelty T shirt that,

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<v Speaker 1>for some reason says my other flute is a shame flute.

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<v Speaker 1>That's our pal Ramsey. What a bizarre shirt anyway, Mary,

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<v Speaker 1>I am thrilled you're here. For listeners who don't know

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<v Speaker 1>Mary is a quadruple hyphen It She was my savior

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<v Speaker 1>on Skyline Drive and a few other shows that we

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<v Speaker 1>made last year, and she's done everything from writing to

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<v Speaker 1>researching to producing. And she's also the host extraordinaire of

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<v Speaker 1>one of my favorite podcasts, ever, Let's Talk About Cats,

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<v Speaker 1>And today I managed to wrangle her into the studio

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about flutes. So, Mary, did you ever play

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<v Speaker 1>the flute?

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<v Speaker 2>So my musical ability is really limited in general and

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<v Speaker 2>specifically to stringed instruments with no more than four strings.

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<v Speaker 2>That's it, That's all I could do. I played the

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<v Speaker 2>violin and the bass. I could not handle anything more

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<v Speaker 2>complicated than that was it for me.

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<v Speaker 1>And no ukuleles, innemics.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh man, I should have thought how that?

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<v Speaker 1>No?

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't. I didn't.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe, you know what, I'll take it up this summer.

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<v Speaker 1>Do your kids play any instruments?

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<v Speaker 2>My son Julian just started playing the saxophone.

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<v Speaker 1>How's that going?

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<v Speaker 2>It's really annoying.

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<v Speaker 1>I know. I think about all the instruments that like,

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<v Speaker 1>we played in our house, and you know, we started

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<v Speaker 1>on piano young, but every other instrument must have just

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<v Speaker 1>been awful for my parents and for my dog, who

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<v Speaker 1>used to howl when we played the violin or the.

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<v Speaker 2>Clarinet in pain or like cheering you on.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, I used to think it was dueting, but

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's more paid. So why don't we get started?

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<v Speaker 1>So very part of the reason I wanted to do

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<v Speaker 1>an episode on flutes is that I know basically nothing

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<v Speaker 1>about flutes, and also I feel like flutes are vaguely

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<v Speaker 1>in the culture. Like I recently learned that Terry Cruz

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<v Speaker 1>from Brooklyn nine to nine fame played the flute as

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<v Speaker 1>a kid. Lizzo had that big incident where she got

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<v Speaker 1>to play James Madison's crystal flute. Do you remember that?

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<v Speaker 2>How could I forget?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah? You know what I didn't realize is Downy Madison

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<v Speaker 1>I think saved that flute from the White House from

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<v Speaker 1>a burn.

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<v Speaker 2>It was one of the things that she grabbed when

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<v Speaker 2>she was running out.

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<v Speaker 1>And the library or Congress, which is where that flute

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<v Speaker 1>is now has one of the largest flute collections in

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<v Speaker 1>the world apparently, which is surprising. And of course there

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<v Speaker 1>was Andre three thousand who put out that all flute

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<v Speaker 1>solo album after I've read some quote where he was saying, like,

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<v Speaker 1>what am I going to wrap about now? As a

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<v Speaker 1>middle aged man like my colonoscopy, so he leaned into

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<v Speaker 1>his flute instead, which I really love. So where do

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<v Speaker 1>you want to start today?

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<v Speaker 2>How about with a fact about recorders, which are the

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<v Speaker 2>original flute. And well most of us know and probably

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<v Speaker 2>dread recorders as an instrument of torture. Recorders are actually

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<v Speaker 2>some of the oldest instruments we have. Some of them

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<v Speaker 2>date back to the thirteen hundreds. They were made out

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<v Speaker 2>of bone or wood or ivory, and they were the

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<v Speaker 2>dominant type of flute for a very long time. King

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<v Speaker 2>Henry the Eighth, when he wasn't divorcing people, kept a

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<v Speaker 2>collection of seventy five recorders. He even used to compose

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<v Speaker 2>recorder music, including a banger called if Love Now Reigned,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe dedicated to one of his many wives, I don't know.

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<v Speaker 2>And despite the way recorders are abused in elementary schools

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<v Speaker 2>across the country, very serious composers like Bach, Handel and Vivaldi,

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<v Speaker 2>they all wrote music for the recorder.

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<v Speaker 1>So I've heard all of them, and I really had

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<v Speaker 1>no idea that the recorder was this like serious classical instrument.

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<v Speaker 1>It always feels like like kind of a joke to me.

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<v Speaker 1>So why isn't the recorder taken seriously today?

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<v Speaker 2>Things started to change for the recorder. When the transverse flute,

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<v Speaker 2>you know the ones where you hold it horizontally and

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<v Speaker 2>you blow across it. It's the thing you think of

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<v Speaker 2>when you hear the word flute. Once those arrived from

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<v Speaker 2>Asia in the fourteenth century, they kind of supplanted the recorder,

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<v Speaker 2>and by the mid eighteen hundreds, recorders were no longer

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<v Speaker 2>a part of orchestras or chamber music groups.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh that's interesting. So I guess this gets into another fact.

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<v Speaker 1>But do you know how recorders got into schools? I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>I love my kids, I love my music. I love

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<v Speaker 1>that my kids play music. But every year, and I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know if you do this, I dread when I

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<v Speaker 1>get that note from the school that the kids are

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<v Speaker 1>going to learn the recorder. Has Julian done this too?

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<v Speaker 2>No? No, he never got a recorder. He never got

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<v Speaker 2>a recorder, straight to the saxophone.

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<v Speaker 1>You are so lucky because I feel like I feel

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<v Speaker 1>like our house is filled with these like squeaking nursery

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<v Speaker 1>rhymes or it was. And I'm kind of embarrassed in

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<v Speaker 1>with this, but we have this like one bookshelf that's

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<v Speaker 1>particularly high. And I bet if you looked up there now,

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<v Speaker 1>they're like three or four dusty recorders, just like it

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<v Speaker 1>hidden because I got so sick of hearing all the squeaking.

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<v Speaker 1>But so tell me how they got into schools.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So, like I was saying, the recorder kind of

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<v Speaker 2>disappears in the eighteen fifties, but then in the nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>hundreds it gets rediscovered, and by the nineteen sixties it

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<v Speaker 2>finds its way into pop music, like Paul McCartney plays

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<v Speaker 2>it on the Beatles song Fool on the Hill. It

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<v Speaker 2>gets used in some experimental and avant garde music. But

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<v Speaker 2>there are kind of three main reasons that you find

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<v Speaker 2>them in schools. One, they're simple to play. You can

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<v Speaker 2>make a reasonably good sound by just blowing into it right.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not like the trumpet where you need some technique

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<v Speaker 2>to get it going to get a real sound. There's

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<v Speaker 2>also this composer named Carl Orf who started advocating for

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<v Speaker 2>the recorder in the mid nineteen hundreds. He was a

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<v Speaker 2>big influence on musical education, and his whole thing was

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<v Speaker 2>that if an instrument is easy to play and easy

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<v Speaker 2>to understand, and if it's easy to mimic with your voice,

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<v Speaker 2>like instead of rote memorization, if you can hear something

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<v Speaker 2>and then play it, it helps with musical development.

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<v Speaker 1>Which makes sense.

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<v Speaker 2>It does, it really does. But then the third thing

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<v Speaker 2>was the proliferation of plastic because suddenly you could get

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<v Speaker 2>this instrument that schools could purchase for a few dollars

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<v Speaker 2>or at bulk rates for even less. All of that

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<v Speaker 2>made recorders the starter instrument of choice.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, which I'm sure is what the graduate they were

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<v Speaker 1>alluding to with that one last plastics.

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<v Speaker 2>The hidden meaning was recorders.

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<v Speaker 1>So I've got a gross fact, and it's probably the

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<v Speaker 1>grossest fact I've ever told on this show, and one

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<v Speaker 1>I can't help from telling you. It's about this guy

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<v Speaker 1>named Le Petomine, aka the Fartist. Do you know what

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<v Speaker 1>this guy?

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<v Speaker 2>Shockingly I don't.

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<v Speaker 1>So he's a flatulence artist who, in I guess the

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<v Speaker 1>late eighteen hundreds only nineteen hundreds, became the highest paid

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<v Speaker 1>performer in France. Apparently he was making over twenty thousand

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<v Speaker 1>francs per show. But he used to appear at places

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<v Speaker 1>like the Mulan Rouge and he'd just kill He would

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<v Speaker 1>show up in a tux and then he had a

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<v Speaker 1>whole routine of fart impressions he would do, from using

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<v Speaker 1>the rude sound to imitate roosters to toads, to a

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<v Speaker 1>dog whose tail got stuck in a door, to a

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<v Speaker 1>mother in law. It just went on and on. But

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<v Speaker 1>for his finale, according to slay dot com, he would

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<v Speaker 1>quote play a flute backwards and then proceed to blow

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<v Speaker 1>smoke rings out of it, which is all very strange.

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<v Speaker 1>This is what Slate writes about it. Quote. Women in

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<v Speaker 1>the audience, especially those wearing corsets, often laughed so hard

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<v Speaker 1>they passed out. One man had a heart attack. The

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<v Speaker 1>Mulan Rouge took advantage of this by stationing nurses around

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<v Speaker 1>the theater and by posting warnings of how dangerous the

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<v Speaker 1>show was, which of course only made people more eager

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<v Speaker 1>to attend. And lest you feel guilty for giggling over

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<v Speaker 1>toilet humor here orre too stuffy to see what's so funny,

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<v Speaker 1>know that La Petromain hobnob with Renoir and Matisse, and

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<v Speaker 1>that Revel adored him. It's high society. In fact, friendly

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<v Speaker 1>Sigmund Freud was so obsessed with him that he kept

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<v Speaker 1>a picture of him on his wall, which is so bizarre.

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<v Speaker 2>I think that's an understatement. Well here's the fact that

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<v Speaker 2>is a little more savory, but still a little scandalous.

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<v Speaker 2>In two thousand and nine, a super devoted music student

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<v Speaker 2>planned out this crazy museum heist just so that he

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<v Speaker 2>could buy himself a new flute.

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<v Speaker 1>So this sounds crazy already, But how expensive was this flute?

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<v Speaker 2>Like tens of thousands of dollars. It was a serious flute.

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<v Speaker 2>So the flute player's name is Edwin rist And in

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<v Speaker 2>two thousand and nine he was studying at London's Royal

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<v Speaker 2>Academy of Music. But according to news articles, he was

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<v Speaker 2>also completely obsessed with James Bond, sure as one does.

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<v Speaker 2>And he figured that a good way to make money

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<v Speaker 2>is to boost something that isn't that important to science anymore,

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<v Speaker 2>but that is still valuable. So he set his sights

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<v Speaker 2>on a collection of bird skins at the Natural History

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<v Speaker 2>Museum at Tring in Hertfordshire, his reasoning being that these

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<v Speaker 2>are feathers and skins from over one hundred years ago.

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<v Speaker 2>Any scientific knowledge he can actually get from those things,

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<v Speaker 2>it's been extracted decades ago. But there's an incredible market

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<v Speaker 2>for eggs, feathers and skins in England. It's called the

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<v Speaker 2>Feather Underground. That's a real thing. And Edwin knows he

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<v Speaker 2>can sell these things online for a lot of money,

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<v Speaker 2>so he takes time, He makes a plan, he scouts

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<v Speaker 2>it all out. He pretends to be a grad student

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<v Speaker 2>at Oxford and gets permission to go to the museum

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<v Speaker 2>photograph the collection, maps out the layout of the building,

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<v Speaker 2>and then he breaks in one night by throwing a

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<v Speaker 2>brick at a window and sneaks in with latex gloves,

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<v Speaker 2>a box cutter, a suitcase and fills up the suitcase

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<v Speaker 2>with as many days birds as he can.

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<v Speaker 1>Wait, so I feel like he's so James Bond that

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<v Speaker 1>he breaks a window by throwing a break through.

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<v Speaker 2>Wait, it gets even more, It gets even more Bond.

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<v Speaker 2>Listen to this. He tries to make his get away,

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<v Speaker 2>but he misses his train home, so he ends up

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<v Speaker 2>having to sleep in the train station overnight, which definitely

0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.640
<v Speaker 2>is the thing James Bond would do. But the thing

0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:23.719
<v Speaker 2>is Edwin got away with it for like seven or

0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.040
<v Speaker 2>eight months. It took the cops that long to catch

0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:26.559
<v Speaker 2>up with him.

0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.200
<v Speaker 1>And so how does everyone know about his flute obsession?

0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.080
<v Speaker 2>Well, his eBay handle for selling all of this stuff

0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.720
<v Speaker 2>online was Flute Player nineteen eighty eight, so that was

0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:37.880
<v Speaker 2>that was the first clue. Sure, But when he was caught,

0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.240
<v Speaker 2>he admitted that all his money had gone to a

0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:42.920
<v Speaker 2>flute and he pleaded guilty to both the burglary and

0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:46.480
<v Speaker 2>money laundering. But what's interesting is the judge took pity

0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.240
<v Speaker 2>on him. He never really did serious jail time. He

0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.079
<v Speaker 2>just graduated from music school, moved to Germany, and started

0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:57.760
<v Speaker 2>making heavy metal flute videos on YouTube. You can find them.

0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.800
<v Speaker 2>They're all there. He even doesn't all flute cover of

0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.079
<v Speaker 2>Metallica's Master of Puppets.

0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:04.920
<v Speaker 1>That's amazing. I feel like we need to make a

0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.920
<v Speaker 1>Spotify list at the end of this for sure of

0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.880
<v Speaker 1>heavy metal flute. So here is a dumb one. One

0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.040
<v Speaker 1>of my favorite things is looking at ridiculous theories about instruments,

0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.439
<v Speaker 1>Like there's this old theory from eighteen ninety six where

0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.840
<v Speaker 1>American newspapers began declaring that they finally figured out what

0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.760
<v Speaker 1>was causing male pattern baldness, and it turns out the

0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:31.160
<v Speaker 1>culprit was brass instruments like marching bands and trumpets and

0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.600
<v Speaker 1>traumbone sections. Or of the reason that America was going bald,

0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.560
<v Speaker 1>and this kind of thing occurs for every instrument. This

0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.200
<v Speaker 1>is from the site fizz dot org, but it claims

0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.559
<v Speaker 1>that in the seventeen twenties, when the flute was more

0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.600
<v Speaker 1>commonly played like a recorder like you were talking about,

0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.400
<v Speaker 1>women were banned from playing the instrument, not just because

0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.320
<v Speaker 1>it looked indecent, but also because it took away many

0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.480
<v Speaker 1>of the juices better suited to wet ones, appetite, and

0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.760
<v Speaker 1>advanced digestions. So for better digestive health, you don't want

0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.880
<v Speaker 1>to play the flute. But flutes weren't just seen as detrimental.

0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.559
<v Speaker 1>Other cultures, like the ancient Greeks, thought the flute had

0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.200
<v Speaker 1>healing powers, and doctors of that time would claim that

0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.720
<v Speaker 1>if you alternated listening to sounds from a flute and

0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.320
<v Speaker 1>a harp, you could cure yourself of gout.

0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.400
<v Speaker 2>That is a great tip, and we have got more facts,

0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:32.520
<v Speaker 2>but before we get to them, let's take a break.

0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.480
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to part time Genius. We're talking about flutes. So, Mary,

0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:38.559
<v Speaker 1>what do you have up next?

0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:43.360
<v Speaker 2>Well, continuing on my bird theme, here's one. Here's one

0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.400
<v Speaker 2>that's fun and I'm sure you've heard of, or maybe

0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:46.880
<v Speaker 2>you haven't. Have you heard of liar birds.

0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.120
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they're kind of like mocking birds, or really good mimics.

0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:51.960
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's right. And in fact, one of the things

0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.240
<v Speaker 2>that's interesting is that for decades now, liarbirds have been

0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:59.640
<v Speaker 2>mimicking a song that they heard someone play on the flute. Apparently,

0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.040
<v Speaker 2>in the nineteen sixties, this Australian park ranger named Sidney

0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:07.079
<v Speaker 2>Curtis heard some lyrebirds singing what sounded like the hook

0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.080
<v Speaker 2>or fragments of songs. He started looking into it and

0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.120
<v Speaker 2>realized that a farmer in New South Wales had played

0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.920
<v Speaker 2>these two popular songs from the nineteen thirties. One of

0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.680
<v Speaker 2>them was called the keel Row and another was called

0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.480
<v Speaker 2>the Mosquitoes Dance. He played them for birds in his

0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.560
<v Speaker 2>backyard on the flute, and for some reason, the birds

0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.240
<v Speaker 2>loved it. He must have been really good. As one

0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.560
<v Speaker 2>ornithologist wrote in two thousand and six, quote today the

0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.040
<v Speaker 2>flute song has been heard one hundred kilometers from the

0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.520
<v Speaker 2>original source. A human tune is spreading through the lyre

0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.600
<v Speaker 2>bird world as they've decided through generations to prefer just

0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:46.080
<v Speaker 2>two shards of our particular music that's.

0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.120
<v Speaker 1>Really funny, right, like instead of repeating things like who

0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:51.960
<v Speaker 1>Let the Dogs Out? Or the Thong song. They've chosen

0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.720
<v Speaker 1>these songs from the thirties to perpetuate. It's really wonderful.

0:14:55.840 --> 0:15:00.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, even birds get earworms. So all right, you have

0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:01.280
<v Speaker 2>for your last fact.

0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:04.320
<v Speaker 1>Well, I had been thinking about it talking about Lizzo

0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.920
<v Speaker 1>and that flute collection at the Library of Congress, but

0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.040
<v Speaker 1>instead I think I'm going to talk about the hyper

0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:13.920
<v Speaker 1>bass flute, which is this massive flute that bends in

0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:17.640
<v Speaker 1>all directions. It kind of looks like someone's playing an anaconda,

0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.040
<v Speaker 1>like it's super thick, and it's twenty six feet of

0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.600
<v Speaker 1>flute that's bent into geometric shapes, and it is so

0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.080
<v Speaker 1>rare that there are only two of them. I don't

0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.000
<v Speaker 1>know why I'm so obsessed with it, but it's partially

0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.960
<v Speaker 1>because the sounds are so low that it occupies an

0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.040
<v Speaker 1>octave below a piano.

0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.160
<v Speaker 2>Wait, that's fascinating. What kind of music can you play

0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:38.440
<v Speaker 2>on it?

0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.720
<v Speaker 1>Then I read that's so low pitched that some of

0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.120
<v Speaker 1>the tones can't even be heard by human ear, which

0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:47.000
<v Speaker 1>is crazy. But I was curious, and I found a

0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.480
<v Speaker 1>video of this guy, Peter Sheridan, who is a low

0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.680
<v Speaker 1>flute specialist. That's a job. It's also an amazing thing,

0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.160
<v Speaker 1>and it's so sweet. He's got a whole video series

0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.560
<v Speaker 1>of him showing off different types of loaf flutes. But

0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:02.880
<v Speaker 1>it doesn't really sound like music. It almost sounds like

0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.000
<v Speaker 1>percussive and low pitch breaths. I mean, you can tell

0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.400
<v Speaker 1>the distinct tones, but it's often apparently paired with electronic

0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.000
<v Speaker 1>music and loops. And my favorite part of this whole

0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.800
<v Speaker 1>thing is that Sheridan has this album of electronic, avant

0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:21.200
<v Speaker 1>garde hyper based flute. It's called Groaning Oceans, which is

0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.640
<v Speaker 1>I think a fair description of what the music sounds like.

0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.400
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so here's my last fact, which I think is

0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.960
<v Speaker 2>kind of sweet. In twenty fifteen, more than fifty thousand

0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.400
<v Speaker 2>people tuned into a college flutist's recital after his Facebook

0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.600
<v Speaker 2>invitation accidentally went viral. So I found this story in

0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:42.400
<v Speaker 2>The Independent. But twenty fifteen, this amateur flutist, a student

0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.480
<v Speaker 2>at the University of California, made a Facebook event, as

0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.000
<v Speaker 2>one did back then, for his senior flute recital, and

0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.600
<v Speaker 2>with it, he included this photo of him with his flute.

0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.560
<v Speaker 2>He's sort of standing there smiling. He's got the flute

0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.280
<v Speaker 2>over his shoulder, he's got a sweater. He looks just

0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.600
<v Speaker 2>so wholesome and so happy, and the invitation reads, the

0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:03.760
<v Speaker 2>year's coming to an end soon and I will be

0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:07.320
<v Speaker 2>performing my final senior recital. Exclamation point. Please come out

0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.959
<v Speaker 2>and support if you can. You will hear some beatboxing, jazz,

0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.960
<v Speaker 2>and may even see some dancing. Plus there will be

0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:18.560
<v Speaker 2>some refreshments. Who can say no to that? So he

0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.440
<v Speaker 2>sends this out to maybe seventy people that he hopes

0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.680
<v Speaker 2>will show up, you know, family and friends. But suddenly

0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.480
<v Speaker 2>the number of attendees just starts to grow. It goes

0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:28.399
<v Speaker 2>up to one hundred and forty people, and then it

0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.239
<v Speaker 2>catches fire overseas. People in the UK get obsessed with it,

0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:34.800
<v Speaker 2>and all of a sudden, there are memes of this guy.

0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:36.879
<v Speaker 2>His name is a Zem. There are memes of a

0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.959
<v Speaker 2>Zem with Oasis, him getting knighted by the Queen. Twitter

0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.040
<v Speaker 2>goes wild too. People are tweeting things like if you

0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.160
<v Speaker 2>aren't going to a Zem senior flute recital, I don't

0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:48.800
<v Speaker 2>want to know you. And so many people are jumping

0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:50.760
<v Speaker 2>on the bandwagon now that he's blown up. How many

0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.600
<v Speaker 2>of you were at the junior recital? So by this

0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.119
<v Speaker 2>time there are a hundred I'm sorry, this is so funny.

0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.640
<v Speaker 2>By this time, there were one hundred and four thousand

0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.199
<v Speaker 2>people signed up to attend this thing, and when it

0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:10.440
<v Speaker 2>actually live streamed, there were fifty thousand computers tuned in.

0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:14.239
<v Speaker 2>There were people throwing viewing parties all over England. And

0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.480
<v Speaker 2>for his part, a Zeem was super chill about the

0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:19.760
<v Speaker 2>whole thing. He just thought the attention was really funny,

0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.520
<v Speaker 2>and he was delighted that one super fan even traveled

0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.160
<v Speaker 2>all the way from the UK to see his forty

0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.120
<v Speaker 2>four minute flute performance live in person.

0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.960
<v Speaker 1>That is incredible. Yeah, and it feels like a time

0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.960
<v Speaker 1>when the Internet was kind of like a kinder, gentler place. Yeah.

0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:38.760
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I think as much as I love my

0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.439
<v Speaker 1>shame flute fact and the one about the French artist,

0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.960
<v Speaker 1>I think the story wins you this week's trophy. Do

0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:46.719
<v Speaker 1>you want to give a speech or thank anyone?

0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.320
<v Speaker 2>Well, I want to thank Azim. I just want to

0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:49.760
<v Speaker 2>thank Azeem for being a Zeem.

0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.960
<v Speaker 1>That's it, Well makes sense. Well, I want to thank

0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.760
<v Speaker 1>you for being here to discuss what's obviously one of

0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:01.160
<v Speaker 1>the most important and pressing topics of our time. And

0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:03.240
<v Speaker 1>I've got to give a special thank you to Anna

0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.840
<v Speaker 1>Green for the research help on this episode. That is

0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.440
<v Speaker 1>it for this week's Part Time Genius. Thank you all

0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.719
<v Speaker 1>so much for listening. That's such a great fact.

0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:13.960
<v Speaker 2>It's amazing.

0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:16.840
<v Speaker 1>It feels like everything now is so manufactured.

0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:24.680
<v Speaker 2>It does right exactly. It would be branded now.

0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.920
<v Speaker 1>Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.

0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.400
<v Speaker 1>This show is hosted by Will Pearson and me Mongashtikler

0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:43.800
<v Speaker 1>and research by our good pal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's

0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.720
<v Speaker 1>episode was engineered and produced by the Wonderful of Dylan

0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:50.480
<v Speaker 1>Fagan with support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive

0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.040
<v Speaker 1>produced for iHeart by Katrina Norvell and Ali Perry, with

0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.879
<v Speaker 1>social media support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and

0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:02.720
<v Speaker 1>Viney Shore. For more podcast from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit

0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.679
<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:07.520
<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.