Playing inside a Giant Flute!

Peering upwards, my eyes not yet adjusted to the dim light, I could see only blackness. A few test notes, and I realized that the the acoustic was very dry, with a unique finish that only a 200+ foot open-ended column overhead could allow! Playing briefly inside this chimney at Toronto’s Historic Brickworks location was like playing inside a giant flute!

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It was a little tough setting up my music - the light was dim, and there was an occasional rush of wind that whistled past, up the column of air that I was at the base of - I had my music and the recorder propped up precariously on a small ledge with a stick - but, with sound of the wind in the bullrushes just outside the waist-high entranceway, I stood and played, making myself temporarily at home in the base of this odd, evocative space, this awe-inspiring vertical shaft, the last of four chimneys left standing at Toronto’s Brickworks site. Inside, the base is maybe 7 feet square, tapering slightly to a faintly visible aperture far, far above…