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  Lurong makes flutes out of PVC pipes.

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  Lurong says that it's easy to play the flute if you have mastered both rhythm and breathing technique.

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IPOH: There is a retired bricklayer who builds musical instruments out of scrap materials. By drilling eight holes into a length of PVC piping, he converted it into a flute that he plays to pass the time.

The 65 year old retired bricklayer is currently staying in a welfare home for the elderly. In an interview with Guang Ming Daily, he said that he had loved to sing ever since he was a child. While he was in primary school he learned to play the harmonica and the flute, but when he entered secondary school his senior told him he was tone deaf. Discouraged, he gave up learning music.

"In the 70s, I went to work as a brick layer in the Middle East. Whenever we were on break, my co-workers and I would get together to sing. At the time, one of my colleagues turned up with a flute made from PVC piping. That was when I realised that you could make a flute out of materials other than bamboo. I immediately asked him to show me how he had made his flute."

Lurong, a bachelor for life, said that when he came back to Malaysia, he hadn't played a flute in ages. The familiar tunes from his childhood were a fuzzy memory, so that there was only one tune he could play without looking at a musical score.

Three years ago, he developed arthritis in both his legs. No longer able to work, he went to live in the welfare home.

"A year ago, when the head and the president of the welfare tried to get the elderly to take up singing as a means to pass the time, I remembered the flute-making method I had learned in the Middle East. I decided to try my hand at making my own flute."

Now, he plays the flute regularly every day at 10 in the morning. When the welfare home organised a get-together in June this year, he was even invited on stage to perform.

Lurong believes he is still a beginner when it comes to playing the flute. To improve his skill, he bought a book of musical compositions last month to practice and play. Whenever he plays his flute, the other residents would gather around to hum and sing along.

Making A Flute

Lurong said that to make a flute all you need is a 19inch long PVC pipe and a small knife. However, care should be taken in making the holes to make sure that the tone of the flute sounds alright.

6 of the holes are finger holes, while one of the remaining two will be covered with a thin membrane and the last will be used as a blow hole. The thin membrane vibrates and produces the sounds when the flute is blown into.

"Generally I use the outer skin from a bulb of garlic as the membrane. I fasten it around the membrane hole by using garlic juice as a kind of glue."

Lurong says he made three such flutes. However, two of them did not produce satisfactory sounds. He keeps them as mementoes.

In addition, the sound produced by the PVC flute is inferior to that of a bamboo flute and air tends to leak out. He is currently looking into ways to improve the design.