Unusual musical instruments you need to know: ocarina, panflute, sopilka and glass harmonica
We have already published several collections of unusual musical instruments ( 1 , 2 , 3 ), but this, of course, is not a complete list. Today we will replenish it with several more exhibits (based on comments on previous materials): ocarina, pan-flute, chromatic pipe and glass harmonics.
All this - examples of not very popular now musical instruments, which were quite widespread in the past.
Photo by Shunichi kouroki CC
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Ocarina is the Italian (ocarina) name of the wind instrument, better known to us as a whistle. Okarins are those “birds” of clay, porcelain or wood that can be found in many ethnographic museums. Translated from the Italian ocarina means "goose". Modern ocarines are often made of plastic or polycarbonate.
Usually, ocarina basically has the shape of a sphere (most often egg-shaped), but in reality there is practically no “gold standard” for the instrument. Whistles have a very different shape and the most different number of holes - usually from four to thirteen. The pitch of the sound depends only on the size of the holes, and the ocarina, without additional holes, becomes ... an ordinary whistle.
The Italian and inventor Giuseppe Donati brought Okarinu to Europe - it was he who invented a more or less modern look of a “goose” with ten holes tuned to the note harmony familiar to Europeans. He also invented a special protrusion that looked like a mouthpiece (and at the same time the goose's beak - hence the modern name).
But in fact, Ocarina is a deceptively modern name for one of the most ancient musical instruments known to mankind. According to some historians, tools similar to the ocarin were used in ancient China 7 thousand years ago. Ceramic proto-okarin called " syun ." Russia also had its own ocarina - the very Dymkovo toys and filimonovskie whistles. The ancient Okarin had fewer openings and therefore the range of sound was much more limited - but the principle was the same as that of modern instruments.
In the 1960s, the Englishman John Taylor perfected the design of Donati - he made an ocarina with only four holes, which, however, had a different size. On the ocarina "English" design, you can play all the notes from the usual diatonic scale.
Or Pan flute , or multilateral flute is an instrument consisting of several tubes (usually from three to five) of different lengths (on average, from 100 to 160 millimeters) and diameter, fastened together. Each tube makes a sound in one key. Traditionally, multilateral flutes were made from reed, bamboo or reed stalks. Now panflute made from plastic. In modern variations, the instrument may have more tubes for additional sound variation. The tubes can go in several rows.
This tool is not very widespread now, but it has a rich history - it even appears in the well-known ancient Greek myth. The nymph Syrinx (or Syring) escaped the god Pan in love with her and asked for help from the river god. He turned it into a reed, from which Pan made a flute for himself and called it his beloved. Hence the ancient name of the flute - syring.
Different nations called syringing differently - for example, in Russia “Pan’s flute” was called Kugikly (after the name of the reed stems from which it was made - Kugi). The only difference was that the tubes did not fasten together - they could be interchanged in order to get a different build of the tool. Interestingly, Kugikly - a tool for predominantly ensemble play, it was rarely played solo.
The pipe is the umbrella name of the whole category of wind musical instruments. Usually the pipes and pipes were made of wood or reed. One end was cut obliquely, a tongue was made at the hole, in the very pipe - from 4 to 8 holes.
The history of the instrument (in one form or another) goes back to Kievan Rus. Sopilka - the name of the Ukrainian musical instrument with a structure similar to a pipe. The sopilka usually has 6 holes, but there are variations. One of them is the construction of Dmitry Deminchuk with ten holes of different sizes. This system turns the instrument with traditionally diatonic sound into a chromatic flute with half tones.
On such a pipe, you can play a variety of tunes, not only folk, in different frets and keys. And the sound will be more accurate - you do not need to partially clamp the holes to get different tones, as is the case with a recorder.
Another similar tool is Kalyuk. She, too, has about ten different names - an overtone flute, a selleflate from the Norwegians, a payupilli from the Finns. Kalyuk is a hollow tube with holes at the top and bottom, and a “whistle” at the top hole. The length and diameter of the tube is different. The player blows into the upper hole and adjusts the sound, opening and closing the lower hole with his finger. Kalyuk is more like a rhythmic instrument, which is most often used to maintain the rhythm, and not for the main melody.
ElPadawan CC Photo
Glass harmonic is a rare and little-known instrument with a very unusual sound and an original story.
In the middle of the 17th century, the glass harmonic was a construction of thirty to forty glasses filled with different amounts of water - the player touched the edges of the glasses, extracting "magic" sounds. In 1744, the Irish musician Richard Pakrich improved this technique - he created a tool called "seraphim".
A more or less modern harmonic design is a series of glass hemispherical disks strung on a rotating metal axis. The sound is extracted by rubbing or striking the performer’s fingers against wet glass. Lower notes (large discs) are on the left, higher (and small) on the right. The axis is set in motion by a pedal. It is this instrument that was called the “glass harmonic”. It boasts a fairly wide range - from two and a half to four octaves, which brings it closer to keyboard instruments.
The composers fell in love with the unearthly sound of the harmonica - Mozart wrote two adagios for her, Tchaikovsky used the ballet Nutcracker (Fairy Dragee Dance), Glinka in Ruslan and Lyudmila (The Wonders of Chernomor), Donizetti in the opera Lucia di Lamermur. Interestingly, in the 18th century, harmonics were tried to be banned because of its supposedly negative impact on the health and psyche of people and animals.
By the 20th century, they almost stopped playing glass harmonics. The instrument has become very rare - there are only a few dozen modern performers around the world. Since the instrument itself is very difficult to find, it is replaced by the very “proto-harmonica” from the 17th century - a set of glasses , which is sometimes called a “glass harp”.
Some of these tools appeared at about the same time in different parts of the world and in different cultures. They were called differently and somehow different from each other, but they were based on similar structures and principles of sound. Now many of them are unfairly forgotten, but there is a chance that a surge of interest in ethnic culture or (as is the case with glass harmonics) for instruments with unusual sound will return them at least a fraction of its former popularity.
Posts on the topic of our "World Hi-Fi":
From April 30 to May 10, we decided to hold a big fair sale - 400 items with discounts up to 80%! You can buy in the store, but you can not go anywhere and order delivery - it is carried out seven days a week, and if you order from 10,000 rubles, it will be free for you.
All this - examples of not very popular now musical instruments, which were quite widespread in the past.
Photo by Shunichi kouroki CC
')
Ocarina
Ocarina is the Italian (ocarina) name of the wind instrument, better known to us as a whistle. Okarins are those “birds” of clay, porcelain or wood that can be found in many ethnographic museums. Translated from the Italian ocarina means "goose". Modern ocarines are often made of plastic or polycarbonate.
Usually, ocarina basically has the shape of a sphere (most often egg-shaped), but in reality there is practically no “gold standard” for the instrument. Whistles have a very different shape and the most different number of holes - usually from four to thirteen. The pitch of the sound depends only on the size of the holes, and the ocarina, without additional holes, becomes ... an ordinary whistle.
The Italian and inventor Giuseppe Donati brought Okarinu to Europe - it was he who invented a more or less modern look of a “goose” with ten holes tuned to the note harmony familiar to Europeans. He also invented a special protrusion that looked like a mouthpiece (and at the same time the goose's beak - hence the modern name).
But in fact, Ocarina is a deceptively modern name for one of the most ancient musical instruments known to mankind. According to some historians, tools similar to the ocarin were used in ancient China 7 thousand years ago. Ceramic proto-okarin called " syun ." Russia also had its own ocarina - the very Dymkovo toys and filimonovskie whistles. The ancient Okarin had fewer openings and therefore the range of sound was much more limited - but the principle was the same as that of modern instruments.
In the 1960s, the Englishman John Taylor perfected the design of Donati - he made an ocarina with only four holes, which, however, had a different size. On the ocarina "English" design, you can play all the notes from the usual diatonic scale.
Pan flute
Or Pan flute , or multilateral flute is an instrument consisting of several tubes (usually from three to five) of different lengths (on average, from 100 to 160 millimeters) and diameter, fastened together. Each tube makes a sound in one key. Traditionally, multilateral flutes were made from reed, bamboo or reed stalks. Now panflute made from plastic. In modern variations, the instrument may have more tubes for additional sound variation. The tubes can go in several rows.
This tool is not very widespread now, but it has a rich history - it even appears in the well-known ancient Greek myth. The nymph Syrinx (or Syring) escaped the god Pan in love with her and asked for help from the river god. He turned it into a reed, from which Pan made a flute for himself and called it his beloved. Hence the ancient name of the flute - syring.
Different nations called syringing differently - for example, in Russia “Pan’s flute” was called Kugikly (after the name of the reed stems from which it was made - Kugi). The only difference was that the tubes did not fasten together - they could be interchanged in order to get a different build of the tool. Interestingly, Kugikly - a tool for predominantly ensemble play, it was rarely played solo.
Chromatic pipe (or sopilka)
The pipe is the umbrella name of the whole category of wind musical instruments. Usually the pipes and pipes were made of wood or reed. One end was cut obliquely, a tongue was made at the hole, in the very pipe - from 4 to 8 holes.
The history of the instrument (in one form or another) goes back to Kievan Rus. Sopilka - the name of the Ukrainian musical instrument with a structure similar to a pipe. The sopilka usually has 6 holes, but there are variations. One of them is the construction of Dmitry Deminchuk with ten holes of different sizes. This system turns the instrument with traditionally diatonic sound into a chromatic flute with half tones.
On such a pipe, you can play a variety of tunes, not only folk, in different frets and keys. And the sound will be more accurate - you do not need to partially clamp the holes to get different tones, as is the case with a recorder.
Another similar tool is Kalyuk. She, too, has about ten different names - an overtone flute, a selleflate from the Norwegians, a payupilli from the Finns. Kalyuk is a hollow tube with holes at the top and bottom, and a “whistle” at the top hole. The length and diameter of the tube is different. The player blows into the upper hole and adjusts the sound, opening and closing the lower hole with his finger. Kalyuk is more like a rhythmic instrument, which is most often used to maintain the rhythm, and not for the main melody.
ElPadawan CC Photo
Glass harmonic
Glass harmonic is a rare and little-known instrument with a very unusual sound and an original story.
In the middle of the 17th century, the glass harmonic was a construction of thirty to forty glasses filled with different amounts of water - the player touched the edges of the glasses, extracting "magic" sounds. In 1744, the Irish musician Richard Pakrich improved this technique - he created a tool called "seraphim".
A more or less modern harmonic design is a series of glass hemispherical disks strung on a rotating metal axis. The sound is extracted by rubbing or striking the performer’s fingers against wet glass. Lower notes (large discs) are on the left, higher (and small) on the right. The axis is set in motion by a pedal. It is this instrument that was called the “glass harmonic”. It boasts a fairly wide range - from two and a half to four octaves, which brings it closer to keyboard instruments.
The composers fell in love with the unearthly sound of the harmonica - Mozart wrote two adagios for her, Tchaikovsky used the ballet Nutcracker (Fairy Dragee Dance), Glinka in Ruslan and Lyudmila (The Wonders of Chernomor), Donizetti in the opera Lucia di Lamermur. Interestingly, in the 18th century, harmonics were tried to be banned because of its supposedly negative impact on the health and psyche of people and animals.
By the 20th century, they almost stopped playing glass harmonics. The instrument has become very rare - there are only a few dozen modern performers around the world. Since the instrument itself is very difficult to find, it is replaced by the very “proto-harmonica” from the 17th century - a set of glasses , which is sometimes called a “glass harp”.
Some of these tools appeared at about the same time in different parts of the world and in different cultures. They were called differently and somehow different from each other, but they were based on similar structures and principles of sound. Now many of them are unfairly forgotten, but there is a chance that a surge of interest in ethnic culture or (as is the case with glass harmonics) for instruments with unusual sound will return them at least a fraction of its former popularity.
Posts on the topic of our "World Hi-Fi":
- Wheel lira, harp and musical saw - instruments that did not become mainstream
- What are some unusual musical instruments used in the dub of horror
- "Yellow carrot bend": 8 unusual musical instruments
From April 30 to May 10, we decided to hold a big fair sale - 400 items with discounts up to 80%! You can buy in the store, but you can not go anywhere and order delivery - it is carried out seven days a week, and if you order from 10,000 rubles, it will be free for you.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/374467/
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