Romanian Traditional Instruments The Pipe

1
Romanian Traditional Instruments The Pipe

•  The instumental repertoire has a special place
  in the Romanian Folk Music. Even if some of the
  instrumental songs have their origin in the vocal
  music, most of them were created as instrumental
  from the start, their musical structure being
  related to the technical possibilities of the
  instrument.
• Most intruments can be found in other
  countries cultures as well.
• Romanian people use a variaty of instruments,
  some of which are older, others are younger, made
  in the factories. The folk intrumentalists
  sometimes changed the structure of the instrument
  or the way it is being used.
• Statements about the instruments used in
  different ages of the Romanian History are found
  in the old writings, in the chroniclers or
  foreign travellers writings.
• The first researcher of the instruments used by
  Romanians was T.T. Burada which published in 1877
  Research on the Romanians dances and musical
  instruments

2
Romanian Traditional InstrumentsThe Pipe

• The instruments are classified by the way the
  sound is being produced
• -         pseudo- instruments are taken directly
  from the nature- grass blade, elder stalk,
  hemlock stalk, fish scald, birch tree bark, tree
  leaves.
• -         So callled idiofone instruments(which
  produce sounds through the vibrations if their
  own bodies) are built out of materials which
  vibrate through hitting or rubbing bells,
  Romanian dramba, hit plates, litlle bells,
  spurs, chains, Romanian duruitoare, used as a
  part of traditions or related to certain
  practices.
• -         Proper instruments classified in

Membrane instruments Romanian doba,
daireaua, drum, big drum, Romanian buhai

Cords instruments Romanian titera, guitar,
cobs, little dulcimer( with pinched strings),
big dulcimer(with hit strings),
violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass,Romanian
large gorduna, broanca, beches
Foto Cobza
3
Romanian Traditional InstrumentsThe Pipe

• Air instruments bugle, pipes( Romanian
  tilinca, pipe of Dobrogea, Bulgarian caval,
  cork pipe, twined pipe, lateral mouth pipe),
  panpipe, bagpipe, ocarina.

4
Romanian Traditional Instruments The Pipe

• One of the most widespread instrument in
  Romania is the pipe. It represents a family of
  instruments which vary in dimension, the material
  from which they are built and the way they are
  built. As for dimension, the pipes can be small-
  25 to 35 cm, medium- 35-50 cm and big- 50-80 cm.
• Usually the pipes are built out of wood, but in
  the modern days they are built out of metal or
  even plastic.As for the construction, it can be a
  tube opened at both ends, it can have 5,6, 7
  holes or none or in the same piece of wood you
  can have one tube or two.

5
Romanian Traditional Instruments The Pipe

• The most common pipe is the so called
  tilinca it is a simple tube opened at both
  ends, about 50-80 cm long. At the upper end the
  tube is slightly thinned so that the air column
  is split on this side. The sounds are obtained
  through the complete or partial closing or
  opening of the lower end of the intrument with
  the index finger. The instrument is well known in
  the North of Moldova.

In Moldova and Nasaud there is a pipe without a
stopper, with six holes for the fingers called
Moldavian Pipe. The upper end is slightly thinned
as well and it can be small, with the holes at
equal distances, or it can be big, with the holes
grouped in numbers of three. The sound of this
pipe is pre-eminent using a diatonic musical
scale.
6
Romanian Traditional Instruments The Pipe

• The pipe of Dobrogea is part of the pipes
  without a stopper , but besides the 6 holes there
  is another cut opening in the opposite side of
  the pipe. These pipes are made out of reed.

The Bulgarian Caval is made out of three tubes.
The pipe has 7 holes for the fingers, cut at
equal distances and grouped in thee and four,
and in the opposite side there is a small
opening. The lower end of the pipe has 4
breathing holes
7
Romanian Traditional Instruments The Pipe

• The pipes with stopper have on the upper end a
  wooden stopper the form of the instrument is
  somehow conical, and the stopper is placed on the
  thicker side having an opening in order to let
  the air go through. At an equal distance with the
  lenghth of the stopper there is a rectangular cut
  called vrana which cuts the column of air. The
  vrana is cut in the opposite side of the pipes
  wall than the one where the finger holes are
  placed.
• The caval is a pipe with 5 holes for the
  fingers. Because of this the technical
  possibilities of this one are more reduced.Its
  spread on the Southern part of the country and it
  is used for the slower songs.

8
Romanian Traditional InstrumentsThe Pipe

• The twined pipe is a kind of pipe with 6 holes
  for the fingers, having near it another pipe with
  a pedal.The two pipes are made out of the same
  piece of wood and are built separately and then
  glued together.The two pipes can be of equal
  sizes, or the second one can be shorter.. The
  pipe with the pedal sometimes has o hole, this
  way having a changeable pedal.
• The lateral mouth pipes, just as the flute, are
  spread on some parts of Muntenia and Oltenia.
  They are made out of wood and have 6, sometimes 7
  holes for the fingers all on the same side with
  the mouth of the instrument. The biggest ones
  are called flutes and the small ones piccollos.

9
Romanian Traditional Instruments The Pipe

• Playing the pipe sometimes demands a special
  technique, a proof of virtuosity. No matter what
  they are called, what size or material are they
  made out of, the pipe is a beloved instrument and
  it has thrilled the life of the Romanian people
  because here first you hear the songs, and then
  you see the sun shinning(Nicolae Iorga)