Reed wind instruments. Reed sound-generating device of a musical instrument and reed musical instrument, for example, button accordion, accordion, accordion, etc. Reed musical instruments

The group of reed musical instruments includes instruments in which the sound is formed due to the vibrations of elastic reeds placed in the openings of special voice bars. The reeds are excited due to the difference in air pressure created on one and the other side of the reed.

The reed group includes harmonicas, button accordions, accordions and a number of other instruments. Sometimes this group of instruments includes some wind instruments, in which single or double reeds (reeds) are used. In contrast to wind instruments with reeds (reeds), the reed group includes only those instruments that use slipping (passing) reeds placed in the so-called voice bars.

Division of reeds into chromatic and diatonic

By building a scale reed instruments divided into diatonic and chromatic. The former mainly include harmonicas, the latter include button accordions, accordions and some other instruments. Sometimes harmonica (harmony, harmonica) is understood as the entire group of reed instruments with sliding metal reeds located in the openings of the voice bars and having special channels for supplying a stream of air.

Differences between reed instruments

Reed instruments, which have air chambers of variable volume (bellows), are structurally little different from each other and are varieties of accordions, button accordions, and accordions.

Reed instruments differ among themselves in tuning, sound range, number of voices ( greatest number simultaneously sounding reeds with one button or key pressed), the number of registers (switches for air supply channels to the reeds), the presence or absence of the ability to include ready-made chords.

Symbols depending on characteristics

For the convenience of determining the type of instrument, depending on the number of voices, registers and sound range, it is accepted
conventional numerical designation, for example accordion 41 X 120-III.7/2. The first number (41 in the example) indicates
the number of keys on the right side of the body (in melody), the second number (120) is the number of buttons on the left side of the body (in ac-
accompaniment). If the second number is a fraction, then put in the numerator total number accompaniment buttons, the denominator is the number of selectable buttons. The third number (III) shows the number of voices, the fourth number (7/2) shows the number of registers in the melody (numerator) and in the accompaniment (denominator).

Features of the reed structure

The reeds (voices) corresponding to one pressed button (key) are tuned to different frequencies. So, with four voices, one of the reeds is the main one (string), and its frequency corresponds to the notation, the second - per octave
below the main one, the third is an octave higher than the main one, the fourth is tuned to the same frequency as the main reed, but with an increase or decrease in it by several hertz ( ), which in combination with the main tones creates beats (physiological unison).

A series of bars (reeds) having a frequency higher than the frequency of the main reed is called a piccolo series. The reeds can be tuned to other frequencies.

Different timbres of sound are obtained by turning on the corresponding registers, i.e. groups of reeds. Instruments with one or two voices usually do not have register switches.

Modern reed instruments are widely used for solo, ensemble, orchestral performance of musical works, as well as for accompaniment and educational purposes.

Accordion as a type of reed instrument

The accordion is the simplest of the reed instruments equipped with bellows.

The accordion consists of a neck 12 (Fig. 7.1), game buttons 11, a grid 9 that protects valves 10 from mechanical damage, keyboard mechanics levers 13, resonators 8 with voice melody bars, bellows 7, resonator 6 with voice accompaniment bars, mechanics 14, left keyboard buttons 4, left keyboard flaps 3, left mesh 2, left strap 1.

When the bellows is stretched (compressed), a pressure difference is created inside and outside the instrument body, which, when the valve is open (the button is pressed), leads to the movement of air through the corresponding voice bar and the excitation of the reed (voice) in its opening.

Harmonies are mainly made with two, three and four voices. Three- and four-voice harmonicas can have 1-4 registers.

The accordion accompaniment is made both ready-made and optional. The tuning is mainly diatonic.

Accordions are divided into two main types: “lamps”, which produce sounds of the same height when the bellows are compressed and stretched, and “wreaths”, which produce sounds of different heights when the bellows are compressed and stretched with the same button pressed. “Wreaths” are made with Russian tuning (a higher tone is produced by compression) and German (a higher tone is produced by stretching) tuning.

The sound range of accordions can be different. For most of them it is approximately three octaves (Table 7.1).

The scale (arrangement of buttons) “khromki” (Fig. 7.2) is different from the scale “wreaths” (Fig. 7.3).

Accordion buttons can be arranged in one, two or three rows, depending on which the accordion is called one-, two- or three-row. The accompaniment has buttons for bass sounds and buttons for ready-made chords (Fig. 7.2, b).

The chords are made up of major and minor triads and seventh chords.

With a three-row arrangement of buttons, the row closest to the bellows consists of buttons called bass buttons. Second and third rows
consist of alternating pairs of buttons, the bottom of which is bass, the top is chord.

The melody reeds are adjusted in accordance with the accepted sound ranges and layout.

There are a number of national accordions (Tatar, Azerbaijani, Dagestan) adapted for performing national music. They differ in layout (special keys are used instead of buttons) and sound range.

The main disadvantage of accordions is their limited performance capabilities (exclusively in comparison with button accordions and accordions, of course).

The group of reed instruments includes harmonicas, button accordions and accordions. Their source of sound is metal reeds mounted on slats and set into vibration by a stream of air pumped by bellows.

The main parts of the instruments are the body, neck with keyboard, right and left mechanics, resonators with valves and reeds - voices. The body consists of right and left boxes connected by fur. The right box contains a keyboard mechanism and strips with reeds for playing melodies; on the left - all the same nodes for performing ready-made chords and basses necessary for accompaniment.

The neck with the keyboard is installed in the right box of the case. In accordions and button accordions, the neck has slots for keys; in accordions, it is made like a piano keyboard. The keys are levers, at one end of which there is a button, the other end is connected to a valve that allows air access to the reeds. The right and left mechanics serve to lift one or more valves when a key is pressed.

The mechanics may have additional switches - registers that allow the inclusion of additional reeds that sound higher or lower for a certain interval, as a result of which the timbre of the instrument sounds changes.

The resonators are a series of separate wooden chambers, closed from the outside with brass or aluminum strips. Metal tongues made of spring steel, bronze or brass are attached to the strips at one end. Each resonator chamber usually has two reeds that work alternately when the bellows is compressed and unclenched. Paired reeds can be tuned in unison or to different pitches.

When you press a key on the right keyboard, one, two, three, or four reeds can sound simultaneously. Accordingly, instruments are distinguished between one-voice, two-voice, three-voice and four-voice.

Reed musical instruments divided into diatonic and chromatic.

The scale of diatonic instruments is built from the main steps without intermediate semitones (according to the diatonic scale). Diatonic instruments include lame harmonicas, wreath harmonicas and national harmonicas - Tula, Saratov, Kazan, etc.

The scale of chromatic instruments is built on a chromatic scale, which allows them to perform more complex musical works. Chromatic instruments include button accordions and accordions.

The main indicators of these instruments in the price list are indicated by a conventional code, where the first number is the number of keys on the right keyboard, the second is the number of buttons on the left, the third is the largest number of simultaneously sounding reeds when pressing one key, the fourth (numerator) is the number of registers in the melody, the denominator - in accompaniment.

Diatonic harmonicas are intended for use in simple pieces of music.

Harmony wreaths have different pitches of sounds when squeezing and unclenching the fur.

Lame accordions have become more widespread; the pitch of the sound of a lame does not depend on the direction of movement of the bellows. Accordions are produced: G-23X12-II, G-25X25-III, etc.

The button accordion is a chromatic reed instrument that differs from the harmonium in its large scale volume.

When articulating an instrument, its characteristics are indicated by five numbers, with the number of switches indicated by the fifth element. For example, the code B-52Х100-III-5 means: button accordion, 52 keys in the melody, 100 buttons in the accompaniment, three-voice with five register switches.

The accordion, unlike the button accordion, has a piano melody keyboard. The “voices” are tuned with a “spill”, i.e., with some deviation from the main tone in the upward direction.

Accordions are produced mainly three-voice: A-28Х40-III-2; A-34Х80-III-2, А-34Х80-III-5, А-41Х X120-III-2; A-41Х120-III-5/2; A-41X120-III-7/2.

Reed musical instruments must meet the following quality requirements: the vocal reeds are precisely tuned, easily excited by slight movement of the bellows, there should be no excessive air leakage (it is important that the connections of the resonators with the soundboard and the connections of the bellows with the body are airtight), the mechanism must work easily, smoothly and relatively silently. The surface of the case must be polished or lined with artistic celluloid and be free from stains, scratches and other defects.

Accordions and button accordions are sold in individual cases with a passport and instructions for using and caring for the instrument. Harmonies are also produced in cases, but they can be packaged in cardboard boxes.

Wind musical instruments. Wind instruments are those whose sound source is an oscillating column of air blown into the channel of the instrument by the performer. The longer the channel, the lower in pitch the sound is produced.

Depending on the method of sound production and design features, wind instruments are divided into embouchure, lingual (reed) and labial.

In embouchure wind instruments, sound is produced by blowing air into a tube through a funnel-shaped mouthpiece while the performer's lips are tense. These instruments are divided into signal and orchestral.

Signal wind instruments consist of a tube and a funnel-shaped mouthpiece. It is impossible to extract all the sounds of the chromatic scale from them. They are used to send signals. These include the bugle, fanfare, hunting and infantry horn.

Orchestral wind instruments allow you to extract all the sounds of the chromatic scale. The most common of these are trumpet, cornet, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, horn and zugtrombone.

The pipe is a metal tube bent into one turn. This instrument is the highest sounding of the orchestral group and is often used for solo performance.

Cornet, alto, tenor, baritone, bass are arranged according to the same principle. They differ in size (and therefore in pitch), as well as in appearance. These instruments are also called saxhorns (a pipe that expands from the mouthpiece in a capsule-like manner along its entire length and at the bell).

The horn is one of the richest sounding instruments; It is a long tube, folded into three turns and ending in a wide bell.

A zug trombone is a double-bent metal tube with a wide bell. It differs from other orchestral instruments in that it does not have a valved voice machine; To change the pitch of the sound, a retractable pipe (scene) is used.

Lingual (reed) wind instruments have a reed as a sound exciter - a reed, fixed in the upper part of the instrument. Lingual instruments can be with a single-leaf reed of the mouthpiece type (clarinets, saxophones) and with a two-leaf reed of the mouthpiece type (oboe, bassoon). To change the pitch of the sound, all instruments have a lever-keyboard mechanism.

The clarinet consists of a bell, lower and upper knees, and a mouthpiece. A single-leaf reed is attached to the mouthpiece. The tool channel is cylindrical, all parts of the tool are detachable.

The clarinet has a range of three and a half octaves, the timbre is flexible and expressive.

The saxophone, in terms of its sound, occupies an intermediate position between wooden and brass (embouchure) instruments. The saxophone consists of a mouthpiece, a lead tube, a body with a bell and a lever-valve mechanism.

A single-leaf reed is attached to the mouthpiece. Saxophones vary in size and tuning.

The oboe is similar in appearance to the clarinet, but differs from it in that it has a conical channel and a double-lobed reed (double reed).

This device gives the instrument a unique, slightly nasal timbre.

The bassoon, unlike other woodwind instruments, is characterized by a low timbre. It consists of two elbows folded together - wooden tubes with a conical channel. When playing, a curved metal tube (“esik”) is inserted into the mouthpiece part of the tube, at the end of which a double reed is attached. The bassoon has a more complex valve-lever mechanism compared to the oboe.

Labial wind instruments originated from folk pipes. When playing these instruments, the air stream is blown at an angle to side hole- labium. The air is cut through the hole and vibrates.

This group of instruments includes flutes, which are a tube consisting of a head and middle and lower bends. There is a hole on the side of the head for air injection. Flutes are characterized by a high, cold sound timbre.

Spare parts and accessories for wind instruments include mouthpieces, reeds, valve cushions, mouthpiece machines, caps, mutes.

Basic requirements for the quality of wind instruments: accuracy of tuning, right action voice machine or valve-lever mechanism, careful processing and finishing.

Reed musical instruments include harmonicas, button accordions, and accordions. These instruments can be used for solo, ensemble and orchestral performance of musical works, as well as for accompanying and educational purposes.

Reed instruments differ in their sound range, the number of keys and buttons on the right and left keyboards, the keyboard structure, the number of registers (timbre switches), the number of voices and the nature of their settings (in unison, in spill).

Modern harmonicas and their improved types - button accordions and accordions - have the same main parts and components.

In Fig. Below is the appearance of the accordion. The main parts and components of the accordion are: the body (1), consisting of two halves - right and left; fur chamber (2); neck with keyboard (3); right and left mechanics (4); resonators with voice strips.

The body consists of right and left half-hulls with decks on which all parts and mechanisms are mounted. For the manufacture of the body and soundboard, birch, beech, maple, alder wood, birch and beech plywood, aluminum sheets and aluminum alloys. The outside of the case is usually covered with celluloid. The half-hulls are connected to each other by fur.

The bellows is a corrugated chamber consisting of 13-17 hermetically glued borin folds, which, when stretched and compressed, create a vacuum or air pressure inside the instrument. The fur is made of cardboard covered with fabric and hermetically sealed to the right and left halves of the body.

The neck is attached to the right half of the body and serves to accommodate the melody keys.

The right and left mechanics are designed to transfer movement from the keys, right and left keyboard buttons to the valves, which open the corresponding holes in the decks when playing.

The right mechanics serves to lift the melody valves, and in the harmonium, each key in the melody opens one valve, passing a stream of air to the corresponding reeds.

The left mechanics have a more complex arrangement of lever systems and, when the button is pressed, several valves of the accompanying bass part of the accordion are simultaneously opened.

Resonators with voice strips are elements of sound production. The voice bars are mounted on special resonator blocks with partitions. The slatted resonators installed in the right half of the body are called melody resonators, and those in the left half are called bass resonators. The number of melody resonators depends on its type.

Voice bars are metal plates (frames) with slots (openings) above which metal reeds are located. The tongues and slots in the plates are prismatic in shape. Each sound has its own reed (voice). The shorter the reed, the higher the sound, and vice versa - the longer the reed, the lower the sound. The reeds are riveted to the plate with their thickened end, the free end of the reed enters the slot of the plate and, under the influence of a passing stream of air, vibrates, forming sound waves.

The quality of the sound of the voice, its strength and partly its timbre depend on the accuracy of the fit of the reed to the slot of the plate with a minimum gap, on the quality of the material from which the reed and plate are made.

Despite its limited musical capabilities, the accordion is widespread and popular in rural areas. This is explained by the fact that the accordion, having clear, full-sounding chords, melodious and melodic “voices”, ensures, thanks to its design, ease of mastering the art of playing it, and is an accessible musical instrument for a wide range of performers.

Harmonies have a diatonic scale. The sound range is about three octaves.

The assortment of accordions is represented by the so-called wreaths and chromes. In addition, national harmonicas are produced, i.e., adapted for the performance of national melodies.

“Wreaths” are characterized by the fact that they have different pitches of sounds when squeezing and unclenching the fur. “Khromki” are more popular; the pitch of their sound does not depend on the direction of movement of the fur.

There are one-, two-, three-, four-voice harmonicas, which have, respectively, one, two, three, four reeds that sound in unison when one key is pressed. Increasing the number of reeds sounding in unison leads to increased sound volume.

Reed instruments are marked using an alphanumeric code:

♦ in the first place is a letter indicating, respectively, A - accordion, B - button accordion, G - accordion;

♦ in second place - a number indicating the number of keys on the right keyboard;

♦ in third place - a number indicating the number of buttons on the left keyboard;

♦ in fourth place - a Roman numeral indicating the number of voices, i.e. simultaneously sounding reeds when pressing one key;

♦ in fifth place - a fraction, the numerator of which indicates the number of register switches in the melody, and the denominator - the number of register switches in the left keyboard (in the accompaniment). If there are no register switches in the left keyboard, the fifth place is a number indicating the number of register switches in the right keyboard (in the melody).

In table The characteristics of several types of varieties of harmonies are given.

The assortment of accordions also includes harmonicas, which differ in that air is supplied to the voice bars by the lungs of the performer, and not by bellows. They are not widespread in our country.

Accordion appeared as a result of the improvement of the accordion. Unlike the harmonium, it has a chromatic scale (12-step equal temperament scale), a sound range of up to 5 octaves, so its musical capabilities are much wider. It is used to accompany vocal performances and for solo performance of musical works.

Basically, the structure of the accordion and the principle of its operation are close to the accordion discussed above. However, the design of the button accordion units is much more complicated. Appearance button accordion is shown in Fig.

By design, the left keyboard mechanisms of the button accordion are divided into ready-made, elective, and ready-elective.

A ready-made mechanism is a mechanism that allows you to press one key to produce the sound of a fixed chord of three or four sounds. The finished accordion mechanism has the most simple design, and the mechanisms of button accordions and accordions consist of a much larger number of parts.

An elective mechanism is a mechanism that allows the performer to independently type chords. It significantly expands the sound range of the instrument, bringing it closer to the range of a piano. It is difficult to play a button accordion with a selectable mechanism, so they are not widely used.

The ready-chosen mechanism includes, as it were, two mechanisms: with ready-made chords and with chosen ones. A special register switch can be used to transfer the instrument from one mechanism to another. The ready-to-elect mechanism is much more complicated than the previous ones.

Depending on the purpose, design features, the largest number simultaneous sounding reeds, the presence of register switches, button accordions can be divided into several groups:

1. Two-voice accordions with different sound ranges without register switches (B-43x80-P, etc.) These are instruments with a reduced sound range, small sizes, are intended mainly for teaching children.

3. Button accordions with ready-choice accompaniment (BVG-58x100-Sh-7, etc.) are the most complex in their design and perfect in performance, playing and acoustic properties.

4. Orchestral button accordions - piccolo, prima, alto, tenor, bass, double bass. In my own way structural device they differ from ordinary button accordions in that they have a keyboard only on the right side of the body and differ in sound range: piccolo button accordion has 3 octaves, prima - 4 octaves, alto - 31/2 octaves, tenor - 3 octaves, bass - 3 octaves, double bass - 21/2 octaves.

5. Timbre button accordions: button accordion-trumpet, button accordion-flute, button accordion-bassoon, button accordion-oboe, button accordion-clarinet. These button accordions are fundamentally different from all previously considered button accordion designs; they imitate the sound of a trumpet, flute, bassoon, oboe, and clarinet. Depending on the nature of the tuning of the reeds, which sound simultaneously when a certain button is pressed, button accordions are of two types: “in unison” and “in spill”. Bayans, the reeds of which are tuned in unison, i.e., to one note, are used during initial learning to play and for accompaniment folk songs and dancing. Bayans, the reeds of which are tuned to the spill, that is, with some detuning in relation to each other in the direction of increasing, are called accordionized and are used to perform light and pop music.

Accordion According to the principle of sound formation, the design of resonators and bass mechanism, body, soundboards, bellows chamber and the materials used, it is almost no different from ordinary button accordions. The appearance of the accordion is shown in Fig.

The difference between a button accordion and an accordion is in the shape of the body, the melody keyboard, and the design of the neck.

The accordion has a piano keyboard in the melody, its neck is significantly expanded and lengthened, the body has a richer external design.

The accordion's tuning is twelve degrees, evenly tempered (the scale is full chromatic). Sound range up to 2 octaves. Adjusting the reeds "on tap".

Full accordions are usually called instruments that have 41 keys in the melody keyboard mechanism and 120 buttons in the bass mechanism. Of the complete ones, the most common are following types accordions: A-41Х120-Ш-5/2; A-41x120-Sh-7/3; A-4IxI20-IV9/3 - the range of sound of the melody (in the main one) from the note F of the small octave to the note A of the third octave.

Incomplete instruments include instruments with a reduced sound range and small sizes. They are mainly intended for educational purposes. These are accordions: А-34х80-Ш-5; А-34х80-Ш-5/2 - the sound range of the melody from the G note of the small octave to the E note of the third octave; А-37х96-Ш-5/3 - sound range from the note F of the small octave to the note F of the third octave.

Reed instruments are a family of musical instruments that are characterized by sound production using a reed - a small flexible vibrating plate.

Sheng - the first reed instrument

The first reed musical instrument is supposedly about 2 thousand years old. We are talking about an ancient Chinese harmonica called “sheng”. In the countries of the Ancient East, it was considered a sacred instrument and was used during religious events. The sheng has existed for several millennia and was one of the most popular instruments in Burma, Laos and Tibet. It was also known in Russia, where it first arrived in the 10th century. Information has been preserved confirming that in the mid-18th century, the courtiers of the Russian Tsar were fond of playing the shen.

Structurally, the sheng was a small round box with bamboo tubes inserted around its circumference, which were equipped with a plate with a tongue at the lower edge. Sheng produced sounds in twelve keys and was easy to use.

Hand accordion

Not all reed musical instruments blow air through the mouth; bellows can perform this role. They were invented 1.5 thousand years BC. V Ancient Greece or Egypt, only they were used not for making sound, but for fanning the fire.

The first hand-made one was made in 1797 by František Kiršnik. He made his living tuning clavichords and organs. One day, the famous scientist Christian Kratzenstein invited him to his workshop to conduct a series of experiments, as a result of which a new musical design was invented - reed strips. Using this design, Frantisek assembles a small organ and takes it to St. Petersburg.

The manual harmonica has taken root in Russia. The first production of such harmonics was opened in Tula. It was considered a romantic instrument due to its gentle and expressive sound and accompanied folk songs well.

Invention of the mouth and hand harmonica

Harmonicas in last years are experiencing a new surge in popularity. And this musical instrument was invented by the German Frederick Bushman in 1821, giving him beautiful name"Aura". In his harmonica, the reeds, set in motion by the exhalation of the musician, could freely slip into the holes of the frame and make sounds. There are two types of harmonicas of this type - chromatic and diatonic.

A year later, Bushman invented another type of reed musical instrument - a small hand harmonica. He simply equipped the tuning fork, which was used to tune organs, with leather bellows.

Accordion

The accordion is an improved version of the Bushman small hand harmonica. The date of birth of the accordion is considered to be 1829, when a new type of harmonica with accompaniment on the left keyboard was first introduced in Vienna. Each of the five buttons of this harmonica produced one chord when compressed and another when the bellows was stretched. This type of harmonica with chord accompaniment is called accordions.

Viennese and German type harmonics

Harmonics are usually divided into two types, depending on the country where they are manufactured and, accordingly, design features. From a sound point of view, they have no fundamental differences.

Thus, German diatonic harmonicas are characterized by placing the melody valves on the right cover, and the keyboard on the extended neck on the left. They were otherwise called two- or four-plank, since there were two planks in each row.

The Viennese harmonicas had a different arrangement of valves and keyboard: the valves were on the right cover, and the left keyboard was already on the accompaniment cover. These harmonics are otherwise called two-row harmonics.

As you can see, the classification of instruments into types and families is suggested by the features of their design and method of sound production. If whistling ones have a whistle at their core, then reed ones have special plates - “reeds”, double or single. We made just such a squeaker in the form of a double tongue in a few seconds on a dandelion stem. In folk wind instruments, both birch bark and thin reed plates can serve as pischik, goose feather or bamboo and some other sound-producing thin materials, for example, plastics.

The blown-in stream of air encounters a thin tongue on its way and tends to either bend it or bend it, depending on its position. The elastic tongue tends to take its original position. Vibration occurs, the tongue sounds, and the column of air located in the bell resonates, amplifying this sound. The typical and most common instrument of this family is the pity.

Zhaleika

In a short story from the book “Above Isterma,” the poet V. Bokov describes his meeting with a shepherd in his homeland in the village.

“...On the elderberry bush, under which the fire was glowing, I saw a pitiful thing.

Play!

He took the pity and started playing. There was something wild, melancholy, primitive in the melody.

Across the river, on the field of the Marat collective farm, a tall figure of a shepherd rose. Wild, melancholy sounds poured out from there too. The two people talked to each other for a long time.

“Oh, what a heartfelt conversation we had,” said “my” shepherd after finishing the game.”

Everything in this unpretentious story is figurative and true! And the fact that the shepherds played soulfully, sadly, and that this music “smells of the forest.”

Of course, the name of the instrument comes from the root of the words “to regret”, “pity”. The sound of pity is tart, sharp, but pitiful, crying, due to noticeable vibration (trembling).

The zhaleika is a wooden (willow, elderberry, reed) or (in our time) metal tube from 140 to 160 mm in length. A squeak is inserted into its upper end. A natural cow horn or birch bark bell is placed on the lower end as a resonator. It is because of this horn or bell that in some areas the pity is incorrectly called a horn. The tongue (pischik) in old zhaleks was cut directly on the main tube. Later, they began to make a special mouthpiece for the squeaker, which is inserted into the tube. In this case, if the squeaker is damaged, it is easy to replace it with a new one. From 3 to 6 holes are cut on the tube. They are applied and used in the same way as on a pipe. Depending on the size of the penny, there can be different tunings, which is very important in ensemble and orchestral playing on them.

The figure shows the dimensions of the pity in the G major scale with a lowered VII degree, that is, F instead of F sharp.

This instrument was also designed by N. Z. Kudryashov and has a number of innovations compared to the ancient folk pity. The main one is the method of attaching the pika. It should be thin (a few tenths of a millimeter, like a razor blade), even and smooth. Its approximate dimensions are indicated. The pischik is attached to a special voice tube (mouthpiece), with one open end inserted into the main tube of the pity. The mouthpiece is made of wood. Its upper end is deaf, and along the mouthpiece itself a rectangular narrow cut is made, which should be 2-2.5 mm narrower than the width of the squeak. The internal cavity of the tube should be visible through this cut. The length of the cut must exactly match the length of the squeak. The cut goes from the upper end of the instrument and ends with a rectangular threshold, into which the squeak placed on it will rest.

The figure shows that in the very top part the mouthpiece is cut with a slight rounding, which creates a small zone between it and the squeak lying on top in which the squeak can oscillate.

Usually the peep was tied with threads near the entrance of the mouthpiece to the main tube. Kudryashov suggested attaching it using a ring made from a polyvinyl chloride insulating tube (cambric), which every electrician has on hand. The progressiveness of this innovation lies not so much in the reliability and cleanliness of the fastening itself, but in another, more important issue. In order for the pity to have a well-defined set tuning, the peep by itself, without a resonator, must produce the main sound of this tuning (for example, G in G major). Previously, you had to struggle with its size for a long time to get the desired tone. Now, to do this, it is enough to change the size of the oscillating end of the squeaker by moving the tubular ring, and its structure will become different. Such changes can be made within a quart. This means that using the found simple device Not only does it make it easier to find the required tone, but it also becomes possible to replace it, and therefore, if necessary, change the entire structure of the pitty. This is a lot for modern musical practice.

Before playing, the squeaker must be soaked with saliva each time, otherwise it will sound bad and hoarse. You need to blow into the pity with some effort. The greater this effort, the higher its tuning can rise (within 1/2-1/4 tone), and vice versa. Folk performers use this to align their tuning when playing or to harmonize with singers.

When fastening individual parts of the zipper, we recommend using modern (colored) insulating tape. With its help, it is easy to thicken the ends of articulated tubes, seal cracks, etc. The horn is glued technical glue type BF 6, super cement, etc. The mouthpiece is best secured by friction. In order not to accidentally damage the peep, a special cap made of a reed, wooden or cardboard tube is put on the mouthpiece.

Paired or double stingers are known and still exist, tuned and used in the same way as paired pipes. Unlike pipes, paired pipes are fastened together and united by one bell.

Bagpipes

Why are you playing bagpipes? Don't worry!

Don’t we still use these and similar expressions today? Do they have anything in common with the world famous musical instrument?

The bagpipe is an air reservoir, the so-called bellows, made of whole goat or calf skin, with pipes inserted into it. One tube is inserted into the hole from the front pair of legs; it is intended for air injection and is equipped check valve. A playing tube with a squeaker is inserted into another hole; in some places - a pipe-type pika; in Russia, as a rule, they are kind of pathetic. This playing tube has finger holes cut into it. The leading melody is performed on it. One or two tubes are inserted into the neck hole, each producing just one, low, drawn-out sound, tuned to an octave, fourth or fifth to the main scale level of the melodic tube. These drawn-out sounds are called bourdons and sound continuously, like a harmonic background to the melody. It was precisely the monotonous sound of the bourdons that gave reason to compare the bagpipes with all the red tape and delay in business.

Russian name The instrument is believed to have originated from the name of the place of its appearance - Volyn - a region located along the upper reaches of the Western Bug and was part of Kievan Rus. This area was inhabited by the Volynians, an East Slavic tribe who lived there in the 9th-11th centuries. However, in Ukraine itself, Moldova and Poland, this instrument is called a goat (based on the origin of the fur), in Belarus and some Russian regions - a duda.

Bagpipes were spread virtually all over the world. IN different countries at different nations she had her own design features, but the principle of its structure is the same everywhere. Even most of the local names of bagpipes contain the same words: “bag” and “buzz”, “play”. Compare, for example, English name bagpipes bagpipe (bag - bag, pipe - game, pipe), German Sackpfeife (zack - bag, pfeife - pipe), French cornemuse (ancient pipe), Dutch dudelsack (pipe bag), etc.

When playing, the bagpipes are held in front of you, or more often under the arm. The bellows is filled with air through the valve tube, and under its pressure the squeakers begin to sound. The sound of the bagpipe is continuous: during breaks in the air pumping, the bagpiper presses the bellows to the body, and the sound continues.

The first information about bagpipes in Russia dates back to the 16th-17th centuries. At that time it was a very common instrument; it is repeatedly mentioned in folk songs, choruses, and fairy tales.

The instrument was especially popular among buffoons, bear handlers and court musicians of the Amusement Chamber. Later - among wandering poor musicians. By the beginning of the 20th century, this instrument was gradually replaced from practice by other, less complex and labor-intensive designs. However, for example, in Scotland the bagpipes are cultivated as a national relic and are even included in military bands. In our country, individual examples of bagpipes can be seen, perhaps, only in museums of musical culture.

Surna

The history of music knows cases of a wide variety of mutual influences and interpenetration of instruments of different peoples, especially those neighboring geographically. Some instruments, such as strings, were born and developed in different parts light independently of each other. Others, on the contrary, were undoubtedly borrowed from peoples with more ancient civilization. It is precisely this kind of instrument that includes the surna, which is close to the Transcaucasian wind instrument zurna in name, structure, and sound.

Surna, sometimes called antimony or colza, was usually made from elm (a southern type of wood, very dense and strong). This instrument is regularly mentioned in written historical monuments starting from the 13th century, but no reliable descriptions, drawings, or even authentic copies of it have survived. If we proceed from the analogy of surna with the eastern zurna, which is still common among the peoples inhabiting the Caucasus and the adjacent regions, then this wooden tube with several playing holes, a small conical bell and a double, less often single, reed squeak. Some researchers of folk musical instruments argue that the surna is an ambu-shure instrument (see the next chapter), and possibly an embouchure-reed instrument. 6 In particular, the Russian surna (an instrument of the Terek Cossacks) shown in the figure was played in two ways: as an ambu-shurny and as a reed.

The pity-type tongue was located in the mouthpiece in a special tube. The sound of the surna is sharp and nasal. It was used either by buffoons in their wild, daring dances, or in military use, until the reign of Peter I, who replaced all national instruments in military bands with Western, brass ones. Gradually, the surna almost fell out of use, perhaps partly because it was constantly mentioned in royal and church decrees among those prohibited, and the people were forced to replace it with other instruments similar to it, but with different names. The keychain that still exists today is very similar to the surna.

Keychain

This is one of the softest and most harmonious in timbre of the reed family of instruments. It is like an intermediate variety of zhaleika and surna. Its tube is almost straight, gradually widening towards a cone-shaped bell. Double reed, like an oboe. Hence the proximity of the sound to the latter. Essentially, this is a small oboe of folk origin. In all other respects (in terms of the number of holes, structure, technical and dynamic capabilities) the keychain is akin to its predecessors.

It is believed that the keychain appeared in the Tver province and received such an obscure name from the local name for the willow - bredina, from which it was made.

The figure shows the dimensions of the soprano G major keychain. It was played by a former artist of the choir orchestra. Pyatnitsky V. Voronkov. The body of his instrument is turned to lathe made of boxwood and consists of two halves inserted into one another. Voronkov used ordinary oboe reeds in his practice, which he made himself or bought in music stores. The sound of his instrument is gentle and beautiful in lingering melodies, sharp and playful in fast, dancing ones. To change the tuning, special rings or wax are used (see the chapter on whistling instruments).