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 chronicler’s 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 pipe’s 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.It’s 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)