Well, to start the ball rolling, and to answer a question from Tomaz about the Avar pipes, here goes. Back in the year 193-something an archaeologist named Denis von Bartha (to use his German name) or Bartha Dénes (to use his real Hungarian name) discovered a pair of bone pipes in Jánoshida, Hungary. At the time no others were known. Since then about half a dozen have been unearthed. The unusual thing about all this is that the first discovery is also the most unusual one. The two pipes here are unequal, the right-hand one having two fingerholes, the left one four. The left upper three are fingered by three left-hand fingers, the lowest one on this pipes, and the two on the right-hand pipe being fingered by two right-hand fingers. This is an arrangement that is very familiar to anyone knowing about the double pipes of the Ural mountains, and territories further south, and south-east. Numerous nations in the area, both Finno-Ugric, (related to the Hungarians) and otherwise (mostly Turkic) use bagpipes of rather similar double chanter arrangement. The common thread here is that one hand plays the upper fingerholes of one of the chanters, the other playing the lower fingerholes of both chanters by covering them with the tip of the finger on one, and the middle joint on the other. This produces a kind of quasi-polyphony. Similar arrangements are known in the Dalmatian region (a few arrangements of fingerings here), and also in places like Turkey, Georgia, and further East and South-East. These latter oens generally have five fingerholes each on two chanters, but some of these can or can not be blocked with wax. When some of the fingerholes are blocked, the instrument becomes in practical terms similar to the above-described Avar pipes. Bartha published an account of the first set of pipes in 1934. The account is very in-depth, and also very badly flawed. He did not understand the importance of the right kind of a reed to be fitted to the chanter, and used some completely unsuitable reeds for his experiments with the sound. As a result he came to the conclusion that the Avar pipes produced some kind of chromatic-microtonal scale with a compass of perhaps a fourth. In reality, the pipes (or the reconstructions, at least), fitted with suitable reeds play exactly as expected from similar types, that is, a diatonic range of a sixth. Similar types (those of the Urals) have tipically either five or perhaps six fingerholes in total, spread between the two chanters in various combinations, and produce a range of a sixth or seventh. To finish off this little essay, here is an example of the Chuvash type being played. https://youtube/watch?v=oe9VcwNFZuI While I dont know the disposition of the fingerholes, it sounds like one has three , the other four, or possibly five, the lower ones played by the other hand. This sound is what you can expect from the Avar pipes. The later discoveries that I mentioned have all had five fingerholes on both chanters, making them identical to the Turkish and North African types. (Tulum, mezued, etc.) However, dnt forget that some of the fingerholes could be closed off with wax, as in some of the Turkish tulums.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 07:06:38 +0000
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