Double clarinet

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The term double clarinet refers to any of several woodwind instruments consisting of two parallel pipes made of cane, bird bone, or metal, played simultaneously, with a single reed for each. Commonly, there are five or six tone holes in each pipe, or holes in only one pipe while the other acts as a drone, and the reeds are either cut from the body of the instrument or created by inserting smaller, slit tubes into the ends of the pipes. The player typically uses circular breathing.

Contents

The double clarinet is not a clarinet in the modern western sense of the term, since it lacks a register key; in this regard it is more closely related to the chalumeau.

Varieties

Zummara Sittawiyya, collection of Museo Azzarini Zummara.png
Zummāra Sittawiyya, collection of Museo Azzarini

Double clarinets are found primarily in Middle Eastern music, but also in India; [1] there are different versions and names in different countries. In Yemen, the double clarinet is called a mizmār (a word used for other types of instruments in other countries). More common terms are zamr, zammāra, arghūl, and mijwiz. The first two of these names have the same linguistic root as mizmār. [2]

In Albania the instrument is called a zumare. It has five holes in each pipe, and a bell. [2]

In Egypt the instrument is known as a zummāra. Both tubes are about thirty to thirty-five centimetres long; one may have four to six holes while the other has none and acts as a drone, or both can have holes. Its range is very limited, about a fourth. [2]

The arghūl is primarily an Egyptian instrument, having a melody pipe with five to seven holes and a longer drone pipe without holes. It occurs in several sizes. In one specimen the melody and drone pipes are about 80 and 240 centimetres long, respectively, though the drone has removable sections to alter its pitch. [3]

Ghoshmeh. Instrument made from bird bones. Iran. Ghoshmeh.jpg
Ghoshmeh. Instrument made from bird bones. Iran.

Iran has a variety of double clarinets, made from raptor bones, copper or aluminum tubing or wood. The instrument is called Dozaleh (دو زَله) in Kurdistan, from zal (زَل), the Kurdish word for the stem of the zal reed. The instrument goes by a variety of names in Iran. It is known as Jannati (Persian, "pair": جفتی) in Hormozgan, Do Ney (Persian, "two reeds": دو نی) in Lorestan, Do Sazeh (Persian, "two structures": دو سازه) in South Khorasan Province, and Ghoshmeh (Persian: قوشمه) among Khorasan's Kurdish people.

The Iraqi double clarinet is also called a zummāra, although this term also is used for a single-tube simple clarinet. It is similar to the Syrian mijwiz . [2]

In Morocco and Tunisia the instrument, called zamr, has a single or double bell. The Moroccan instrument has six holes in each pipe. The Moroccan mizmār or zamr rīfī is over 100 centimetres long, again with six holes in each pipe, ending in two bull's horns. [2]

The double clarinet in Syria, western Iraq, Lebanon, northern Israel, and Jordan is called a mijwiz . It is about thirty centimetres long, typically with six holes for each tube. Melodies are played in unison on both pipes, often with one pipe tuned slightly higher than the other to produce acoustic beats. [4]

The Yemeni instrument is called a mizmār. It is attached to the player's mouth using a muzzle. [2]

In Italy, the Sicilian zampogna bagpipe, also called a ciaramedda , is additionally referred to as a "doppio clarinetto" (double clarinet), because of its two equal length single reed chanters. A version of this instrument is also played in the Province of Reggio Calabria. Other single reed, double chanter bagpipes found in Southern Italy include the Sordulina and the zampogna "a moderna", both of which are found in Calabria. In the province of Messina, in the local dialect, the single blade can reed mounted in the instrument's chanters and drones is called a "zammara."

In the island of Ibiza, in the Balearic Islands of Spain, there is the reclam de xeremies . Basque Country has the alboka .

Other meanings

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bagpipes</span> Woodwind instrument

Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia, around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chanter</span> Part of the bagpipes

The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or the Uilleann pipes, it also may have a number of keys, to increase the instrument's range and/or the number of keys it can play in. Like the rest of the bagpipe, they are often decorated with a variety of substances, including metal (silver/nickel/gold/brass), bone, ivory, or plastic mountings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalumeau</span> Woodwind instrument; predecessor of modern clarinet

The chalumeau is a single-reed woodwind instrument of the late baroque and early classical eras. The chalumeau is a folk instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day clarinet. It has a cylindrical bore with eight tone holes and a broad mouthpiece with a single heteroglot reed made of cane. Similar to the clarinet, the chalumeau overblows a twelfth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zampogna</span> Italian bagpipe

Zampogna is a generic term for a number of Italian double chantered bagpipes that can be found as far north as the southern part of the Marche, throughout areas in Abruzzo, Latium, Molise, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Apulia and Sicily. The tradition is now mostly associated with Christmas, and the most famous Italian carol, "Tu scendi dalle stelle" is derived from traditional zampogna music. However, there is an ongoing resurgence of the instrument in secular use seen with the increasing number of folk music festivals and folk music ensembles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circular breathing</span> Breathing technique for wind instruments

Circular breathing is a breathing technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by inhaling through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks.


The mijwiz is a traditional Middle East musical instrument popular in Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. Its name in Arabic means "dual," because of its consisting of two, short, bamboo pipes with reed tips put together, making the mijwiz a double-pipe, single-reed woodwind instrument.

The arghul, also spelled argul, arghoul, arghool, argol, or yarghul, is a musical instrument in the reed family. It has been used since ancient Egyptian times and is still used as a traditional instrument in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Jordan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alboka</span> Traditional Basque woodwind instrument

The Basque alboka is a single-reed woodwind instrument consisting of a single reed, two small diameter melody pipes with finger holes and a bell traditionally made from animal horn. Additionally, a reed cap of animal horn is placed around the reed to contain the breath and allow circular breathing for constant play. In the Basque language, an alboka player is called albokari. The alboka is usually used to accompany a tambourine singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single-reed instrument</span> Class of woodwind instruments

A single-reed instrument is a woodwind instrument that uses only one reed to produce sound. The very earliest single-reed instruments were documented in ancient Egypt, as well as the Middle East, Greece, and the Roman Empire. The earliest types of single-reed instruments used idioglottal reeds, where the vibrating reed is a tongue cut and shaped on the tube of cane. Much later, single-reed instruments started using heteroglottal reeds, where a reed is cut and separated from the tube of cane and attached to a mouthpiece of some sort. By contrast, in a double reed instrument, there is no mouthpiece; the two parts of the reed vibrate against one another. Reeds are traditionally made of cane and produce sound when air is blown across or through them. The type of instruments that use a single reed are clarinets and saxophone. The timbre of a single and double reed instrument is related to the harmonic series caused by the shape of the corpus. E.g. the clarinet is only including the odd harmonics due to air column modes canceling out the even harmonics. This may be compared to the timbre of a square wave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed pipe</span> Type of organ pipe

A reed pipe is an organ pipe that is sounded by a vibrating brass strip known as a reed. Air under pressure is directed towards the reed, which vibrates at a specific pitch. This is in contrast to flue pipes, which contain no moving parts and produce sound solely through the vibration of air molecules. Reed pipes are common components of pipe organs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pibgorn (instrument)</span>

The pibgorn is a Welsh species of idioglot reed aerophone. The name translates literally as "pipe-horn". It is also historically known as cornicyll and pib-corn. It utilises a single reed, cut from elder or reed, like that found in the drone of a bagpipe, which is an early form of the modern clarinet reed. The single chambered body of the elder pipe has a naturally occurring parallel bore, into which are drilled six small finger-holes and a thumb-hole giving a diatonic compass of an octave. The body of the instrument is traditionally carved from a single piece of wood or bone. Playable, extant historical examples in the Museum of Welsh Life have bodies cut and shaped of elder. Another, unplayable instrument at the Museum, possibly of a later date, is made from the leg bone of an unspecified ungulate. Contemporary instruments are turned and bored from a variety of fruitwoods, or exotic hardwoods; or turned from, or moulded in plastics. The reed is protected by a reed-cap or stock of cow-horn. The bell is shaped from a section of cow-horn which serves to amplify the sound. The pibgorn may be attached to a bag, with the additional possibility of a drone, which is then called pibau cwd; or played directly with the mouth via the reed-cap.

Diplica or diplice is a single-reed instrument from the Balkans, which has been playing in different forms through many parts of Croatia, but now survives mainly in the Baranya region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hornpipe (instrument)</span> Instrument

The hornpipe can refer to a specific instrument or a class of woodwind instruments consisting of a single reed, a large diameter melody pipe with finger holes and a bell traditionally made from animal horn. Additionally, a reed cap of animal horn may be placed around the reed to contain the breath and allow circular breathing for constant play, although in many cases the reed is placed directly in the mouth. It was also known as the pibcorn, pibgorn, or piccorn. One rare Scottish example, called the stock-and-horn, is referred to by Robert Burns among others. Other hornpipes include the Spanish gaita gastoreña, the Basque alboka and the Eastern European zhaleika. When joined with a bag, Baines refers to the instruments as "bag-hornpipes".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ciaramedda</span>

The ciaramedda or ciaramèddha (Sicilian) is a type of zampogna with equal length double chanters. Other terms for this instrument include "zampogna a paru" and "terzalora" or simply "cornamuse".

Reed aerophones is one of the categories of musical instruments found in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. In order to produce sound with these Aerophones the player's breath is directed against a lamella or pair of lamellae which periodically interrupt the airflow and cause the air to be set in motion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reclam de xeremies</span>


The reclam de xeremies, also known as the xeremia bessona or xeremieta, is a double clarinet with two single reeds, traditionally found on the Pityusic Island of Ibiza, off the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

The surdelina, sourdeline or sampogna was a kind of bag pipe which was described and illustrated by Mersenne as the musette de Naples or musette de Italie its construction was very complicated. Mersenne states that the instrument was invented by Jean Baptiste Riva, Dom Julio and Vincenze; but Mersenne seems to have made alterations himself in the original instrument, which are not very clearly explained. There were two chanters with narrow cylindrical bore and having both finger-holes and keys; and two drones each having ten keys. The four pipes were fixed in the same stock, and double reeds were used throughout; the bag was inflated by means of bellows.

References

  1. "List A1: Wind Instruments of Regional Cultures Worldwide". Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments. 2000. Archived from the original on 2007-05-26. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pochér, Christian (2001). "Mizmār". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN   978-1-56159-239-5.
  3. Conner, William J. & Howell, Milfie (2001). "Arghūl". In Sadie, Stanley & Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN   978-1-56159-239-5.
  4. Pochér, Christian (2001). "Mijwiz". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN   978-1-56159-239-5.
  5. "Bass Clarinet". Encyclopedia of Organ Stops. 1999. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
  6. "Extended Possibilities: William O. Smith at 90 | International Clarinet Association". Archived from the original on 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-10-05.