Birbynė

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Soprano Birbynė, front and back views

The birbynė is a horn pipe played in Lithuania with a single reed . The diatonic folk musical instrument, which used to consist of a plant reed with an idioglottic reed, was developed in the 20th century into a chromatic wind instrument used in classical music. There are instruments of different sizes for the soprano, tenor and double bass positions. In addition to the box zither kanklės (in Finland kantele ) it is considered a national instrument in Lithuania. In terms of instruments, it belongs to the clarinet family and is most closely related to the birbine types played in Latvia , including the ganurags .

Design

The most frequently used form (also as a soloist) is the Birbynė tuned to soprano. It has a pipe made of wood (usually maple or apple wood). The inner bore is partly cylindrical, partly conical. Using a speaker key überbläßt the birbyne in the small tenth , d. H. with the root note a, you simply overblown c '. The range of the soprano birbynė can be up to two and a half octaves (from a to c´´´). It has ten finger holes, eight on the top and two thumb holes on the bottom. The reed is attached to a mouthpiece that is similar to the mouthpiece of the clarinet and is made of ebony or horn. At the end of the sound tube sits a bell from cow horn. The lower finger holes that are gripped with the right hand create a chromatic scale. The holes that are gripped with the left hand are in whole and semitone spacing of the usual C major scale . In this area, raised or lowered tones are generated using auxiliary handles. The soprano birbynė sounds soft and warm in the lower register with echoes of the saxophone, in the higher register a bit sharper with echoes of the oboe.

The tenor birbynė is similar to the soprano birbynė, but is longer. Some keys are used to make it easier to play. Their scope ranges from H - c´´. Its powerful and full sound is often compared to the cello .

The sound tube of the Contrabass-Birbynė is made of brass and lacquered in wood color. Your mouthpiece is angled, the bell is a large horn or an imitation horn. The range extends from F sharp 1 to C '. In the low register it sounds like a contrabassoon, in the high register like a clarinet.

Origin and style of play

The name birbynė is first documented in literature in 1747 (Ruigys). It was originally a generic term for reed instruments of various kinds. It comprised straw chalumeaux, pipes with goose feather leaves, reed pipes made of different types of wood and even a goat horn with a reed mouthpiece.

Today's Birbynė emerged from a horn whistle called ragelis ("little horn"). This was 25–30 cm long and had 5–7 finger holes; only the lower octave sounded pleasant. It was used in folk music until the end of the 19th century, but then increasingly replaced by the clarinet and accordion, so that it was almost forgotten in the 1930s and 1940s.

In the course of the revival, instruments in different voices were created to better meet the needs of folklore ensembles (in C, D and G, as well as a bass and a double bass instrument). In order to be able to play new Lithuanian compositions with chromatics and modulation, the instrument maker Serva and the folk ensemble leader Samuitis developed the current form of the high birbynė. The deeper instruments were added accordingly.

The birbynė is now played as a soloist or in an ensemble with other Lithuanian folk instruments. A Birbynė quintet often consists of two soprano, two tenor and one double bass birbynė . In addition to folklore, the repertoire also includes other light music. Classical solo literature for clarinet and other wind instruments is also played on the Birbynė.

literature

  • Arvydas Karaška: Birbynė. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 340

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Lithuanian birbyne. Retrieved September 5, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Instruments - Ensemble LietuvaEN. Retrieved September 4, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Egidijus Virbašius on folkinstruments.lt, see Pučiamieji instrumenatai ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.folkinstruments.lt
  4. ↑ LITHUANIAN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC> WIND INSTRUMENTS (Aerophones). Retrieved September 4, 2016 .