One of the bright and quite ancient representatives of woodwind instruments is a miserable one. It is a reed wind musical instrument, which was very popular among the population of Slavic peoples. There is an opinion that the ancestor of such a reed wind instrument with a single cane, like a clarinet, was that same pity. However, this is attributed to the Hungarian tarogato and the medieval shalyumo.
general description
A mute instrument is a tube, the material for which is a cane or reed plant, with a bell at the end made from the upper layers of the birch bark or animal horn. Sometimes, willow or elderberry was used for the main duct.
There are pitfalls (the description is presented in the article) by configuration, they are bifurcated or single-tube. The length of the instrument varies between 10-20 cm, while the number of holes on the tube for sound extraction can be from three to seven. In some southern territories of Russia, the local population attached a bell to a bifurcated pit.
A miserable musical instrument is quite easy to use. Anyone can cope with it, since it does not require trained breathing or any other special musical skills.
This wind musical instrument can be used in a solo program, play tunes in a duet or be part of an ensemble.
Tool etymology
Initially, the tool was positioned as shepherd's wretches, as it was used to attract attention and collect cattle and sheep by the shepherd himself. The wrecker was widely used in the territorial regions of modern Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Today it can be seen only at concerts held by folk folk ensembles.
The Russian pity is also known as the pity. Writer and publicist Vladimir Mikhnevich draws the attention of the public to the similarity of the root in the words "pitiful" and "zhalnik". The people of Novgorod called the zhalnik the ancient pagan burial ground of the mound type. Another meaning of the word was associated with an old cemetery or graveyard. In this regard, V. Mikhnevich suggested that the tool was used during rituals that were held in memory of the deceased after a burial or at certain dates of remembrance.
Historical excursion
Wind musical instruments were an important component of Russian folk music and an integral part of national culture. The first musical instruments were reliably noticed by scientists back in the thirteenth century BC. Percussion instruments appeared first, and then wind instruments, various horns and whistles. In ancient Russia, musical instruments were widely spread among shepherds and court buffoons: miserables, flutes and horns.
Also, these musical devices found application in the military squads of Kievan Rus. At princely courts, the sound of pity could be heard during various solemn gatherings and rejoices.
Some Russian tsars tried to destroy the culture of these musical instruments, staged persecution of musicians and imposed bans on the use of music. At that time, Russian national folk music suffered heavy losses in musical culture. But the popular love for musicians and their creations did not let their favorite traditions and instruments disappear.
Folk instrument
At the end of the nineteenth century, interest in Russian history and national culture rose in Russian society. This happened thanks to some researchers in the field of various folk instruments. At the same time, Russian musician, composer and balalaika virtuoso V.V. Andreev, organizer and leader of the first in the history of Russia folk instrument orchestra, conducted successful work on the revival of Russian instruments and their modernization. Simultaneously with these works, attempts were made to improve the bogey, flute and keychains.
By the way, a keychain is one of the names of a wretch used in the Tver region. There the instrument was made of willow, or, as the locals called it, delirium. From here came the name of the keychain. Unlike the miserable witch used by the shepherds, the keychain has a more gentle and delicate melodic movement. This is due to the fact that the musical object is made entirely of wood.
In different regions of immense Russia, the pity and its derivatives are known under various names. So, in the Kursk region it is called the horn, in the Gorky region it is the Ladush, in the Belgorod region it is the pishchik, in the Penza region it is the sipovka. The bifurcated zhaleka in the Vladimir region is called dvuchatki, and in Ryazan it is called zhanka, in the Penza region it is called a cane.
Varieties of Miserable
Musical instrument zhaleyka is divided by design into two types:
Sound from a miserable pit of different types is extracted according to the same principle. It consists in the vibration of the tongue peep. The instrument has a seven-sound sound system, there is a reproduction of notes "re", "salt", "la", less often - "do", "fa", "mi". The sound range is similar to a high singing voice. By ear, the miserable sound seems sad and very compassionate, the melodies come out dreary, but with the proper skill they can be quite funny.
Zhaleika is widely used in folk orchestras and is a very common musical instrument. The double-barreled miserable sound is still very similar to the bagpipe. Its lower tones sound at the same height, performing the function of a bourdon. Some minds believe that the wretch came from a bagpipe. A noticeable similarity of the pipe bagpipes and tubules of the miserable in constructive terms. There is also a sound similarity in the character of the sound.
Single pity
This musical item looks like a small tube up to 20 cm long, made of willow, elderberry or reed cane. On one side of the tube there is a peeper, having in its design a tongue of a goose feather (or reed). At the other, lower end, a bell made of birch bark is attached. Often the material for such an element becomes the horn of a large animal, such as a cow. It happens that the tongue on the tube itself is incised.
To get a melody, holes are located on the chewing tube. Their number varies from 3 to 7 pieces. Single range pitfalls can be soprano, alto or bass.
Two-piece or twin cheater
It is a pair of tubes of the same size, each with its own game holes, the number of which can dramatically differ from each other. One tube may be the lead, the other may be secondary, and the first, respectively, will have more holes. The tubes are inserted into one common bell.
It is possible to extract the melody of their two-component miserable one by one from each pipe, and simultaneously from two.
Such a musical instrument is intended mainly for a two-voice melodic game.