Armenian clarinet - a unique musical instrument

The heritage of the ancient Armenian people is not only the unique nature of their country, traditions, cuisine and language, but also a rich variety of various folk instruments. Among them there are drums, and strings, and wind instruments. One of the most colorful and famous is the Armenian clarinet, or, as it is called, the duduk. Its sound is the visiting card of national music. Who among us at least once did not hear the Armenian songs, the clarinet in which he sang? Let's talk about this beautiful instrument.

What is he like?

The Armenian clarinet belongs to the group of reed wind instruments. In addition to the name "duduk", which is only a hundred years old, it is sometimes also called "ciranapoh". It is a traditional ancient name, translated as "apricot pipe". At the beginning of the 20th century the duduk was assigned to one-octave diatonic wind instruments.

The length of the Armenian clarinet can be 28, 33 or 40 centimeters. On the outside of the tube there are seven holes, and on the inside - one more (it is clamped during the game with the thumb).

The play on this instrument consists of clamping the holes on both sides and a different pressure on the double tongue. More often than not, Armenian music, the clarinet in which it soloes, is a game of a pair of musicians - one of them (the so-called ladies) creates a background, and the second - a duduk - plays the melody itself. It is more difficult The one who plays on a lady (such a musician is called damkash), because he can not stop for a minute. With this game, a special technique of continuous breathing is used. In this case, the player inhales air through the nose, and also keeps the air in the cheeks, while releasing the flow to the tongue of the instrument.

A bit of history

The Armenian clarinet, whose history, according to research, counts from two to three thousand years, is mentioned even in the ancient manuscripts of Urartu and the documents of King Tigran the Great (ruled until 55 BC).

In many countries of the world there are instruments similar to duduk, differing from it and from each other only by the number of holes and the material from which the body of the clarinet is made. Even in the kindred Belarus, we have a "colleague" of the Armenian duduk - it's a pipe! There are "relatives" in Georgia, Dagestan and Europe.

Unrepeatable sound

The oldest prototypes of duduk were made not of wood, but of bones and reeds. Now it is made only of wood. A unique feature of the Armenian tool is the use of apricot wood. In others Walnut, plum and other trees are in use, however, the charm of sound inherent in the Armenian duduk is lost. Its sound is not nasal and sharp, but soft, like the voice of a man. The instrument's timbre is velvety, muffled.

Love and lyrical songs are usually performed on a long clarinet, but for dance motives it is better to use a short duduk. The sad sound gives the instrument a wide reed tongue.

At first glance, it seems that playing duduk is very simple, because it only has one octave. In fact, this is not the case, and the musicians who own this instrument are highly respected in Armenia. He is the companion of all important events - funerals, holidays, weddings, folk festivals.