Panpipe

panpipe

 or syrinx

Romanian panpipe; in the Horniman Museum, London

(credit: Courtesy of the Horniman Museum, London)

Wind instrument consisting of pipes of different lengths made of cane (less often wood, clay, or metal) arranged in a row. It is blown across the top, each pipe producing a different note. The panpipe dates from c. 2000 BC and is found worldwide, especially in eastern Africa, South America, and Melanesia.

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Panpipe 

a folk wind instrument. The panpipe, the oldest multi-tubed flute, derives its name from the Greek god Pan, who was often represented as playing the instrument. It consists of a bundle of tubes of different lengths, either unbound or tied together. The tubes are open at one end, and each emits one tone, whose pitch depends on the size of the tube. The instrument’s range varies according to the number of tubes, which may be as many as several dozen. The panpipe is used in solo and ensemble performance. It is made of wood, bone, reeds, or clay and exists under different names in many countries. Variations of the panpipe are the Greek syrinx, the Russian kuvykly, the Georgian larchemi or soinari, the Lithuanian skudučiai, and the Moldavian and Rumanian muscal or nai.

REFERENCE

Steshenko-Kuftina, V. K. Drevneishie instrumental’nye osnovy gruzinskoi narodnoi muzyki, vol. 1: Fleita pana. Tbilisi, 1936.