Panpipes
A row of joined pipes of different lengths, closed at the bottom.
What it means
The panpipes consist of a row of joined pipes of different lengths that are closed at the lower end. The player blows across the upper edge of the pipes, much like blowing across a bottle opening, and moves from pipe to pipe by shifting the mouth. Each pipe sounds one note; the length determines the pitch. The material is usually bamboo or reed, more rarely wood.
Musical use
The name goes back to the Greek god Pan, who in legend invented the syrinx. Panpipes are found worldwide, for instance in the Andes as zampoña or siku and in Romania as the nai. The sound is soft, breathy and somewhat mysterious. The Romanian nai player Gheorghe Zamfir made the instrument internationally known in the 20th century.
Panpipes should be distinguished from the recorder and transverse flute, in which a single tube yields several notes through finger holes, and from the principle of the organ pipe, which resembles that of the stopped pipe.
Performance practice
Place your lips lightly on the edge of the pipe and blow across it at a shallow angle. Practise single pipes first until the note speaks cleanly, then move calmly from pipe to pipe. Short pipes need little air, long ones more.