Tver pathetic. Musical instrument zhaleika: description, history. Photos at different stages of production

Musical instrument: Zhaleika ========================= At one time in our country, Grigory Alexandrov’s wonderful comedy “Jolly Guys” about the funny adventures of a talented and the cheerful shepherd Konstantin Potekhin. There are comical sequences in the film that made the audience laugh uncontrollably. Kostya's pets: cows, sheep and piglets, hearing the familiar sounds of their shepherd's instrument, who was asked to play a little music during a dinner party, burst into the main hall and committed a grandiose pogrom there. Animals, even those that belong to livestock, are quite intelligent creatures, distinguish well and always follow a familiar sound, so many shepherds used to skillfully play folk wind instruments, as this greatly helped them in their work. The shepherds held special respect for the pipe, horn and zhaleika - an ancient Russian folk instrument.

Zhaleika is an ancient Russian folk wind wooden musical instrument - a wooden, reed or cattail tube with a bell made of horn or birch bark. HISTORY Today, unfortunately, we cannot trace the history of the pity from the very beginning of its emergence. Wind instruments have existed on Russian soil since time immemorial. In the era of Kievan Rus, they were used without fail in military affairs: they notified of danger by making so-called protective sounds, and also pleased the princes at feasts and amused the common people at festive festivities. Unfortunately, no one gives us an accurate description of the instruments played by our ancestors, and even in ancient chronicles there is almost no mention of them. We also know very little about the pity; we have only received information that she was an indispensable participant in funeral rites called “pity.” Perhaps it is because of this everyday custom that the instrument has such a strange name. Also, the pity was very loved by shepherds, who used it not only in their direct work, but also to amuse people at various holidays. In addition, the instrument was in demand among amusing people popular in Rus' in the 15-17th centuries - buffoons, whose performances were very loved by the common people. However, the performances of these traveling artists often contained caustic attacks on secular and ecclesiastical authorities, causing them serious discontent. As a result, buffoons in the mid-17th century during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov were subjected to disgrace and persecution, and their instruments were mercilessly destroyed as the product of demonic forces. Russian national musical culture was then dealt a strong blow, and it suffered great losses. But, nevertheless, the shepherd's pity continued to sound and traditionally greeted the first rays of the rising sun with its sound.

The era of revival of interest in national culture occurred at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Thanks to real patriots, including V. Andreev, N. Privalov, O. Smolensky, G. Lyubimov and other enthusiasts, many Russian folk instruments received a second life. They were not only restored, but significantly improved, and then included in the first orchestra of Russian folk instruments under the direction of V. Andreev. The zhaleika, or, to be more precise, its variety, the keychain, has also undergone some changes and has also found its rightful place in the orchestra. The keychain, unlike the zhaleika, had a softer sound, since it was made entirely of bredina, a type of willow tree, hence the name of the instrument. The improvement of the pity continued; in the workshops of musical instruments created in Moscow by G.P. Lyubimov, an ethnographer, musician, performer and conductor, an attempt was made to create an instrument with a chromatic tuning. Later he became a soloist of the Great Russian Orchestra under the direction of V. Andreev O.U. Smolensky, a guslar and a psaltist, designed instruments of various sizes: piccolo, soprano, alto and bass, which were subsequently used in the psaltery quartet, and then in the famous “horn-player choirs.” Once upon a time, pity was widespread throughout Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. Today, the pity is used very rarely as a solo instrument; its sound is mainly used in orchestras of Russian folk instruments, as well as ensembles performing folk music.

DEVICE AND VARIETIES OF ZHALEIKA There are two varieties of Zhaleika - single and double (double-barrel). A single sting is a small tube made of willow or elderberry, 10 to 20 cm long, into the upper end of which is inserted a squeak with a single tongue made of reeds or goose feathers, and a bell made of cow horn or birch bark is put on the lower end. The tongue is sometimes cut on the tube itself. There are from 3 to 7 playing holes on the barrel, thanks to which you can change the pitch of the sound. The pity scale is diatonic. The range depends on the number of playing holes. The timbre of the pitiful woman is shrill and nasal, sad and pitiful. The zhaleika was used as a shepherd's instrument; tunes of different genres were played on it alone, in duets, and in ensembles. A double (double-barrel) sting consists of two tubes of equal length with playing holes, folded side by side and inserted into one common bell. The number of playing holes for paired pity pipes is different; as a rule, there are more of them on the melodic pipe than on the echoing one. They play both pipes at the same time, extracting sound either from both at once, or from each pipe separately in turn. Paired zhaleiki are used for one-voice and two-voice playing. Single stingers are common mainly in the northern regions of Russia, and double ones - in the southern regions. In the Tver province, shepherds made zhaleiki from willow, locally called nonsense, which is why zhaleyki there began to be called trinkets. The entire body of the keychain consisted of wood, which is why its sound was softer. In 1900, V.V. Andreev introduced an improved type of pity into his orchestra, which he called a keychain. In its appearance, this pity is similar to the folk one; it has a double oboe-type reed. In addition to the usual playing holes, it has additional ones with valves that allow you to obtain a chromatic scale.

Interesting facts ➣ Zhaleika is probably the only instrument that has so many names in one country. It is called a duda, a fletta, a pishelka, a keychain, a sipovka, a zhalomeyka, a pishik, a ladushka, or simply a horn. ➣ The sound of the pity is so loud that it can be heard six kilometers away. ➣ In Rus', a shepherd in a village was considered a very important person, whom everyone respected. He got up before everyone else at first light and played the wake-up call on his instrument. Passing by a house, the shepherd performed a certain tune, the hostess, hearing him, knew that it was time for her to drive out the cow. ➣ The best performers on the pity in Russia were not professional musicians, but shepherds. ➣ The shepherd, having played his instrument, could easily gather the animals. Even a lost cow could find its way back to the herd by the sound of a familiar instrument. ➣ A whole generation of Soviet pop fans remembers well the name of the wonderful singer Valentina Vasilievna Tolkunova. In the artist’s very diverse repertoire there were two very popular songs in which the ancient Russian instrument zhaleika was depicted in a very poetic way.

Zhaleika is an old Russian folk wind wooden musical instrument - a wooden, reed or cattail tube with a bell made of horn or birch bark.

A shepherdess in a green meadow
He made himself a horn from birch bark,
And plays from dawn to dusk,
Even at night the nightingales sing along.

A song flows about how by the river
The girls sat down to weave wreaths for themselves.
And one is so incredibly good
What troubled the shepherd's soul?

And now he can neither sleep nor eat,
And only the sad ringing of songs flows.
Thoughts in my head, and only everything about her,
There is no one in the world dearer to him.

The girl has dark blue eyes,
With a bright bow her blond braid,
You hear, hear, beauty, the horn,
The shepherd plays a song for you.

Zhaleika is the name of a folk wind musical instrument belonging to the reed group. This is a traditional shepherd's instrument. Zhaleika was used mainly by residents of Smolensk, Voronezh, Kursk, Pskov, Tver, Novgorod, as well as Moscow, Ryazan and Tula regions. According to its design, the stings are divided into single and double (paired). This instrument is called differently in the regions of Russia; single - horn" (Kursk region); ladusha" (Gorky region); ,pischik"(Belgorod region); ,sipovka"(Penza region); double - doubles" (Vladimir region); zhalankas" (Ryazan region); , canes" (Penza region)

Two-part pity

The principle of sound production is the same for all pity bugs: it is the vibration of the squeaker tongue.
The word, Zhaleika" is not found in any ancient Russian written monument. The first mention of zhaleika dates back to the end of the 18th century. There is reason to assume that zhaleika was present before that in the guise of another instrument. The origin of the word, zhaleika" has not been established. The scale of the instrument is diatonic, the range depends on the number of playing holes. The timbre of the pitiful woman is shrill and nasal, sad and pitiful. They play tunes of different genres on the penny alone, in duets, or in ensembles.

In a number of regions, the zhaleika, like the Vladimir horn, is called the “shepherd’s horn.” As a result, when a written source speaks of a “shepherd’s horn,” we cannot know exactly what instrument we are talking about.

The scale of the instrument is diatonic, the range depends on the number of playing holes. The timbre of the pitiful woman is shrill and nasal, sad and pitiful. The instrument was used as a shepherd's instrument; tunes of different genres were played on it alone, in duets, and in ensembles.

A double pitty consists of two tubes of equal length with playing holes, folded side by side and inserted into one common bell. The number of playing holes for paired pity pipes is different; as a rule, there are more of them on the melodic pipe than on the echoing one.

They play both pipes at the same time, extracting sound either from both at once, or from each pipe separately in turn. Paired zhaleiki are used for one-voice and two-voice playing. Single stingers are common mainly in the northern regions of Russia, and double ones - in the southern regions.

In the Tver province, shepherds made zhaleiki from willow, locally called nonsense, which is why zhaleyki there began to be called “trinkets.” The entire body of the keychain consisted of wood, which is why its sound was softer.

In 1900, V.V. Andreev introduced an improved type of pity into his orchestra, which he called a keychain. In its appearance, this pity is similar to the folk one; it has a double reed of the oboe type. In addition to the usual playing holes, it has additional ones with valves that allow you to obtain a chromatic scale.

Once upon a time, pity was widespread throughout Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. Nowadays it can be seen, perhaps, only in orchestras of Russian folk instruments

Making stingers from reeds

Firstly, we need material, that is, reeds. Don’t confuse it with cattail, we don’t need it at all!

The word “reed” refers to many plants, including cattails, reeds, and the so-called “nunts”. We need common reed - a perennial grass, from 1 to 4 meters in height, with panicle inflorescences. It has a hollow, geniculate stem. Reed grows along the marshy shores of lakes and rivers, in swamps.

So, we take a backpack, a knife, put on waterproof shoes and go for the reed (for dry (!) reed). Get ready for the fact that your crazy hands can turn into crazy legs, as you will have to walk for a long time. Once in the thicket of this plant, it is necessary, as Kozma Prutkov bequeathed, to look at the root, since it is at the bottom, near the soil, that the thickest knees are located. We are interested in elbows with a diameter of 7 mm and a length of 15 cm. If you are planning to make a pity, you will also need birch bark from a fallen birch tree (it is easier to remove the bark from it, and in general you need to protect nature!). Now that you have collected a lot of suitable material and warmed up your cold limbs, let’s begin processing it and making a pipe. We need the following tools - a sharp knife, a round or semicircular file (if you have one, if not, no problem), a long stick (you can take the rod from a pen, etc.) and a match.

First, you need to clear the leaves from the reed. Then we separate the knees strictly at the joint!

Since we are consumed by impatience, we do the simplest option. Take a suitable knee (diameter 7 mm, length 15 cm).

We saw off at the break point (you can use a jigsaw).

Take a needle file or a sharpened match and pierce the membrane.

Inside, the reed stem is covered with a thin film that must be removed. To do this, we take a long stick and clean it inside with back-and-forth movements, and then blow out the barrel. Using a sharp knife, remove a thin layer from the edge where the membrane is.

Here you will understand for the first time why you need a whole bag of reeds. A tongue will appear in the cleaned area. The thicker it is, the more force will have to be applied to make it vibrate. The thinner, the more likely it is to stick. The pitch of the sound depends on the length, thickness and width of the reed. The tongue is the main part of the pipe! We make the tongue approximately 2.5 cm long and 4 mm wide. Like this.

Now you can try to extract the first sounds. Does not work? You may have positioned the pipe incorrectly in your mouth. The tube should go quite deep into the mouth in order to allow the tongue (not yours, but the pipe) to vibrate. You must close the hole in the membrane with your tongue. Let's try again. If it works, then you’re great! If the pipe does not sound and air does not even pass through, then the tongue is stuck. We take a linen thread and slip it under it like this.

After this procedure, the sound will definitely appear. Now how to make playing holes. We take a knife and cut according to the following pattern: 1st 3 cm from the edge, 2nd 3 cm from the first, 3rd 1.5 cm from the second, 4th 3 cm from the third. The diameter of the holes is approximately 5 mm. Four holes are enough. In our century there has hardly been a greater scale than tone-tone-semitone-tone. Now you can play and have fun! For those who want to get a little more confused, there is birch bark left. We cut it into strips, coat the edges with glue (as your conscience will allow) and twist the horn. We make a blank pipe with a tongue, but without holes, and attach the horn to it, but not with glue yet. It turns out to be pathetic!

If you are going to build a pity for a certain key, then you have unlimited possibilities - a whole bag of reeds! The pitch of the instrument will depend in this case on:

• instrument length with horn
• tongue
• the force with which you blow

We have already written about the tongue above. Length: The longer the instrument, the lower the sound and vice versa. Tuning is carried out with the horn on. If the sound is low, trim the reed; if it is higher, wind birch bark onto the horn. Having caught the desired note (and this is very difficult to do, because the tongue gets wet and begins to lower, and sometimes stick), we begin to cut holes. They are made according to the same scheme as in a simple pipe. We cut through the first one and adjust it. If it is low, we cut it closer to the tongue, if it is high, to the horn. Having set up the first playing hole, we do all the others in the same way. The holes can be sawed with a semicircular needle file, or even better, burned. It is quite difficult to achieve precise settings, so you will have to “blow” with your breath. The harder you blow, the faster the tongue vibrates, i.e. the sound is higher, but the degree of sticking increases. But you don’t have to rack your brains, but tell others that you have a pathetic untempered system, which is quite historical! True, if you intend to play together with the gusli, they will have to be adjusted to suit you.

The existence of this type of instrument has been proven ethnographically, and its existence in the 9th-11th centuries. seems very likely, because The simplicity of making the hornless version allows you to make a pipe even for a child.

A cone is fixed into the left chuck of the machine, and a rotating cone into the right headstock, with a drilled workpiece between them. On a machine we process the tube to an ideal state of ø 16 mm, first with a cutter and then with sandpaper of different diameters. The diameter of the tube depends on the outer diameter of the ring!
We make sharpenings for the inner diameter of the ring and horn; the size should be (1/10-2/10) larger than the main size of the ring and horn (see photo 9). The tube must fit into the horn Very tight, then it will enter more freely. The tube, horn and cap should be stored separately for some time. This is due to the fact that the material seems to dry out.

Photo 9. Tubes with rings.

The ring and horn are not put on completely (tightly). At first, you don’t have to adjust everything exactly.
In the first case, the ring and horn will have to be removed during polishing, and in the second, over time, the tube will decrease in diameter in the places where it fits the ring and horn.

Mouthpiece (squeaker)

This is a detail that needs attention. the greatest attention! Depending on how the peep sounds, the pity will work.
Take an ebonite workpiece L = 60 mm ø = 12-15 mm, insert it into the machine and process it to the desired size. Using a 5 mm drill, drill a hole in the center, not all the way to the end. Using a file, we make a small plane 25 mm long and with an inclination L ≈2.3 away from the horn, and with a file we make a groove for the tongue. All dimensions are in mm (see photos 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16).

Reed (tongue)

It is made by me from textolite, although it is possible to find another material. The blanks are cut with scissors and brought to the required size with a file, taking into account the fact that the reed is thinner at one end and slightly thicker at the other, like a clarinet (see photos 17, 18, 19, 20).

Cambric

As stated above, it is a hollow piece of wire insulation (mostly polyvinyl chloride) used by electricians and fishermen. The length and diameter depend on the specific application. You need two of them, one to secure the reed to the mouthpiece (peeper) and the other to adjust the pitch of the sound (see photos 21, 22, 23, 24).

Ready-made squeaker (see photo 23), squeaker with a tube (see photo 24).

Cap

It can be made from various materials. From a garden hose, a sports hoop, just a metal tube or wood. I recommend a sports plastic hoop. Pieces of hoop 50-60 mm long are cut. Straighten them slightly and process them in the machine. The most important thing is that the cap fits tightly into the pity tube and is cleanly processed (see photos 25, 26, 27, 28).

When making a cap from wood, its diameter should be less than the diameter of the tube. The cap must fit into the tube very tight. After some time, heat it on a hot stove (you can use an iron), so as not to spoil it and not to burn the edges. After this, the cap fits into the tube more freely. If this is not done, then after a while the cap begins to sag and wobble. You need to fit all the caps to the tube without a squeak, since with a squeak the diameter of the tube expands slightly.
The wooden cap and tube are soaked in linseed or sunflower oil. Oil is poured into the bath and tubes and caps are placed there for a day, then dried for seven days. The lint is removed with fine sandpaper and the inside is wiped with varnish and alcohol polish. Then, after drying, the pile is removed again. You can also wipe with a cloth soaked in oil. This is done so that the pity is not exposed to moisture (see photo below).

Setting up the pity

Tuning a penny, like any musical instrument, is very important. It requires enormous experience of the master, knowledge of acoustics, and an ear for music. Setup requires a number of plumbing tools. Files, drills, reamers and of course it is advisable to have a sound frequency generator. I recommend setting up in this order.
. Check the operation of the squeaker without a tube. No matter how hard you blow, it should work. The tongue should not squash or stick.
. Together with the pipe, fine-tune the horn (salt or other note). The smaller the horn, the higher the sound.
. Draw a stripe evenly along the tube with a pencil. Then we mark the points of the sound holes (see photo 29). Measurements are taken from the base of the pitty without the horn and squeak.

Then drill the measured holes with a thin drill (2 mm). The beeper, after we install it, should already work on all sound holes.
. Next comes preliminary tuning, starting with the lower sound.
. Smaller hole for fingers means lower sound. Larger finger hole means higher sound.
. Fine tuning is done by listening to the beats of the frequency of the sound of the pity and the generator or other musical instrument. When the beats disappear, the sound is tuned cleanly. If you have lost the moment in which direction the beat frequency decreases between the sound of the pity and the generator (that is, you do not understand the playing holes to increase or decrease), then slightly move the cambric, thereby increasing the length of the reed:
1) if the beat frequency increases, then the playing holes for the fingers should be made larger, but first tune the reed to the basic pure tone of the pity;
2) if the beat frequency decreases, then make the playing holes for the fingers smaller (but how to do this?), You can insert plugs into the holes (with glue, of course) and re-drill and adjust. Or, by moving the cane, adjust this hole purely according to the generator. But then the main tone will not build, you can cut a thin ring from the same ebonite to fit the inner diameter, this will lower the main tone (of course, then adjust it precisely). But other holes may not be built, so everything needs to be checked and adjusted. To prevent this from happening, you need to do the instrument tuning slowly and think with your head. If you are doing it for yourself, then you can experiment, but I had many orders for music schools, colleges, music academies, and if this happened, then I simply threw the workpiece away.
. After setting up the next sound, be sure to check all the others.
. You need to let the pity sit down after it has been tuned (at least two, three days, maybe more), this is necessary so that it dries, and it will slightly change the tuning.
. Then check the tuning again and adjust some sounds.
. We enlarge the sound holes using drills, files, reamers and finally with cutters so that they are perfectly clean and even.

I don’t give exact sizes for each pity, they are always slightly different (even for pities of the same key). Each master must find his own, adhering to those given in the work; this applies to all parameters of the tool.
. If the sound holes were much larger. Then I turned round plugs from hard wood on a machine, or you can, for example, use ebonite. And he inserted them very tightly onto the glue, but not deeply, into the same holes. After drying, the workpieces were processed with a file and new holes were drilled for sound holes.

A few words about chromatic regret

Chromatism can be adjusted in holes 1, 2, 4, 5. In a pity of any key, one hole is drilled from the center of the sound holes to the left and to the right of the line. Diameter 2 mm. It is also necessary to take into account the direction of these small holes and the direction of the recesses for the fingers (see photo 30).

Photo 30. The horn is on the right side of the pity.

Each small hole is adjusted separately in halftones. I also advise you to check each sound hole at intervals of fifths and fourths. For example, in the regrettable SALT, when setting the fundamental tone, check how the interval of fifth (sol - D) and fourth (sol - C) sounds.
And before setting up the tool, you need to make small indentations for the fingers with a semicircular file. This can be seen in photo 30. If you do it later, it will affect the structure of the pitiful!

I offer my drawings of the main working parts

Internal ø 7, external ø 16
Tube L = 150, Pischik L = 40 mm

Internal ø 8, external ø 16
Tube L = 180 - 190, Pischik L = 45 mm

Tube L = 190 - 200, Pischik L = 45 mm

The first hole is made on the side for the right hand of the little finger, 35 millimeters from the base of the pity.
The second one is in the center for the middle finger, 80 mm from the base of the sting.

Internal ø 8, external ø 16
Tube L = 260, Pischik L = 50 mm

The first hole is made on the side for the right hand of the little finger 55 mm from the base of the pity
The second one is in the center for the middle finger, 8 mm from the base of the sting.

Tube L = 300, Pischik L = 55 mm

1, 3, 5 holes are on the right side of the pitty, and 2, 4, 6 are on the left side.

Internal ø 7, external ø 16
Tube L = 11.5, Pischik L = 40 mm

Polishing

It is carried out, like other musical instruments, using a certain technology. A lot of educational literature has been written about this and there is information on the Internet. A few words about how I do it.
. If the piece is made of mahogany, then it is better to first coat it with sunflower oil and dry it in the bright sun. This must be done several times.
. Then it is covered with polish and dried.
. Rub with pumice and dry.
. This can be repeated several times.
. Be sure to wipe the pity from the inside with polish using a long thin stick with a swab.
. Hard wood (maple, apple, beech) is polished in this order (very briefly).
. NC varnish - dry (the longer, the better).
. Sand with fine sandpaper.
. Polish - dry (do this once, twice, three times).
. Treat with fine, dust-like pumice using a swab slightly moistened with polish - dry.
. Dry with pumice once or twice.
. Apply a drop of oil to the swab and polish - dry.
. Repeat many times, then wipe with a dry woolen cloth.

Varnish made from medical alcohol and shellac, you can add other resins, but this is at your discretion. Polishing is carried out with tampons, which you need to make yourself from a washed white cloth (make a square) and add woolen threads, also white.
Instead of thread, you can use cotton wool.
Before polishing, the pity must be sanded thoroughly!
The polishing process is considered complex and responsible, so I recommend that you first study the relevant educational literature or information on the Internet.

Additional material (20.02.2017)

1) I’ll say it again and I can repeat it many times, that for the pike to work well, the main point in making a musical instrument is tuning the peep.
First you need to configure it separately from the pitiful thing itself.
The sound frequency should correspond approximately to the tonality of the pity.
The sound should not be booming, noisy, tight (difficult to reproduce). No matter how hard you blow, the squeak should sound and work easily. But we must take into account that pity cannot sound very loud and very quiet. With strong blowing, the reed (tongue) simply sticks, but with weak blowing it does not wobble.
The sound of the squeak should resemble the sound of a whistle made from an acacia pod. We all remember when in childhood we picked a pod from an acacia tree, broke it in half, removed the seeds and got a whistle.
Next, the squeaker and the pity itself are configured in assembled form. On the playing tube, according to the markings for each key of the pity, we drill holes Ǿ 2 -2.5 mm.
And when we insert the squeak into the tube at one end and the horn at the other, it should immediately work through all the sound holes easily and without stuttering. Especially when they are all open. It is necessary to blow with equal force in all holes and very often at the top sounds the pity beeper stops working. It kind of shuts up (sorry for this terminology) in this case you need to rub it with fine sandpaper from the side of the mouthpiece and the reed. But then adjust the pity to the main tone.

View photos

After that, we proceed to setting up the pity itself, I already wrote about what tools to do this with. I just want to add that for tuning you can use a homemade sound generator configured by temperament.
Or KORG CA40WD tuner (chromatic).

2) I would like to suggest one method of drilling sound holes, which I have been using lately. I do not drill them at a right angle, but tilt them towards the horn 110-120°. What does this give? The air that passes through the squeak and moves through the tube passes more easily and smoothly into the sound holes of the pity. Well, as if improving the answer by sounding pathetic.

View photos

Photos at different stages of production

The Zhaleika is a reed wind musical instrument, considered, along with the Chalumeau and the Hungarian Tarogato, to be the harbinger of the modern clarinet. This unpretentious and easy-to-make tool has many varieties. They play tunes of a wide variety of genres on the penny, alone, in duets, and also in an ensemble with other instruments and singing. This musical instrument got its name due to its “compassionate, sometimes... crying” sound. In some areas, two more names have been assigned to the pity - horn and pika. Such names most likely determined the design and material from which the craftsmen made this instrument.

Often the pity is made from a wooden pipe with several holes, into which a goose feather is inserted on one side, and the other side is inserted into a bull's horn (hence the name “horn”). The pischik can also be made not only from goose feathers, but also from reed, walnut, and hazel. Some craftsmen have adapted to making a squeaker out of wood, since reed ones quickly get wet, disrupt the tuning and do not sound at all. The pipe itself can be made of willow, elderberry, maple, reed (sometimes even tin). The five finger holes on the pipe are called “voices” and are numbered from bottom to top. During the game, all the holes are never open. If you close it one by one, a scale system is formed: do, re, mi, fa, salt, etc. The length, size and diameter of the horn into which the second end of the pipe is inserted affects the pitch, strength and timbre of the sound. The horn is usually taken from a bull, since a cow’s horn is ribbed. They sand it, cook it for a long time, drill a hole, and then adapt it to the pipe, sometimes they glue it, sometimes not.

In the villages of Alekseevsky and Krasnogvardeisky districts of the Belgorod region, the double zhaleika, or pishik, was especially common. The pika differs from a simple pity in that it has two pipes, which are again inserted into a well-cleaned bull's horn, so that the walls become thin and glow.

The bell of the horn should be more bent. This affects the strength of the sound. From the stories of folk instrumentalists of the Belgorod region E.M. Saprykina (born in 1905, Afanasyevka village, Alekseevsky district) and M.V. Sychev (born in 1910, the village of Streletskoye, Krasnogvardeisky district), we can conclude that making an instrument is a delicate and scrupulous matter. It requires from the creator not only strict adherence to technology, but also a love of music in general. The method for making a pika is as follows: tongues are cut on the trunks of peeled reeds; both pipes are fastened together and united by one bull's horn bell. Tool barrels are named according to the number of holes there, that is, “tee”, “gear”.

The instrument is tuned so that one peep continues the scale of the other. In general, pikas do not have a standard scale. The structure of the instrument depends on local traditions, repertoire and the individual characteristics of the performer. Most of the pity players' repertoire consists of dance tunes.

From the materials of folklore expeditions to the Alekseevsky and Krasnogvardeysky districts of the Belgorod region, it became known that at the end of the last century there were few masters of playing the unique traditional musical instrument that was previously widespread here - the double pity. The most famous among folklorist researchers were two of them. This is Voronkov Fedor Grigorievich (born 1914), who lived in the village of Kazatskoye, Krasnogvardeysky district. The names of his tunes have been preserved since the 19th century: “General”, “Steppe”, “Let me come out”, “Petrakova”, “Cruspy”. The head of the folklore ensemble “Userd” in the village of Nizhnyaya Pokrovka, Krasnogvardeisky district, Viktor Ivanovich Nechaev (born 1965), is also known. He plays the pity and knows the tradition of its making. He also spoke about the design of a modern pitiful car.

However, not only folk musicians play and perform pitifully. Professional musicians began to do this with enthusiasm. Here is the story of V.I. Nechaev about the design and features of modern pitiful:

Nowadays, metal or ebonite tubes are often used, the body of which can have from three to seven holes to change the pitch of the sound. The jingle with seven holes in the tube has a full diatonic scale within an octave. It is tuned, as a rule, to a major scale with a lowered VII degree, which is typical for the Russian folk musical tradition. Depending on the size, the penny can have different tunings, which is important in ensemble and orchestral playing. Folk wind instruments do not have exact standards, so each of them has certain individual qualities (design, tuning, range, timbre).

The most important structural part of the pity is the mouthpiece with the reed. In order for an instrument to have a well-defined tuning, the mouthpiece with a reed (reed) must itself, without a resonator, produce the basic tone of this tuning - for example: “D” in D major. On ancient penny-liners, the craftsman cut the tongue (pischik) directly on the main tube or on a separate small tube, which was inserted into the channel of the main tube. In this case, the performer had to close the free end of the squeaker tube with his tongue.

Nowadays, the design of the mouthpiece has been somewhat improved. Its free end is made blind; a rectangular narrow cut is made along the mouthpiece towards its blind end, which opens the internal cavity. A tongue (squeaker) is installed above the cut, which is attached at the base of the cut with a ring of polyvinyl chloride tube. This fastening not only makes it possible to securely attach the tongue to the mouthpiece, but also, which is very important, to change the tuning of the instrument, within a quart, by moving the ring in one direction or another. A small tube-cap is placed on top of the main tube of the pity, which protects the tongue from accidental damage, and at the same time, thanks to it, the technical capabilities of the design are expanded. The size and location of the holes on the main tube of the instrument do not have exact dimensions. In folk practice, the distance between the holes is approximately equal to the thickness of the finger (i.e., about 25 mm). The size of the holes (their diameter) is determined when setting up the tool experimentally. The larger the hole, the higher the sound. In addition, the diameter of the main tube bore also affects the size of the holes and the distance between them.

Making sound on a penny requires some effort. The greater this effort, the higher its tuning can rise (within ¼-½ tone), and vice versa. In addition, this instrument can also play intermediate chromatic sounds by partially closing the holes. In principle, it is possible to manufacture instruments in any tuning. The range of the pity usually covers an octave, but can be even wider by a quart. In addition, an experienced performer can expand the range by pressing the base of the tongue with the upper teeth and thereby extract 2-3 additional sounds of the scale. Professor of the Moscow Conservatory A.V. Rudneva notes that in Kursk villages a zhaleika with a small bell made of a cow's horn is called a "horn", and a zhaleyka with a large bull horn and a lower tuning is called a "gudilo".

Zhaleika has an octave diatonic scale in the tuning “A-”, “E-”, “F-”, G major. Pitys of other keys are also used. Lowering the tuning down simultaneously increases the size of the pity and, at the same time, the distance between the finger holes (scale), and vice versa, which creates additional difficulties when playing.

In sheet music, the pity is written in the treble clef, in the first octave. The zhaleika is a primitive instrument. Its endless improvement would ultimately lead to the creation of the clarinet, and then its main amazing originality would be lost.

The pitiful consists of a tube with six holes on top and one (for the thumb of the left hand) at the bottom, a specially processed cow horn, a squeak with a cane and a mouthpiece. All these five elements “work” in unity, so the thoughtless replacement of one component with another, even looks the same - it is unlikely to bring the desired result.

The pity is held with both hands in front of you at chest level, almost horizontally. The ring, middle and index fingers of the right hand cover the three holes closest to the horn. The right thumb supports the tube at the bottom. It is necessary to strictly ensure that the thumb of the left hand covers the seventh, lower hole. Otherwise, the column of air inside the tube breaks, and the pity makes one uncontrollable sound. It is very important to develop a feeling for the necessary force of air blowing. When producing higher sounds, more breathing is required and vice versa. When making sound, the metal mouthpiece is not removed from the pity. It’s best to get used to melody by extracting middle notes rather than extreme notes. In this case, the correct feeling of the force of air blowing comes. It is impossible to play the piano on the path. Excessive sound volume is unacceptable. When monitoring by ear, you need to determine this limit for yourself. If the force of air injection is clearly overestimated, the pity will “stick”. It should be remembered that the top two notes do not have precise tuning and, in part, depend on the skill of the performer. Each sound corresponds to a certain number of open and closed holes. Each note has its own fingering. No “amateur activity” is acceptable in this case. If the performer has experience playing the pipe, recorder, etc., then getting to know the pity will not be more difficult for him. The predominant technique of playing the penny is “legato”, in which sounds of different heights are performed in one breath, using a clear and smooth fingering. “Staccato” also sounds good. In this case, the tongue, touching the mouthpiece, cuts off the air supply after each note.

When mastering the pity, you may encounter the following problem: condensation and saliva naturally accompany playing this instrument and interfere with sound production. For trumpeters and other musicians, this problem is solved by the presence of a special valve, which removes excess moisture. There is no such device on the pity, so after a long game you need to carefully remove the aluminum mouthpiece and dry the ebonite peep and reed with a piece of newsprint. This must be done if the abundance of moisture clearly interferes with the game. Without this need, there is no need to disturb the cane again. At the same time, you need to vigilantly ensure that no crumbs of wet paper remain under the cane. Otherwise, the structure of the pitiful will be disrupted.

The sound is produced using a technique that can be conventionally called “dry spitting”. With continued practice, the drying method will be used less and less and, over time, the need for this will disappear. The mouthpiece, pipe and reed must be kept extremely clean. In addition to purely hygienic requirements, you need to know that a crumb of tobacco, for example, or a piece of thread, etc. caught in a cane can nullify all the work. Therefore, when moving, it would be good to wrap each sting in a separate plastic bag. When folded together, they provide excellent shock absorption when transported in a balalaika case along with the balalaika.

Setting up a pity is a very delicate process. The reed is attached with two or three plastic rings, with two rings holding the reed, and the third is used for tuning. Moving the tuning ring a fraction of a millimeter from the horn increases the tuning and vice versa.

The reed should only be replaced if it breaks, although it can last for years under normal use. Changing a cane is a rather capricious process. It is impossible to make two exactly identical reeds, so the new reed will be different from the old one and will need to be “customized”. You need to start this operation in a good mood, given that success cannot be achieved in one minute. Having strengthened the new reed with cambric rings, you need to carefully tune it. Moving the cane along the slot of the ebonite squeak also gives a good result. In this case, the rings do not move, only the cane moves.

If the sound turns out to be “flimsy” and the reed sticks at the “tops,” you need to free the reed from the rings and carefully trim its working end by a fraction of a millimeter with a sharp knife. This thickens the vibrating part of the reed and thickens the sound. If the sound turns out to be clearly rough, you need to remove the reed, press it tightly against a piece of glass (a mirror, for example) and scrape the working part with a razor blade, reducing it to “nothing.” This makes the vibrating part of the reed thinner. Clarinetists can give good recommendations for making plastic reeds for pity.

When did the pity appear? Where did the word "pathetic" come from?

Why is the zhaleika considered a Russian folk instrument?

The history of the creation of the “pity” tool (accessible to children).

Description of the musical instrument "zhaleika".

Zhaleika is an ancient Russian folk musical instrument belonging to the woodwind group. The exact origin is not known, the first mention of the pity is in the records of the late 18th century

The instrument is a small tube - about ten to twenty centimeters, made of wood or reed. There are several holes in the side walls of the tube; by pressing them with your fingers, you can produce sounds of varying heights - strong, somewhat harsh.

If we compare the zhaleika with a related instrument - the shepherd's horn, then its tube expands and ends with a bell, and in the zhaleika the lower end of the cylindrical tube is a separate part and is inserted into the bell. The bell for the instrument is usually made of cow horn or birch bark.

There are two types of tools: single and double stingers. The single one was described above, the double one includes two tubes of equal length with playing holes, which are located next to each other and are inserted into one common socket.

Previously, pity was widespread in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. Today, this Russian folk instrument can most likely be seen only in orchestras of this theme.

Interesting Facts:

• Zhaleiki differ in size and pitch: piccolo, soprano, alto and bass. The number of playing holes can also vary, which is what changes the range of the instrument.

• Zhaleika has many names, it is called duda, fletlet, pishelka, keychain, sipovo, zhalomeyka, pishchik, ladushka or simply a horn.
• It is possible that the sound of the pity can be heard at a distance of six kilometers. Previously, with the help of a pity, shepherds easily collected animals; for example, even a lost cow found its way into the herd by the sound of a familiar instrument.
• One of the songs by artist Valentina Tolkunova is named after the instrument - “Zhaleika”. Also, the name of the instrument is present in the lines of another musical work by the artist: “I cannot do otherwise.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Musical dictionary in stories / Comp. L.V. Mikheeva. Moscow, 1984.
2. Internet resources: https://eomi.ru/, http://soundtimes.ru/.