All about Japanese flutes

Fue is a Japanese, most often bamboo, wind musical instrument. In simple words, this is the same flute with a number of distinctive characteristics. The types of fue, its features, and also the sound will be discussed in the article.

The flute is one of the oldest labial wind musical instruments... The history of its appearance is rooted deep in the past, 35 thousand years ago.

There are many types of flutes, but their unifying feature is the primary source of vibrations, in the role of which is a stream of air. It promotes the movement of the column in the flute channel, which results in a sound of one pitch or another.

However, today we will talk about flutes that are familiar to almost all the inhabitants of Japan, that is, about fue. The word "fue" refers to a whole family of Japanese flutes. A distinctive feature of this Japanese musical instrument is its rather high sounding. In addition, they are made, unlike any other flutes, from bamboo, and when playing the fue, not the fingertips, but their phalanges, are used to close the holes in it.

A close relative of such a musical instrument as fue is the paixiao pipe, originally from China. Fue became widespread in Japan only in the 5th century during the Nara era, which fell on 710-794.

The Japanese fue flute has a lot of varieties, which are divided into two huge classes - transverse and longitudinal... They differ from each other in the location of the lip opening. If in the first case it is located on the side, then in the second - at the very end.

Let's get down to considering the varieties of fue.

This musical wind instrument is made from bamboo. It is usually small in size and does not exceed 20 centimeters. The distinctive features are the double cane as well as the sound. This is a rather melodious musical instrument, but its timbre may seem somewhat nasal or harsh, especially in the upper register.

The chitiriki's key range is one octave.

The Japanese also call this musical instrument takebue. This is the same bamboo flute, which is classified as transverse. It differs in the height of its timbre. In Japan, it is most often used in the Hayashi orchestra, as well as when performing the genre of Japanese chamber music such as the nagauta. There are two styles of playing such a musical instrument: uta and hayashi. The first style is song, the second is festival.

This fue variety is one of the most popular in Japan. Belongs to the class of longitudinal. The shakuhachi flute has the same tuning as the pentatonic scale. It is most often used for meditation. Its distinctive feature is its characteristic timbre, which can change depending on the wishes of the performer.

This musical instrument, like all of the above, is bamboo... The flute moved to Japan from China during the Nara era. The variety is not distinguished by the skill of its design, which is why in ancient times it was especially common among peasants. Nowadays, the shakuhachi is used by both amateurs and professionals in the field of music. Learning to play fue in music lessons is the foundation for any Japanese high school.

This type of flute, like komabue, belongs to the class of transverse... It is made, like everyone else, of bamboo and is distinguished by the presence of 6 indentations for the fingers, as well as its size, which usually reaches about 36 centimeters in length. The most commonly used komabue in Japan at court in music such as gagaku and komagaku.

This type of flute is also made from bamboo.... Its timbre is significantly lower than that of the aforementioned komabue flute. It belongs to the class of transverse, has 7 holes for the fingers, and also has a length of about 40 centimeters and a diameter of 1.5 centimeters.

When playing any melody on this flute, it is kept in a horizontal position. It, like the aforementioned fue komabue, is also used in the genre of Japanese court music such as gagaku. Usually, the sounds produced by the ryuteki flute were used to depict a mythological creature such as a dragon flying in the heavenly light.

In the 20th century, the ryuteki flute became, along with such a three-stringed plucked musical instrument, the shamisen, quite often used in modern Japanese musical works.

Another type of fue, which belongs to the transverse class. It is also quite often used to accompany theatrical performances in no and kabuki theaters.

The length of this musical instrument is almost 40 centimeters, and the average width can be more than one and a half centimeters. Like many of the above flutes, this type has 7 grooves for the player's fingers.

The range of this type of flute is more than two octaves, and its pitch can change depending on the nocan, since they are usually made not on a production machine according to any standard, but with their own hands.

Japanese ethnic music is characterized by a change in rhythm and tempo, as well as the absence of a specific meter. Most often, performers strive to bring the sound of their musical instrument as close as possible to the sounds of nature, animals, they strive for maximum simplicity and purity of sound. Japanese flutes are one of the most suitable options for this.

The sound of flutes belonging to the foué family is quite high in most cases. This is why this Japanese musical instrument is often used for accompaniment in theaters such as bunraku or kabuki. You can also hear the sound of such flutes in some ensembles. Sometimes these Japanese flutes are used as solo instruments, provided that they are tuned to Western modes.