Features of bansuri

The sounds of the flute are associated with a fairy tale, the magical world of spirits and gods. Not surprisingly, this instrument is often credited with many mystical properties. The sound of a flute in the hands of a virtuoso can bewitch the listener, carry him along into the world of fantasy and dreams. This effect can be felt especially sharply when playing ethnic instruments, for example, the Indian bansuri flute.

The word bansi is translated from Sanskrit as ordinary bamboo. That's why a transverse flute, which in ancient India was made from hollow stems of bamboo or reed, was called a bansuri. To make the sound as clean as possible, for the manufacture of the instrument, the most straight, without taper and knots, dry, even stems were chosen, in which the inner walls were leveled, if necessary.

In the prepared stem, 6-8 playing holes were burned on the upper side and one or more holes on the lower side, used to adjust the main tone. In general, the tonality of a bansuri depends on how much the length of the finished product exceeds its inner diameter.

Bansuri is rarely used as an accompaniment; most often it is a solo musical instrument. For playing modern Indian flutes, standard techniques are used that are common to all wind instruments. And to give the music an ethnic flavor, they use not only lower frets, but also a special technique of playing with smooth transitions from note to note, called glissando.

The history of the Indian flute is closely related to Buddhist religion, cattle breeding and the ancient traditions of shepherds. Bansuri, bearing the name "Venu", is revered in India as the divine flute of Krishna himself, which sounded for the dance of the deity with his beloved Radha and other young shepherdesses. She is depicted in many canvases of Buddhist painting, and legends say that playing on it fascinated not only beautiful girls, but also animals. That is why shepherds used it most often to graze cows.

Pannalal Ghosh, a pandit who lived in the years 1911-1960, through many experiments with the size of the instrument, was able to transform an ordinary folk instrument into a classical concert one. In order to obtain unusual low sounds of the flute, concert models are made to the maximum length and with more than usual number of holes.

Unlike other flutes, the pitch of a bansuri is determined not from the base note, but from the one that sounds when the first three holes are pressed. The traditional accompaniment of the flute is tabla and tanpur.

As with any instrument, the bansuri cannot be learned to play in a couple of months. The masters of the game have been studying for years and polishing their talent throughout their lives. But for that In order for a beginner to play wind instruments to play at least the simplest notes, you need to know a few basic rules.

To extract sound from a flute, it is necessary to blow into it through the desired hole in a special way. Many people know that blowing at a certain angle into the neck of a bottle will produce a low humming sound. So it is with the bansuri. Through a small gap in the folded lips, it is necessary to supply air to the blowing of the flute so that it swirls inside its body, and vibration occurs. A weak flow will cause a rare vibration, respectively, the sound will be low. And a sharp, fast flow - more frequent vibration - transfers the sound to the second octave, that is, the whistle will become higher and more sonorous.

The thumbs play the most important role when playing the transverse flute. The bansuri lays down on them, as on supports. The rest of the fingers only slightly hold the body so that it does not fall to the sides, and also pinch this or that hole so that the note changes.

As in classical musical notation, the Indians have seven basic notes. Tones are usually capitalized and semitones are capitalized. The main difference lies in their letter designation. For to relate them to the usual spelling, you can use the table below, or special fingerings.

In addition to independent training and lessons with a mentor, watching videos and listening to audio tracks by recognized masters will be a good help. This will help you develop your own playing style and create the right mood for the practice.