All about the musical instrument trembita

Few people are familiar with such a musical instrument as trembita, but it has a lot of weight in musical culture. What he is, and what his story is, will be discussed in the article.

Trembita is a folk mouthpiece musical instrument that belongs to the woodwind family. It is widespread in the eastern part of the Ukrainian Carpathians, as well as in the Hutsul region. In addition, it is most often found among different peoples: Slovenian, Ukrainian, Polish, Hungarian, Dalmatian and Romanian.

A beautiful legend about two lovers is connected with the appearance of this musical instrument. The guy and the girl have long loved each other, but their families decided to change their location. So, the girl's family moved to Hoverla, and the boy's family moved to the Beskydy. The lovers experienced a strong melancholy, being far from each other. Then the young guy decided to build a musical instrument that would be heard where his beloved lives. This instrument is called trembita.

Alas, the young man soon died, about which the young beauty was not notified. For a long time she waited for at least some news from her beloved, but without waiting, she took her trembita and decided to climb Hoverla. After that, she was not seen again.

In general, it is impossible to say exactly when this musical instrument appeared. One thing is clear - it has existed for a long time and is of great importance for the entire musical culture.

Mostly this tool was used by shepherds to send signals to people. So, he let know about the place of his stay, the place of pasture for livestock, about how grazing is going on in general, as well as about his return.

Due to the loudness of its sound, which could be heard at a distance of a large number of kilometers, this instrument was often used in order to notify the population of this or that danger. Because of this, it was especially relevant during various wars. During such periods, sentinels were specially placed on the tops of the mountains, who took turns transmitting the news that the invaders were approaching.

Generally, the sound of trembita had many different meanings. This instrument has often replaced modern clocks and was intended to inform workers about the beginning and end of their working day through its sound. In addition, it was actively used in various folk rituals and festivals, which is why it began to be considered a full-fledged traditional instrument. With the help of trembita, the family notified everyone about the birth of their baby. They also used it to invite people to a wedding celebration.

In addition, trembita was a successful replacement for the modern barometer for people. By the way it sounds, many could give, albeit not entirely accurate, weather forecasts, since the instrument is sensitive to an upcoming thunderstorm or rain.

Trembites were made strictly according to traditions from the very tree into which the lightning struck. People believed that this is what contributes to the improvement of the trembita sound, and that in this way the voice of the Creator himself is transmitted to it through thunder.

The age of the tree was also important. So, a tree whose age varied within 120-150 years was considered suitable for it to be mature. People were convinced that if the tree is "mature", it will stand for a long time under the sun's rays and the breath of the wind, then the sound of the instrument will be louder and louder.

but the choice of a tree did not end with the work on the instrument. It was necessary to wait another year for the trunk of the cut tree to be properly hardened. After that, the most crucial stage began: the barrel had to be divided in half with one blow, after which its entire core had to be removed. This process could also last for a year due to its labor intensity. In the end, the halves of the tool were held together with bark.

At the present time, trembita has lost its communication functions due to the emergence of new technologies. In the musical field, it is not in great demand, but you can still hear its sound, for example, at concerts of folk music, where it is often part of orchestras. In villages that are located in mountainous regions, this tool often serves to notify people about the beginning of any festivities or the appearance of important guests.

A musical instrument such as a trembita is a wooden pipe, the length of which can be from 3 to 8 meters; it has no more separate parts. Due to its size, trembita has become listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest spiritual instrument in the entire world. However, in spite of its dimensions, the weight of this musical instrument is not that great, it does not exceed one and a half kilograms.

The trembita trumpet does not have any gates or valves that are often seen on other wind instruments. The diameter of the hole for sound production is only 3 centimeters, but expansion begins to occur towards the bell.A peep is inserted into the narrowest end of the master's tool, which is a horn or a metal muzzle. It is this part, or rather its size, that influences how high the trembita will sound.

The sound of trembita is quite loud and bright, which may seem somewhat unusual to those who are not used to it. You can play melodies of a very different nature on this musical instrument, both funny, which were mainly required at various kinds of festivities and holidays, and sad, even somewhat mournful. Sad tunes were usually performed on trembita during funerals.