Bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

s natural hollow form makes it an obvious choice for many

musical instruments A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

Overview

Bamboo has been used to create a variety of instruments including flutes, mouth organs, saxophones, trumpets, drums, xylophones.

Flutes

There are numerous types of

bamboo flutes The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently kn ...

made all over the world, such as the ''dizi'', ''xiao'', '' shakuhachi'', ''

palendag The palendag, also called Pulalu (Manobo and Mansaka), Palandag (Bagobo), Pulala (Bukidnon) and Lumundeg ( Banuwaen) is a type of Philippine bamboo flute, the largest one used by the Maguindanaon, a smaller type of this instrument is called the Hu ...

'' and '' jinghu''. In the Indian subcontinent, it is a very popular and highly respected musical instrument, available even to the poorest and the choice of many highly venerated maestros of classical music. It is known and revered above all as the divine flute forever associated with

Lord Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one of ...

, who is always portrayed holding a '' bansuri'' in sculptures and paintings. Four of the instruments used in

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

for traditional

hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form accompanied by chant (oli) or song ( mele). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visua ...

are made of bamboo:

nose flute The nose flute is a musical instrument often played in Polynesia and the Pacific Rim countries. Other versions are found in Africa. Hawaii In the North Pacific, in the Hawaiian islands the nose flute was a common courting instrument. In Haw ...

, rattle, stamping pipes and the jaw harp. Bamboo may be used in the construction of the Australian didgeridoo instead of the more traditional

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...

wood.

Other bamboo instruments

In Indonesia and the Philippines, bamboo has been used for making various kinds of musical instruments, including the ''

kolintang Kolintang is a traditional Minahasan percussion instrument from North Sulawesi, Indonesia, consisting of wooden blades arranged in a row and mounted on a wooden tub. Kolintang is usually played in ensemble music. Kolintang in the Minahasan commu ...

'', ''

angklung The ( Sundanese: ) is a musical instrument from the Sundanese people in Indonesia made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves, simila ...

'' and '' bumbong''. Bamboo is also used to make

slit drum A slit drum or slit gong is a hollow percussion instrument. In spite of the name, it is not a true drum but an idiophone, usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the top. Most slit drums have one slit ...

s. Traditional Philippine '' banda kawayan'' (bamboo bands) use a variety of bamboo musical instruments, including the

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

, ''angklung'',

panpipes A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

and ''bumbong'', as well as bamboo versions of western instruments, such as clarinets,

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

s, and

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

s. The

Las Piñas Bamboo Organ The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ in St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas, Philippines, is a 19th-century church organ. It is known for its unique organ pipes; of its 1031 pipes, 902 are made of bamboo. It was completed after 6 years of work in 182 ...

in the Philippines has pipes made of bamboo culms. The modern amplified string instrument, the

Chapman stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines ...

, is also constructed using bamboo. The ''

khene The ''khene'' (; spelled "Can" in English; Lao: ແຄນ; th, แคน, , ; km, គែន - ''Ken''; Vietnamese: ''khèn'') is a Lao mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out h ...

'' (also spelled ''khaen'', ''kaen'' and ''khen''; Lao: ແຄນ, th, แคน) is a mouth organ of Lao origin whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out hardwood reservoir into which air is blown, creating a sound similar to that of the cello. In the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

island of Madagascar, the ''

valiha The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo; it is considered the " national instrument" of Madagascar. The term is also used to describe a number of related zithers of differing shapes and materials. T ...

'', a long tube zither made of a single bamboo stalk, is considered the national instrument. Bamboo has also recently been used for the manufacture of guitars and

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

s. Bamboo Ukuleles are constructed of solid cross laminated bamboo strips not plywood. The bamboo solid wood strips are similar to bamboo manufactured flooring.

Gallery

File:Shakuhachi-2.png, Top and bottom-side views of a shakuhachi, end-blown

bamboo flute The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently kn ...

s from Japan File:টকা বাদ্য.JPG, Toka, bamoo clapper,

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, Nepal File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Buisciter van bamboe TMnr 1027-5.jpg, Bamboo tanggetang

tube zither The tube zither is a stringed musical instrument in which a tube functions both as an instrument's neck and its soundbox. As the neck, it holds strings taut and allows them to vibrate. As a soundbox or it modifies the sound and transfers it to ...

, Sumatra File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Buisciter van bamboe TMnr 15-410.jpg, Bamboo tube-zither drum File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Buisciter met één snaar TMnr 1330-130.jpg, Bamboo tube-zither drum File:Agung a Tamlang.jpg, Bamboo gong or slit drum, Agung a tamlang, Philippines File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Spleettrom van bamboe TMnr 15-415.jpg, Indonesian

File:Alat Musik Sasando 2.jpg, Sasando tube zither File:Chinese half-tube bamboo zithers.jpg, Bamboo half-tube zithers File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Dubbel enkelriet ('dubbel-klarinet') van bamboe TMnr 4296-5a.jpg, Double-reed clarinet, North Africa File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Dubbel enkelriet (klarinet) van bamboe TMnr 3492-4.jpg, Magruna double reed clarinet, Libya File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Trompet van bamboe TMnr 2236-1.jpg, Bamboo trumpet, Sulawesi, Indonesia File:Siku (09).jpg, Siku,

Pan pipes A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have bee ...

, Bolivia or Peru, Andes Mountains File:PNG Pipes QM r.jpg,

New Ireland Province New Ireland Province, formerly New Mecklenburg (german: Neu-Mecklenburg), and Nova Hibernia, is the northeasternmost province of Papua New Guinea. Physical geography The largest island of the province is New Ireland. Also part of the province a ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia File:Maultrom 2a.jpg, bamboo Jew's Harp File:Mukkuri.jpg, Ainu Jew's Harpo File:Nusa-Dua Bali Indonesia Xylophone-player-01.jpg, Bali Indonesia Xylophone-player, photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas File:Bala player.jpg, Bala, African xylophone File:Boo I.jpg, Bamboo marimba, one of the instruments created by Harry Partch File:Severalbambooflutes.jpg, bamboo flutes File:Bansuri bamboo flute 23inch.jpg, Bansuri,

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

File:Thổi sáo.jpg,

Sáo The ''sáo'' (Chữ Nôm: 筲, also called ''sáo trúc'' or "sow trook", pronounced ) is a family of flutes found in Vietnam that is traditionally thought to contain the culture and spirit of Vietnam's countryside. The most common variety is playe ...

, Vietnamese flute File:Angklung-arumba.jpg,

Angklung The ( Sundanese: ) is a musical instrument from the Sundanese people in Indonesia made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves, simila ...

, Indonesia File:Angklung-kolintang.jpg,

Kolintang Kolintang is a traditional Minahasan percussion instrument from North Sulawesi, Indonesia, consisting of wooden blades arranged in a row and mounted on a wooden tub. Kolintang is usually played in ensemble music. Kolintang in the Minahasan commu ...

xylophone and

, Indonesia File:Bamboo organ of Las Piñas I (cropped).jpg, Bamboo organ, Saint Joseph Parish Church,

Las Piñas Las Piñas, officially the City of Las Piñas ( fil, Lungsod ng Las Piñas), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 606,293 people. Las Piñas ...

, Metro Manila, Philippine File:Saxos de bambú por Angel Sampedro del Río, luthier argentino.jpg, Bamboo

, Argentina File:Khenesarong.jpg,

Khene The ''khene'' (; spelled "Can" in English; Lao: ແຄນ; th, แคน, , ; km, គែន - ''Ken''; Vietnamese: ''khèn'') is a Lao mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out h ...

mouth organ A mouth organ is any free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed. Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, a ...

, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos File:Chinese flutes circa 1900.JPG, Sheng mouth organ, China File:Miao musicians.jpg,

Lusheng The ''lusheng'' (, ; Vietnamese: ''Khèn Mông''; also spelled ''lu sheng''; spelled ''ghengx'' in standard Hmong and ''qeej'' in Laotian RPA Hmong) is a Hmong musical instrument. It has a long history of 3000 years in China, traced back to the T ...

mouth organ File:Ploong.jpg,

Ploong A ploong (or plung) is a musical instrument of the Mru (or Murung) people, who inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and also in Burma. It is a mouth organ made from gourds and bamboo and is of varying sizes. The largest ploong has eig ...

, a musical instrument of the

Mru people Mru or Mro may refer to: * Mru people, also known as Mro, Murong, Taung Mro, Mrung, or Mrucha, a tribal people of Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India **Mru language Mru, also known as Mrung (Murung), is a Sino-Tibetan language of Bangladesh and My ...

, Bangladesh File:Jinghu.jpg, Jinghu, Chinese bowed string instrument File:Agustinus Sasundu Maestro Musik Tiup Bambu Indonesia.jpg, Musician Agustinus Sasundu of Sangihe, with a bamboo wind instrument

References

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