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Bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
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 ...
. In South and South East Asia, traditional uses of bamboo the instrument include various types of woodwind instruments, such as flutes, and devices like xylophones and organs, which require resonating sections. In some traditional instruments bamboo is the primary material, while others combine bamboo with other materials such as wood and leather.


Overview

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


Flutes

:''See
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 kno ...
'' 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 kno ...
made all over the world, such as the ''dizi'', ''xiao'', ''
shakuhachi A is a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .
'', '' palendag'' 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 (; Sanskrit: 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 wi ...
, who is always portrayed holding a ''
bansuri A bansuri is an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from the Indian Subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal-like material, used in many Indian and Nepali Lok songs. A ''bansuri'' is traditionally made from a ...
'' in sculptures and paintings. Four of the instruments used in
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
for traditional
hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form expressing chant (''oli'') or song (Mele (Hawaiian language), ''mele''). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli ...
are made of bamboo: nose flute, rattle, stamping pipes and the
jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...
. Bamboo may be used in the construction of the Australian
didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...
instead of the more traditional
eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
wood.


Other bamboo instruments

In Indonesia and the Philippines, bamboo has been used for making various kinds of musical instruments, including the '' kolintang'', '' angklung'' and '' bumbong''. Bamboo is also used to make slit drums. Traditional Philippine bamboo ensemble 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 mari ...
, ''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
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
s,
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
s, and
tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...
s. The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ in the Philippines has pipes made of bamboo culms. The modern amplified string instrument, the Chapman stick, is also constructed using bamboo. The ''
khene The ''khaen'' (; spelled "Khaen", "Kaen", "Kehn" or "Ken" in English; , ; , , ; , ; – ''Ken''; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''khèn'' or ''kheng'') is a Lao mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a s ...
'' (also spelled ''khaen'', ''kaen'' and ''khen''; Lao: ແຄນ, ) 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 approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
island of Madagascar, the ''
valiha The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of Valiha diffusa, local bamboo; it is considered the "List of national instruments (music), national instrument" of Madagascar. The term is also used to describe a number of re ...
'', 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 ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...
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 flutes, Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest f ...
s from Japan File:টকা বাদ্য.JPG, Toka, bamoo clapper,
Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
, 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, it acoustic resonance, modifies the sound and ...
,
Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
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 slit drum 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 been ...
, Bolivia or Peru, Andes Mountains File:PNG Pipes QM r.jpg,
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 been ...
,
New Ireland Province New Ireland Province, formerly New Mecklenburg (), and Nova Hibernia, is the northeasternmost Provinces of Papua New Guinea, province of Papua New Guinea. Physical geography The largest island of the province is New Ireland (island), New Irelan ...
,
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Australia File:Maultrom 2a.jpg, bamboo
Jew's Harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most likely originated in ...
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 A bansuri is an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from the Indian Subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal-like material, used in many Indian and Nepali Lok songs. A ''bansuri'' is traditionally made from a ...
,
Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
File:Thổi sáo.jpg, Sáo, Vietnamese flute File:Angklung-arumba.jpg, Angklung, Indonesia File:Angklung-kolintang.jpg, Kolintang xylophone and angklung, Indonesia File:Bamboo organ of Las Piñas I (cropped).jpg, Bamboo
organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...
, Saint Joseph Parish Church,
Las Piñas Las Piñas (, officially the City of Las Piñas (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of ...
, Metro Manila, Philippine File:Saxos de bambú por Angel Sampedro del Río, luthier argentino.jpg, Bamboo
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
, Argentina File:Khenesarong.jpg,
Khene The ''khaen'' (; spelled "Khaen", "Kaen", "Kehn" or "Ken" in English; , ; , , ; , ; – ''Ken''; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''khèn'' or ''kheng'') is a Lao mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a s ...
,
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, ...
, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos File:Chinese flutes circa 1900.JPG, Sheng mouth organ, China File:Miao musicians.jpg, Lusheng mouth organ File:Ploong.jpg, Ploong, a musical instrument of the Mru people, 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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