The
Bulgarian dvoyanka is a double
flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
made of a single piece of wood, with six sound holes on one side.
It is most frequently made of
ash-wood,
plum tree,
pear tree,
cornel or
boxwood. The tune is played on the right pipe, while the left pipe provides a flat tone (or
drone) as accompaniment. The playing structure on the right pipe is similar to that of the music played on the
kaval
The kaval is a Diatonic and chromatic, chromatic end-blown flute, end-blown oblique flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans (in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Northern Greece, and elsewhere) and ...
.
Line-dances and lively melodies are frequently played on it.
The dvoyanka has traditionally been an instrument favored by
shepherds. Shepherds directed their flocks by their playing, since sheep remember and recognize a
melody
A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...
in time. A shepherd could "teach" his flock to start from the pen towards the pasture at one melody, and to return to the village in the evening at another. The instrument bears similitudes to the dvojnica, an instrument typical for the regions of Central and Western
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
and Serbian regions across the
river Drina, which is made and played somewhat differently.
The dvoyanka is a double pipe (
gaida), which has a form of a rectangular prism or which is more rarely is composed form two parallel cylindrical tubes. It has a length from 30 to 40 cm. All of the two tubes begin with a bill formed nozzle in which the tone is produced with an ordinary blowing. When playing on a duduk the two tubes are temporarily blown.
Dvoyanka is a
wind musical instrument in the form of a rectangular prism with two parallel channels. The one channel sets the tone, and the other on which the six holes are situated reproduces the melody. This double flute is also called "the little bagpipe". It's made from
plum tree,
cherry, pear tree,
maple, ash,
beech,
oak, or corneal tree. Music performed on the double flute has a very specific coloring.
Related instruments
Similar instruments are found in
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
(cyla-diare),
Macedonia (piska),
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
(disavli),
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
(fluierul gemanat), and
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
(dvojnice) in one build or another. One difference, however, is that where the Bulgarian dvoyanka is rectangular in shape, where the two tubes are bored straight through a single block of wood and the material in between remains intact, in Albania and Serbia the wood between the tubes may be cut away so that they resemble two separate "legs" (the instrument then resembles an upside-down Y; see other instruments in this case).
See also
*
Dvodentsivka
References
{{Flutes
Fipple flutes
Bulgarian musical instruments