The eunuch flute, onion flute, or mirliton (; french: flûte eunuque, ''flûte à l'oignon'' or ''mirliton''; german: Zwiebelflöte) is a

musical instrument 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 ...

of the

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ...

family used during the 16th and 17th centuries. It produces

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

akin to a comb and paper, and is still manufactured as a toy. The eunuch flute's sound highly resembles a

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modif ...

. The eunuch flute, unlike a kazoo, is held horizontally against the mouth while the user vocalizes into the aperture. The eunuch flute consists of a

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

en tube widening out slightly to form a bell. The upper end of the tube is closed by means of a very fine membrane similar to an

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the oni ...

skin stretched across the aperture like the

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other ani ...

of a drum. The mouthpiece, a simple round hole, is pierced a couple of inches below the membrane. Into this hole the performer

sing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music ( arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or ...

s, their voice setting up vibrations in the membrane (technically a mirliton), which thus intensifies the sound and changes its

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and music ...

to a bleating quality. A movable cap fits over the membrane to protect it. Marin Mersennus has given a drawing of the eunuch flute together with a description. cites ''L'Harmonie universelle'' (Paris, 1636), livre v. prop. iv. pp. 228-229. He states that the

vibration Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum—or random, suc ...

s of the membrane improve the sound of the voice, and by reflecting it, give it an added charm. There were

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

s of these flutes in four or five

parts Part, parts or PART may refer to: People *Armi Pärt (born 1991), Estonian handballer * Arvo Pärt (born 1935), Estonian classical composer *Brian Part (born 1962), American child actor *Dealtry Charles Part (1882–1961), sheriff (1926–1927) a ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, adds Mersennus, and they had the advantage over other kinds of reproducing more nearly the sound of the voice. The Irish writer

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic ex ...

wrote a series of fifty-nine small poems in French called mirlitonnades after the instrument. The Creole composer, Edmond Dédé wrote ''Méphisto Masqué'' for grand orchestra and a fanfare of Mirlitone Instruments.

Notes

References

* Attribution: * Early musical instruments Singing membranophones Toy instruments and noisemakers {{Flute-stub

See also

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References