The Turkish ney is an
end-blown flute
thumb , Notched flute, showing U-shaped notch in the instrument’s rim.
The end-blown flute (also called an edge-blown flute or rim-blown flute) is a woodwind instrument played by directing an airstream against the sharp edge of the upper en ...
made of reed, an
Ottoman variation on the ancient
ney
The ney ( ; ) is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in traditional Persian, Turkish, Jewish, Arab, and Egyptian music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played for over 4,500 ye ...
. Together with the Turkish
tanbur
The term ''Tanbur'' can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowa ...
lute and Turkish
kemençe
Kemenche (, Persian : کمانچه) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Greece, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to ...
fiddle are considered the most typical instruments of
Classical Turkish music
Ottoman music () or Turkish classical music (, or more recently ) is the tradition of classical music originating in the Ottoman Empire. Developed in the palace, major Ottoman cities, and Sufi lodges, it traditionally features a solo singer wi ...
. The ney also plays a primary role in the music of the
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya (; ) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya, Turkey (formerly capital of the Sultanate of Rum) and which was founded by the followers of Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, Sufi ...
Sufi rites (''semâ'').
Description
A rim-blown, oblique flute made of giant reed (''
Arundo donax
''Arundo donax'' is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed. ''Arundo'' a ...
''), the Turkish ney has six finger-holes on the front and a high-set thumb-hole on the back. The thumb hole is not centered but rather is angled to the left or right depending on whether the instrument was intended to be played with the left or right hand on top.
A feature that distinguishes it from similar instruments of other cultures is the flared mouthpiece or lip rest, called a ''bashpare'', traditionally made of water buffalo horn, ivory, or ebony, but in modern times many are
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...
or similar durable material.
The Turkish ney is played by pressing the ''bashpare'' against nearly-closed lips and angling the flute so that a narrow air stream can be blown from the center of the lips against the interior edge to the left or right, depending on whether the flute is left- or right-handed in construction.
This technique gives a lower volume, but a better-controlled sound compared to the technique used with the Persian ney or the Mongolian
tsuur
The ''tsuur'' ( цуур, Mongolian), ''choor'' (Kyrgyz), ''chuur'' ( шоор, Tuvan), ''sybyzgy'' (Kazakh), or '' kurai'' (Bashkir) is an end-blown flute of varying lengths that is common among Inner Asian pastoralists.
In western Mongolia ...
, which are played by tucking the mouthpiece under the upper lip and making contact with the teeth.
Besides the finger holes, the pitch is altered by adjusting the
embouchure
Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece (woodwind), mouthpiece of a woodwind or brass instrument. The word is of French lan ...
, angle, and force of the breath, with more forceful producing the higher pitches.
Compared to most
fipple
The term fipple specifies a variety of end-blown flute that includes the flageolet, recorder, and tin whistle. The Hornbostel–Sachs system for classifying musical instruments places this group under the heading "Flutes with duct or duct flut ...
flutes and
reed instruments, the ney is very difficult to play at first, often taking several weeks of practice to produce a proper sound at all, and even more to produce the full range of pitches. A skilled ney player can sound around 100 identifiable different tones in a two-and-a-half octave range or more.
Sizes
Before the
tone naming convention do-re-mi-etc.. was adopted in Turkey, the notes had full long names which still partially are in use in ney circles, for example as names of fingering for a given ''perde'' (the set of pitches used in the performance).
Neys come in many lengths, each producing a different key. Professional players usually possess a range of ney in different keys so they match other instruments in an ensemble.
:In some Turkish musical circles, the "pitch" (''akord'') of a ney is determined by the tone produced by its rast perde. For example, some refer to the note generated with all holes closed, meaning ''Davud'' would be in
E, ''Bolahenk nısfiye'' would be in
D, and ''Ṣah'' would be in
F.
:In others, the pitch is determined using the note (''perde'') which matches A=440 Hz (''diyapazon''). This pitch is one note higher, e.g., Mansur being A/La rather than G/Sol. The lengths below are approximate, as it can vary somewhat due to the natural characteristics of the individual reed.
Players
A Turkish ney player is referred to as a ''neyzen''. A curious distinction in the Turkish language is that playing the ney is described using the verb ''üflemek'' ("blow") whereas for all other instrumentalists, one uses the verb ''çalmak'' ("play/brush"). It is speculated that the ney's close identification with the
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya (; ) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya, Turkey (formerly capital of the Sultanate of Rum) and which was founded by the followers of Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, Sufi ...
Sufis might be the origin of this usage (''God made Adam out of mud, and then "blew" life into it'').
Noted modern ney players include
Niyazi Sayın
Niyazi Sayın (; born 1927) is a Turkish '' ney'' flautist and music educator. For a long time, he has performed duets with ''tanbur'' lute player Necdet Yaşar. He is regarded as the most important ''ney'' player in Turkish classical music.
...
,
Akagündüz Kutbay
Aka Gündüz Kutbay (August 17, 1934, Istanbul - August 27, 1979, Istanbul), was a leading Turkish '' ney'' (oblique rim-blown reed flute) player of the 1960s and 1970s, known for his traditional sound, deep tones (''dem sesleri''), and interest ...
, Sadreddin Özçimi,
Kudsi Erguner
Kudsi Erguner (born 4 February 1952 in Diyarbakır, Turkey) is a Turkish musician. He is considered a master of traditional Mevlevi Sufi music and is one of the best-known players of the Turkish ney flute.
Biography
As a boy, Erguner stud ...
, Süleyman Erguner (''torun'') and Münip Utandı.
Fingering
The following is a description of how
fingering, blow angle and blow intensity (roughly represented with symbols for wind speed and direction borrowed from USNWS) are combined to create the tones in a popular scale ("Hüseyni") on a common Turkish ney type (Bolahenk).
Note that some pitches can be produced two different ways.
There are hundreds of similar scales in use in classical Turkish music. Hüseyni is probably the most frequently used. A dozen of the most common scales account for an important majority of all Turkish classical music, while many are seldom used.
Related instruments
The classical Turkish ney's closest relatives in other countries, the Arab ''nay'' and the Persian ''ney'', do not use a mouthpiece, but rather blow against the sharpened edge of the tube. In Turkish folk music, one type of ney (''
dilli kaval'') has a fipple; the other type (''dilsiz'') is a rim-blown oblique flute, as is the Turkish classical ney. The Bulgarian ''
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 ...
'', a folk instrument, resembles the Turkish dilsiz folk ney. The Romanian ''nai'' is a panpipe rather than a flute but may be related etymologically and morphologically.
Popular media
Ney Taksimi/Aziz İstanbul a composition by Münip Utandı is the most sampled Turkish ney song on the Internet, being sampled by several media. ''Ney Taksimi'' means improvisation at the ney instrument. The following is a table showing the songs that used the original sample (the first 2 min. of the recording are linked at the top row).
References
* Erguner, Süleyman. ''Ney metod'' Quarto, 351 pages, b/w, color illustr., 2 CDs.
* Signell, Karl. "Meetings with a remarkable man: Neyzen Akagündüz Kutbay," ''Festschrift for Robert Garfias'' (in press)
* Tammer, Anthony. "Construction of the Turkish Ney," ''Turkish Music Quarterly'' V/4-VI/1 (1993)
See also
*
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 ...
*
Kawala
The ''kāwālā'' ( or ; also called ''salamiya'', ) is an end-blown cane flute used in Arabic music. It is similar to the '' ney'' but has six finger holes, while the ''ney'' has seven (including one in the back). The ''kawala'' comes in up t ...
*
Ney
The ney ( ; ) is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in traditional Persian, Turkish, Jewish, Arab, and Egyptian music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played for over 4,500 ye ...
External links
"Construction of the Turkish Ney,"by Anthony Tamer in ''TMQ''
*
ttp://www.umbc.edu/eol/wikipedia/Shah_ney.mp3 Improvisation by Süleyman Erguner on Ṣah ney (excerpt)00:01:58, 4.7 MB, mp3
NEYDERGISI, The first journal only about NEY (Turkish)NEYZEN, a useful resource (English)
Turkish Music Quarterly contents
{{Turkish musical instruments
Turkish musical instruments
End-blown flutes
Sufi music
Instruments of Ottoman classical music
Instruments of Turkish makam music
Turkish inventions