Zhaleyka: what is it, instrument composition, history, sound, types, use

Zhaleyka is a musical instrument that has primordially Slavic roots. Simple in appearance, he is able to produce complex, melodic sounds that excite the heart and encourage reflection.

What is a pity

Slavic zhaleyka is the ancestor of the clarinet. It belongs to the group of woodwind musical instruments. It has a diatonic scale, in rare cases there are models with a chromatic scale.

The appearance is uncomplicated: a wooden tube with a bell at the end, a tongue inside and playing holes on the body. The total length of the instrument does not exceed 20 cm.

The sound is slightly nasal, piercing, loud, devoid of dynamic shades. The range depends on the number of holes on the body, but in any case it does not exceed one octave.

Tool device

There are three main parts of the pit:

• A tube. In the old days – wooden or reed, today the material of manufacture is different: ebonite, aluminum, mahogany. The length of the part is 10-20 cm, there are playing holes on the body, from 3 to 7. How the instrument will sound directly depends on their number, as well as the length of the tube.
• Trumpet. A wide part attached to the tube, acting as a resonator. Production material – birch bark, cow horn.
• Mouthpiece (beep). Wooden part, inside equipped with a reed or plastic tongue. The tongue can be single, double.

The history of the pity

It is impossible to track the emergence of zhaleyka: the Russian people have used it since time immemorial. Officially, the instrument was mentioned in documents of the XNUMXth century, but its history is much older.

Initially, the reed pipe was called the shepherd’s horn. She was present at holidays, festivities, was in demand by buffoons.

How the shepherd’s horn became miserable is not known for certain. Presumably, the origin of the name is associated with pitiful sounds: the horn began to be used during funeral rites, from which the name associated with the word “sorry” came from. Subsequently, the Russian folk instrument migrated to the buffoons, accompanied by short, funny tunes, and was a participant in street performances.

The second life of the zhaleika began at the turn of the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries: Russian enthusiasts, lovers of folklore revived it, included it in the orchestra. Today it is used by musicians playing in the genre of folk music.

Varieties

The pity may look different, depending on the type of instrument:

• Single-barreled. The standard model described above, with a pipe, mouthpiece, bell. Has 3-7 holes designed for playing.
• Double-barreled. Consists of 2 tubes stacked together or having a common socket. One tube is melodic, the other is echoing. Each has its own number of playing holes. The musical possibilities of a double-barreled design are higher than those of a single-barreled one. You can play on one or both tubes at once.
• Keychain. A species that was previously distributed in the Tver province. Feature: the construction is completely wooden, the bell is made not from the horn of a cow, but from birch bark, wood, there is a double tongue inside. The result is a softer, more pleasant sound.

If we talk about orchestral models, they are divided into zhaleiku-bass, alto, soprano, piccolo.