# Is there a name for this pan-flute-like instrument? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900 "2008-11-09T14:17:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/1 "2008-11-09T14:17:03Z")
I was playing around with pieces of bamboo yesterday, trying to make various whistles and so forth. I have a reed pan flute which I bought ages ago - and this is played by blowing across the tops of tubes with closed bottoms, but I wondered - is there a name for an instrument that would be constructed as an array of ordinary whistles (of [this](http://www.siestacrafts.co.uk/__uploads/Catalog/BBW2%20Bamboo%20Loon%20Whistle%2012cm_1.jpg) general type? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/2 "2008-11-09T21:37:22Z")
Bumpingham. Surely I haven’t invented an instrument here? It’s too obvious a device. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/3 "2008-11-09T23:51:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Surely I haven’t invented an instrument here? It’s too obvious a device. You may have, but I’m wondering whether you could actually persuade anyone to use it. With pan pipes or pan flutes, the sound is produced by blowing across the top of each reed–rather like tying multiple pop and beer bottles of different sizes together to produce different notes. This allows the musician to simply pass the pipe/flute back and forth in front of the lips to produce a tune. I was under the impression, (obviously open to correction), that one needed to purse the lips around the end of a whistle to get enough air into the chamber and be forced out of the chamber to produce sound. A multiple tube whistle might require too much time (and too much breath) moving from one tube to another to be used musically. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/4 "2008-11-09T23:56:48Z")
Possibly, although I was envisaging a construction where the mouthpieces were quite closely joined into a continuous strip - making it possible to slide the instrument through the lips in the same manner as a harmonica. ---
**Author:** ![St.Anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@St.Anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Anger)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/5 "2008-11-10T00:09:17Z")
Recorder? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/6 "2008-11-10T00:19:02Z")
> [@St.Anger](#): > > Recorder? No - a recorder is a whistle with fingered holes to produce a range of notes from the single pipe. I’m talking about a whole row of whistles, each tuned to a single note, stuck together side by side like a pan flute, but unlike a pan flute, you blow not across the top of the open pipes, but into the mouthpieces of the individual whistles. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/7 "2008-11-10T00:24:42Z")
I don’t have an answer for you, but if inventing musical instruments is your thing, I recommend you search “Les Luthiers” a hilarious group of Argentinian comedians whose fame sadly ignores the fact that they invent and fabricate all their instruments, which are often quite original. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/8 "2008-11-10T00:35:15Z")
Read this Wikipedia article about the Peruvian Pan Flute. > **[Pan flute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_flute)** > > 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 popular as folk instruments. The pipes are typically made from bamboo, giant cane, or local reeds. Other materials include wood, plastic, metal and ivory. > The pan flute is named after Pan, the Greek god of nature and shepherds, often depicted with such an ... ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/9 "2008-11-10T00:40:32Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > Read this Wikipedia article about the Peruvian Pan Flute. > [Pan flute - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_flute) I don’t see the relevance - that instrument is played by blowing across the open top ends of the pipes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/10 "2008-11-10T00:44:43Z")
Closest thing I’ve been able to find to what I’m trying to describe is this: > **[NAF Part 6 Zapotec clay flute & whistle](http://cedarmesa.blogspot.com/2005/12/naf-part-6-zapotec-clay-flute-whistle.html)** > > In this post we're going to look at a very unusual flute. A Zapotec clay flute & whistle. At first glance this instrument appears to be wh... ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/11 "2008-11-10T03:31:47Z")
A flute that has a fixture directing the airstream (so that no particular lip technique–known as _embouchure_–is necessary) is known–believe it or not–as a _fipple_ flute. The most familiar fipple flute in the west is, as noted upthread, the recorder. The only advantage a fipple flute has is that one needn’t learn the embouchure in order to get a sound out of it. An open hole mouthpiece, in contrast, allows one to finesse intonation and sound quality, and, in the case of the pan flute, allows one to switch pipes–and therefore notes–faster than if the player had to wrap his lips around each pipe as would be the case with the instrument you seem to be proposing. As with many instruments, the initial difficulty in developing the technique of playing–in this case, embouchure–is repaid, once mastered, with superior flexibility, intonation, and sound quality. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/12 "2008-11-10T18:29:15Z")
All true - I’m just surprised there don’t seem to be very many fipple pan flutes - it seems an obvious thing, regardless of the limitations. > [@](#): > > An open hole mouthpiece, in contrast, allows one to finesse intonation and sound quality, and, in the case of the pan flute, allows one to switch pipes–and therefore notes–faster than if the player had to wrap his lips around each pipe as would be the case with the instrument you seem to be proposing. I’m actually going to try making one where the mouthpieces are all joined together into a smooth continuous block (like a harmonica mouthpiece) - allowing the player to slide the instrument through the lips. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/13 "2008-11-10T20:33:09Z")
There are instruments with two pipes, like what you’re describing, but I’ve not come across any with more than that. Example would include the [double clarinet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_clarinet) or mijwiz ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/14 "2008-11-10T21:20:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > All true - I’m just surprised there don’t seem to be very many fipple pan flutes - it seems an obvious thing, regardless of the limitations. Well, the main limitation is that in order to switch from one pipe to the next, even if they’re right next to each other, is that you have to _stop playing_, if even for a brief moment. This makes it difficult or impossible to play fast runs or smooth ones. A friend of mine plays a bowed psaltery in my early music consort, and she has much the same issue… each string on the psaltery is tuned to a different pitch, and you can’t slide from one note to the next… you have to lift the bow off the string, move it to the one you want to sound next, then lower the bow and play the next note. It’s great for when you want one person in the group playing steady tones rather than runs, but it calls for a particular type of music. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-pan-flute-like-instrument/471900/15 "2008-11-10T23:50:17Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, the main limitation is that in order to switch from one pipe to the next, even if they’re right next to each other, is that you have to _stop playing_, if even for a brief moment. This makes it difficult or impossible to play fast runs or smooth ones. Probably, although I reckon some of the skills applicable to playing the harmonica might cross over. Of course there’s also the possibility of playing each note transition as a glissando, but that effect might get old quite quickly.