Good news, everyone ^_^_^

I'm back and i want to tell what i did at last few months.

1st - i placed 7 groups at Jamendo.com (asked about it all that groups) and i think i should tell about them:
1. Алатырь/Alatir - nice slavic folk.
2. Менестрели/Menestreli - predecessors of Алатырь. Near same music.
3. Элессар/Elessar - nice rock with flute. Sounds like Jethro Tull.
4. Дети луны/Children of the moon - rap with some folk in lyrics and raggie.
5. Moray Eel - Death Metal. English lyrics.
6. Рада и Терновник/Rada and a blackthorn - psychodelic rock at begin and folk rock at the end.
7. Калевала/Kalevala - Folk Metal - very nice rhythms with folk instruments and nice female vocal.

Thay all are our heroes. Colonists of world with free music. So don't forget to support them if you will like someone's music.

2nd - I almost created my own group. It's name is "The era of the Northerners" (Эра Северян/Era Severian). The list of all and main our instruments:
- recorder soprano (main)
- recorder alto
- dan moi and two chomuses (main)
- bansuri
- buben
- didgeridoo (main)
- tin wistle
- pan flute
- kalyuka (main)

It's still just begin but soon i will be able to place here our records.
So tell us "Good luck, guys!" ^_^_^

Kouxian

Chinese advanced jaw harp or set from some "dan moi"

Some information from Wikipedia:

Kouxian is the Chinese generic term for the jaw harp, and as such is used to refer to all such instruments originating in China. In the Chinese language, however, the term is used to refer to all jaw harps, whether from China or elsewhere.

The kouxian, which likely originated in Asia, is used throughout China, and is particularly popular among non-Han ethnic groups living in China's southwest (including Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou). Each of these ethnic groups has its own name for the instrument in that ethnic group's own language. Such names include ho-hos. Kouxian may be made from bamboo or metal, and are often used as a courting instrument.

One variety of kouxian consists of between one and five brass leaves which are plucked in front of the opened mouth, using the mouth as a resonance chamber. Each leaf produces a different pitched sound when plucked, and notes' pitches are further refined by changing the volume and shape of the oral cavity. Leaves may be plucked one at a time or many at once to produce synthesizer-like melody.

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Jamendo.com

Jamendo is a community of free, legal and unlimited music published under Creative Commons licenses.

This is a place where you can find music free from payment. Or place ^_^_^

I told about this service one of my favorite folk groups and they decided to place their music at this site for free.

Everyone can find in internet songs which he want so there is not many difference for home usage but groups which let to get their music legally get more love of their fans. So thanks to "Алатырь" that now all can hear their songs (they are really good in slavic ethnic).

I hope another groups also will give part of their art to people. It's really hard to buy all music which you like don't it?

And i hope not only i will explain these things to my favorite groups and help them with placing their music at Jamendo ;-)

Aulos

I really like double instruments. They have smaller scale but their sounds becomes much better. Well it doesn't work if second pipe just give one constant sound like in bagpipes.

Some information from Wikipedia:

An aulos was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology.

There were several kinds of aulos. A single pipe without a reed was called the monaulos. A single pipe held horizontally, as the modern flute, was the plagiaulos. The most common variety must have been a reed instrument. Archeological finds, surviving iconography and other evidence indicate that it was usually double-reeded, like an oboe, although simple variants with a single clarinet-type reed cannot be ruled out.

Though aulos is often and erroneously translated as "flute", its sound — described as "penetrating, insisting and exciting" — was more akin to that of the bagpipes, with a chanter and (modulated) drone. Like the Great Highland Bagpipe, the aulos might be used for martial music, but it is more frequently depicted in other social settings. It accompanied physical activities such as wrestling matches, the broad jump, the discus throw and to mark the rowing cadence on triremes, as well as sacrifices and dramas.

It appears that some variants of the instrument were loud, shrill, and therefore very hard to blow. A leather strap, called a phorbeiá in Greek or capistrum in Latin, was worn by the auletai to avoid excessive strain on the lips and cheeks due to continuous blowing. Aulus players are sometimes depicted with puffed cheeks. The playing technique almost certainly made use of circular breathing, very much like the Sardinian launeddas which would give the aulos a continuous sound.

How it looks:


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How 10 people can play piano?

I'm again here. It was a long time. now i have two jobs and one desease, want to buy bansuri and maybe khaen, teach one guy to play recorder and hope to gather my own folk group.

if anyone interested in such information ^_^_^"

Example of playing:

Carillon

Organ interface for bells.

Some information from Wikipedia:

A carillon is a musical instrument that is usually housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord. A carillon is played by striking a keyboard the keys of which are sometimes called "batons" with the fists and by pressing the keys of a pedal keyboard with the feet. The keys mechanically activate levers and wires that connect to metal clappers that strike the bells, allowing the performer, the carillonneur, to vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key.

The carillon is the heaviest of all extant musical instruments; the total weight of bells alone can be 100 tons in the largest instruments. The greatest concentration of carillons is still found in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Northern France, where they were symbols of civic pride and status. Some of the most spectacular are now protected by UNESCO as part of the world heritage site the Belfries of Belgium and France.

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Mountain dulcimer

Some information from Wikipedia:

The mountain dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic.

The traditional way to play the instrument is to lay it flat on the lap and pluck or strum the strings with the right hand, while fretting with the other. The dulcimer may also be placed in a similar position on a piece of furniture, such as a table or chest of drawers, to enhance the sound. There are two predominant methods of fretting. First, the strings may be depressed with the fingertips of the fretting hand. Using this technique, all the strings may be fretted, allowing the player to produce chords. Second, the melody string, the string closest to the player, may be depressed with a "noter," typically a short length of dowel or bamboo. Using this method, only the melody string is fretted and the other strings act as drone strings (the melody string may be doubled, so that the melody can be better heard over the drones). In this second style of playing, the combination of the drone strings and the buzz of the noter on the melody strings produces a unique sound.

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Berimbau

Musical bow from Africa.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, from Brazil. The berimbau's origins are not entirely clear, but there is not much doubt on its African origin, as no Indigenous Brazilian or European people use musical bows, and very similar instruments are played in the southern parts of Africa. The berimbau was eventually incorporated into the practice of the Afro-Brazilian martial art capoeira, where it commands how the capoeiristas move in the roda.

The berimbau consists of a wooden bow (verga), about 1.2 to 1.5 m, with a steel string (arame) tightly strung and secured from one end of the verga to the other. A gourd (cabaça), dried, opened and hollowed-out, attached to the lower portion of the Verga by a loop of tough string, acts as a resonator.

To play the berimbau, one holds it in one hand, wrapping the two middle fingers around the verga, and placing the little finger under the cabaça's string loop (the "anel"), and balancing the weight there. A small stone or coin (pedra or dobrão) is held between the index and thumb of the same hand that holds the berimbau. The cabaça is rested against the abdomen. In the other hand, one holds a stick (baqueta or "vaqueta" – usually wooden, very rarely made of metal) and a shaker (caxixi). One strikes the arame with the vaqueta to produce the sound. The caxixi accompanies the vaqueta. The dobrão is moved back and forth from the arame to change the pitch produced by the berimbau. The sound can also be altered by moving the cabaça back and forth from the abdomen, producing a wah-like sound.

How it looks:


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Kora

Harp with two rows of strings. It changes play technique and make harp more mobile.

Some information from Wikipedia:

The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively by people in West Africa.

A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge like a lute or guitar. The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp, though when played in the traditional style, it bears a closer resemblance to flamenco and delta blues guitar techniques. The player uses only the thumb and index finger of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns (using the remaining fingers to secure the instrument by holding the hand posts on either side of the strings).

Traditional koras feature 21 strings, eleven played by the left hand and ten by the right. Modern koras made in the Casamance region of southern Senegal sometimes feature additional bass strings, adding up to four strings to the traditional 21. Strings were traditionally made from thin strips of hide, for example antelope skin - now most strings are made from harp strings or nylon fishing line, sometimes plaited together to create thicker strings.

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Membrane pipe

Couldn't find information about this instrument, but as i understand it's like kazoo with play holes. You can see the process of creating such thing here

Example of playing: