Last week I was lucky to have an hour or so listening to a band playing Quenas, Panpipes, and a thing rather like a Mandolin but with 5 pairs of strings.
The panpipes player was occasionally blowing notes while stopping the end of the pipe with a finger, slowly releasing, and stopping again. This resulted in a sound like rushing wind, but with a distinct note behind it. Very effective.
I was also watching the quena player closely as the quena is like a whistle but with an unenclosed blade, so you have to adjust your embouchure (?) carefully. His Quenas had a very curved blade, rather than a sharp V shaped notch. Now I want to get one for fun. Apparently some Quenas have whistle-style fingering, and some have an extra hole for the top thumb.
They were playing a mixture of regional music (possibly Bolivian, or Portuguese) and old trusties like Hey Jude, Woman (John Lennon), etc. Fool (on the hill) that I am I didn’t buy the CD which would probably have been €10.00 (£6.00 UK) or so and a steal at twice the price.
So, after beating about the bush, a few years ago a South American band had a hit (at least in the UK) featuring the panpipes. Does anyone remember it, what it was called, and has anyone learnt it on the whistle?
Also, who owns and plays a Quena? I know the wandering Whistler has one or two tucked away somewhere.
I’ve got quite a few quenas, I play in one of those Andean bands. The mandolin thingy is a charango. They come in three sizes with different names for each size, the charango is the middle sized one.
The blowing edge on quenas varies quite a bit. The best, and hardest to play, have a relatively deep semi circular notch. They take a very focused embouchure and lots of air. The easiest ones have a square cut notch much like a whistle. One other note, quenas are LOUD in the second octave, not for apartment dwellers.
The plugging the bottom of the pan pipe tube is interesting. Every set of pipes (zamponas, tilde on the n) I’ve ever seen has a closed bottom. Was it connected to the other pipes or by itself? it may have been an “effects” pipe to create the wind noise. We usually do that with a quenacho by blowing across a fingerhole gently (try it with a low D whistle).
Mark V.
P.S. forgot to mention, Quenas are in G and can be fingered just as a whistle if you ignore the thumbhole. The thumbhole is very handy though. If you need advice about where to get one, let me know. I can certainly tell you which ones not to get!
[ This Message was edited by: markv on 2002-02-18 10:19 ]
One, I got from Erik the flutemaker, and it looks like it was professionally made, but is slightly out of tune when I play it.
The other I got at a peruvian import store thingie that was at the TX Ren Fest for only one year (that I recall). It looks like it was made by rubbing the blade on a rock or something. However, it’s spot-on in tune when I play it. Go figure.
Being a tinwhistler, I have no idea what the thumbhole’s all about, and haven’t really made any effort to learn. As Mark V mentions, it plays like a whistle if you close it up and ignore it.
They come in three sizes with different names for each size, the charango is the middle sized one.
Mark,
I have one in G and a LowD.Ae you saying the G is the Charango? What’s the name for the Low D? Is this the Quenacho? What key is the other one in? So many questions. Thanks.
Tots
[ This Message was edited by: totst on 2002-02-18 20:54 ]
The guy playing the “windy” notes had several different sets of panpipes round his neck, so it may well have been a set of special effects pipes he was using!
The Quena blades were distinctly semi-circular, not V-shaped, so they belonged to the “harder to play but better quality” family.
Would bamboo be a typical material for a Quena? It wouldn’t be too difficult to experiment to make a quena using bamboo.
Is there a cultural connection between Bolivia/ the Andes and Portugal? Did Portugal originally colonise that area? I was in Portugal when I saw the band.
I made a Quena a while back from PVC (Water Quena?). I found the instructions online somewhere, but I have lost the URL. Should be easy enough to find though. This was just about the easiest instrument I have ever made, and it really plays nicely. All you need is a hack saw, drill and bits, some sandpaper.
Sorry for the confusion. The flute in G is a quena, the bigger one in D a Quenacho. I cannot remember what the even bigger one is called other than “hand me the really big one for this song”. Quenas are relatively easy to make from 34" PVC but there is a great deal of technique in cutting the mouthpiece. If you want to see some nice flutes and good views of the mouthpiece, check out the following link.
