Aerophones require an airstream to produce sound; they may be whirled through the air (bull-roarer) or blown into by a player (flutes, whistles, reed instruments, and horns). Bull-roarers, made of a wooden slab tied to a string or rawhide thong, are whirled in the air to create sound; they are significant in some native healing and conjuring practices. Arctic peoples used bull-roarers as part of a ritual to harden snow, making travel easier, while the O’odham people of the southwestern United States used a bull-roarer in earlier times to imitate the sound of rain in rituals calling for rain.
Flutes and whistles are tubular or globular vessels with an edge against which the player blows. Native American flutes and whistles come in many shapes and sizes and are made from various materials, including wood, bone, cane, clay, and bamboo. The number and position of finger holes, the specific design of the mouth hole, and a number of pipes involved are all features that differentiate various kinds of flutes. In the Americas, end-blown or vertical flutes are most common; these are played by blowing air directly over the rim of the mouth hole. The mouth hole may be plain (cut straight across), notched, or connected to an internal duct. Panpipes exemplify end-blown flutes with a plain mouth hole. Played throughout Central and South America, panpipes involve a set of tubes with graduated lengths; the tubes are bound together in a row. Panpipes are usually made in two rows and are intended to be played as a pair by two performers using interlocking style. Duct flutes are also widespread; these have an internal block that forces the airstream against the beveled edge of an air hole. (The recorder is a European duct flute.) Indigenous duct flutes are played throughout the Americas, but the best-known example is the Plains courting flute, made popular by contemporary performers such as Carlos Nakai. The Pame people of Central Mexico have an unusual kind of duct flute called a mitote in which a mirliton covers the air hole, altering the instrument’s tone color. In addition to end-blown flutes, some Native Americans also play side-blown or horizontal flutes, which have a lateral mouth hole; the Peruvian pitu is an example. The Waiãpi people of French Guiana have a side-blown flute that is played nasally, although nose flutes are otherwise rare in the Americas. Whistles are essentially a simple form of end-blown flute that produces one or two pitches; these are used throughout the Americas for ritual purposes.
In reed instruments, the stream of air passes over a lamella made from a thin strip of cane or wood, causing it to vibrate. Among Native Americans, reed instruments are used primarily among South American Indians, particularly in the Tropical Forest and circum-Caribbean areas. The Yekuana people of southern Venezuela play an end-blown free-reed bamboo instrument called the tekeyë, which has a lamella inside the pipe. Although the player’s lips do not touch the lamella, it vibrates when he blows into the pipe. The tekeyë is played in pairs; one is considered male, and the other is considered female. The Warao play another kind of end-blown reed instrument known as the isimoi, played in pairs during the Warao harvest festival. In addition to these clarinet-like instruments, some South American Indians play ribbon-type reed instruments made from a coiled blade of grass or a folded leaf.
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Horns produce musical sound when the player vibrates his lips against the mouth hole. Most Native American horns are end-blown, have a cylindrical bore, and are made from bamboo, wood, bark, bone, clay, or calabash. The Waiãpi people of the Tropical Forest area have an end-blown horn called the nhimia poku that can be played as a solo instrument or in ensembles, depending upon the ritual context. End-blown conch-shell horns with a spiral bore are fairly widespread among Native Americans, who use them primarily for signaling purposes; the Cayuga of the Eastern Woodlands area play a conch-shell horn to announce Longhouse ceremonial events. Native Andeans play another kind of spiral-shaped horn called the wakrapuku, which is made from sections of cattle horn or pieces of sheet metal; the instrument is played in pairs during an annual fertility ritual. The Mapuche plays an end-blown horn called the trutruka, made from a bamboo tube wrapped in horse intestine and capped with a cow horn resonator at the distal end. The trutruka is played by Mapuche men in the context of annual harvest rituals; similar horns are used for signaling elsewhere in the Andes.
In sacred traditions throughout the Americas, the wind is associated with spirit beings as well as with breath, the essence of life. For this reason, Native American aerophones are imbued with special meaning and are strongly associated with shamanism and sacred ceremonies. North American Indian flutes may be incised with symbolic designs or decorated with feathers and carved fetishes. Many native peoples use wind instruments to communicate with spirits; for example, peoples of the Northwest Coast use a small wooden whistle to signal the presence of spirit beings at ceremonials. In addition, wind instruments represent the personification of specific spirit beings for some groups; music played on the Yekuana tekeyë represents the songs and dialogue of mythological animals.
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