Instrument-a-week (5): Bird Whistle

Posted by peterkus on Apr 6, 2014 in Instrument-a-week, Music, News

BIRD WHISTLE

First version

Difficulty: 2 out of 5

YOU WILL NEED:

square wooden batten, dimensions 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm or 2 cm x 2 cm
a piece of hard plastic, thickness 1-2 mm
plastic band for gift-wrapping
wood saw
scissors
strong adhesive

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut the wooden batten into into segments: one segment of 8 cm, two segments of 2 cm and one segment of 6 cm.
Glue the two shortest segments to the ends of the longest segment so that the edges are carefully lined up.
Cut the hard plastic with scissors into short pads of dimensions 4 mm x 15 or 20 mm (depending on the dimensions of the batten, which you use). Glue the pads to the edges of the 6 cm long segment and to the angles of the longer segment.
Place the plastic band along the U-shaped structure, than place the middle segment on-top of it and push it into the opening. Stretch strongly the plastic band. From the side you can see that a thin slot is created in which the band is stretched.
Blow intensely through the slot and the bird whistle will emit a “hooting” sound, similar to bird singing.

Bird whistle works much like playing on a leave of grass, which is tensioned between the fingers and played. According to Sachs – Hornbostel system it can be classified among the group of interruptive free aerophones – band reed instruments, where the sound is produced by air flow which hits the sharp edge of a band under tension.

Similar whistling instrument, made of two halves of a tree branch bands and from grass , corn bast, birch or cherry bark or paper, was once as a folk instrument in Slovenia. It was also used for hunting birds “on glue”. It attracted jays and other birds that flew in and sat on a branch that was previously spread with a layer of adhesive “bird glue “. This prevented the bird to fly away and thus enabled the hunter to catch it.

Second, simpler version

Difficulty 1 of 5

YOU WILL NEED:

a stripe of paper, dimensions 3 cm x 16 cm (you can use plain office paper)
scissors

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold the paper stripe on half and then fold the two sides, 3 cm from each edge.
In the center of the middle folder cut a small triangle .
Insert the middle folder between the index and middle fingers so that the edges are pointing at each side at the bottom of your palm.
Gently squeeze the paper between the index and middle fingers, put your lips on the slot and blow intensively.