Panpipes
A panpipe consists of a set of hollow tubes (reeds or bamboo tubes) that are bound together in a row. The longest tube is at one end. Each successive tube is slightly shorter than its neighbor, allowing an array of pitches from low to high. A shorter tube produces a higher pitch. The player blows into the top open end of the tubes. (Try blowing into a beverage bottle to produce a similar effect.) The other end of the tube is usually closed.
Panpipes are found in many areas of the world, including South America, Eastern Europe, China, and Greece.
A Greek Myth About the Origin of the Panpipe
In ancient Greek mythology, there was a god named Pan. He had the ears, horns, and hind legs of a goat, and the face, arms, and torso of a man. As one version of the story goes, Pan fell in love with a beautiful nymph named Syrinx. Pan asked her to be his wife, but Syrinx ran away from him through the woods with Pan chasing her. Syrinx came upon a deep stream as Pan was getting nearer. Syrinx begged the water nymphs of the stream to change her shape so that she might escape from Pan. Just as Pan reached her, the nymphs transformed Syrinx into a bunch of reeds. Pan embraced the reeds, but when he realized that it was not Syrinx in his arms, he sighed sadly. His breath on the reeds created a sweet sound. For comfort and remembrance of his lost love, Pan created a panpipe by attaching the reeds together with wax. The instrument that is commonly known as a panpipe is still called a syrinx in Greece.
(Text courtesy of Pearson Education, Inc.) |
