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Moldovan/Romanian kaval technique (jib)

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 10:09 am
by mroyivvi
Hi all,

Last year I taught a Survey of World Music class and subsequently discovered and fell in love with Hungarian folk music through artists such as Márta Sebestyén and Muzsikás. I have played Irish traditional music and other aerophones for years and was very glad to find a selection of instruments from hungarianfolkmusic.com.

I purchased a 6-hole C furulya, a D tilinkó (overtone flute), a 6-hole F double furulya, and a D 5-hole Moldovan/Romanian kaval. (Like I said, I was inspired.) An interesting feature of these instruments is that the fipple is constructed on the bottom of the flute body rather than the top, which can make it tricky to hold in certain positions, but allows for a very interesting technique. Here's an example of someone actually doing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJoJB_1mQNM And here a description from the above site:
If you cover the top of the window with your jib / lower lip, you will hear the octave of the current note. It is enough to cover the upper ~2 mm. After that you should do "growling" sound with your throat and you will hear a very loud, overtone-rich sound.
I also just found that Winne Clement demonstrates it in some of his kaval videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPMedmlbNb8

Essentially you partially cover the fipple opening with your lower lip and also activate your glottis and "growl", either a drone note, the melody, or a countermelody.

MY QUESTION IS: how does this technique work when you overblow? Specifically in my kaval, I am having issues moving through the different "octaves". It's as long as a Low-D whistle, but you never play the fundamental in its original octave. You overblow to the second (D), third (A), and fourth overtone (D). I'm fine doing this embouchure technique in the second octave, but can't get it to work with the third or fourth.

Anyone who has any experience with this, I'd be appreciative of any help!

Best,
Matthew

Re: Moldovan/Romanian kaval technique (jib)

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 7:17 pm
by AaronFW
Hi Matthew,

I'm not familiar with Hungarian flutes. However, I do know there are some flute traditions where there is throat-singing as a part of playing the flute. (For example, the Mongolian Tsuur, an inter-dental end-blown flute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91_5_wSRSM [this is just a random video I grabbed after a short youtube search of "Tsuur". For finding tsuur played in an ensemble, look for videos by Anda Union or Huun Huur Tu. Those each have a flute player, it is just sometimes harder to pick out the throat-singing in combination with flute playing.]) If I understand your description accurately, it sounds like you are describing throat-singing (" 'growling' sound with your throat").

Listening to the first video I think I hear what you are talking about in regards to the kaval. It tends to be short and choppy complimenting the flute. In the second video with Winne Clement, I did not find where in the video he talked about the technique but I may have zoned out.

If I understand your question (which I may be missing it completely), you are asking "How do you maintain throat-singing in each octave?" If so, the answer may be that there are basically 3 different ranges for throat singing and you may need to switch the range (high, mid, and low; all three are used in Mongolian throat-singing. (If I recall correctly, Huun Huur Tu talks about them during their concert in this YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0djHJBAP3U )

However, I could be completely off from your question. :) Maybe someone else will chime in.