OT: Viking Panpipes

[Patrick]

http://www.geocities.com/scalaska1/pipes.html

This is a recent project of mine. I am putting out feelers trying to find the audio recording that was supposedly made of the originals. I want my copies to actually sound the exact same notes as the originals. Since so many folks here have some pretty eclectic stuff, I was hoping one of y'all would have the tape and be willing to dub it in exchange for one of these little panpipes.

I am not currently wanting to make them for sale, so this is not an advertisement, just sharing a project and asking for help with improving it.

-Patrick

[lilymaid]

I had no idea the Vikings played panpipes. That's quite an intriguing project. When they're done I'm sure we'd all like to hear them.

I wish you luck in finding the tapes. I was thinking, if you haven't already, maybe you should try to contact the museum or individual that owns the original pipes. I bet they would be willing to help you in your endeavour.

[Walden]

http://www.geocities.com/scalaska1/pipes.html

This is a recent project of mine. I am putting out feelers trying to find the audio recording that was supposedly made of the originals.

It is supposed to be used in the CD, I Dreamt Me A Dream ( http://www.livinghistory.co.uk/1100-150 ... w_143.html ). Here is the link:
http://www.skalk.dk/skalk/forlag.html

[ErikT]

I got to play Patrick's pipe the other day. Kinda fun They have a real good sound to them - made me wish I was a Viking ("a Viking, whata you know, the terror of the sea").

[brewerpaul]

Did you choose Danish oil finish for an authentic Scandinavian sound?
Looks like an interesting project.

[rbm]

I could be wrong but I think that a mixture of propolis, pure turpentine and STUFF was used as a varnish on early musical instruments. Apis Mellifera Mellifera the British Black Bee has been found at the Jorvik and this is the earlest known record of the strain so the vikings had bees and therefore a ready supply of propolis, as a side point the British Black Bee was thought to have become extinct in the early 1920's due to man's interferance by cross breeding and an epidemic, but in the early 1990's it was rediscovered at a site of a small bee farm in skelly crag in the english lakes
Richard.

[markv]

Patrick,

Great little instrument. Several other cultures have similar pipes. I cannot remember exactly but several Asian cultures had panpipes bored into a single block, usually jade.

One other tip for construction. The contour of the bottom of the hole is pretty important in smaller pipes. Should be smoothly rounded and ideally a hemisphere. Spade bit was a good choice and a spoon bit would have been perfect. If you have any friends that do even basic blacksmithing they should be able to crank out a functioning spoon bit (hand drill use) in a pretty short time. I've made a few and they actually work pretty well even with the poor tempering job I did.

Got a schematic of the measurements? Wouldn't mind cranking one out sometime. Very well done indeed.

Mark V.

[Walden]

I cannot remember exactly but several Asian cultures had panpipes bored into a single block, usually jade.

There is a Quicktime video with it, at http://www.larkinam.com/MenComNet/Busin ... eflute.htm .

[Patrick]

Consider the site to be half-finished at this time. I will add a pattern when it is more than just 5 marks on the edge of a wood scrap (depth of the hole). Gotta get cranking with that Photoshop. (Yeah, I know there are less-sophisticated programs to do the same thing, but why bother?)

I also intend to make one that tunes to aprox concert pitch, not so far off as this one. I will put up dimensions at that time, as well.

I have e-mailed the York Archaeological Trust about the sound clip, but have not heard back from them, yet. There are a couple of European early music (really early) that play replicas of these, but basing my replica on another replica is going to introduce further possibility of error.

The cool thing is that I was contacted by the Frojel Viking re-enactment group less than 24 hours after putting this up. They were excited about it and wanted to copy and host a mirror of the page. That made my day. These guys include some professional archaeologists, so I was really tickled at the response from that group.

-Patrick

[Chuck_Clark]

Patrick

While the instrument does not really appeal to me personally, I just wanted to say that I think its absolutely awesome that you'd go to so much trouble to resurrect a lost instrument like that. One of the reasons I'm in the antique trade is that there's a real thrill, for me anyway, in rescuing an old book or other artifact that would otherwise have been lost. This is even better - taking something that WAS lost and resurrecting it, so to speak.

[Nanohedron]

Very cool. Any particular tunes familiar to us that can be played on it? I know, with just 5 notes it's unlikely, but I had to ask!

[Patrick]

History is more than where we came from. One of the things I love about any sort of historical research is feeling a connection with people whose names are now known only to God.

I make glass beads, with a fair number based on historical styles. That really gives me a feeling of connection with a dead culture. What made a bead beautiful a thousand years ago may look sort of cheesy today. Or truly elegant. It is the same with music.

The panpipes were just a way to satisfy a curious urge to understand what people might have enjoyed listening to and playing over a millenium ago. I am not competent to duplicate some of the more sophisticated instruments, but I can drill wood. So, getting a chance to hear an instrument that has not sounded for a thousand years is a real kick for me.

If interested, I also made a simple lyre, which is detailed on the same website. Use the "back to Arts and Sciences" link at the very bottom of the article. That one was a much more involved project.

Next will either be a simple banjo or a tiny fiddle for my 3-year-old son to play with. Making instruments is even more addictive than playing them!

-Patrick

[Guy Costanzo]

Here's another maker of Viking panpipes that you might be interested in:
http://www.panflutejedi.com/handcrafted.html

[Thomas-Hastay]

Hi Patrick,Nice Pipes!

I posted a file on how to design/calculate sets of panpipes in an old archive posted here.
http://www.mimf.com/library/panpipes.htm
Scroll down to my calculations and a set of pipe measurements in "g"major. Please replace the "constant" for the speed of sound to <b>13526.499 inches per second</b>for a Sea level speed at 70 degrees F. I was a little mistaken in the Olden days!

I've come across many photos and sets of museum panpipes of Celtic and Viking origin. A set of Moravian pipes from a Celtic/Viking site on the southern Danube are depicted in "Musical Instruments of the World"(A popular book). I have come across 2 sets in a book entitled "Viking art" that had wonderful carvings of horses on the end of the longest pipe with a lanyard ring in their teeth.

If I may make a few suggestions on construction...
Each tube should have a diameter approx. 1/14th of the calculated length for proper tone but can be larger or smaller depending on taste in tone color. Voicings can be just rounded like yours or can be angled/cut like a shakuhachi embouchure. The"Moravian set" I stated above have whistle voicings. If you wish to calculate whistle voicings, I must post some additional but simple modifications to the archived formulae.

Hope this was of interest/help and give a holler if you need more info from me.
Thomas Hastay.