THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL

INSTRUMENTS

BY BORISLAV MARTINOV BANKOV

THE GAIDA

The gaida (bagpipe) is an instrument that is used by all European nations. It's composed from the following parts: chanter or “gaidunitsa”, drone or “ruchilo”, mouthpiece or “duhalo”,hubs or “glavini” and bag or “meh”. Gaidunitsa is the most important part of the gaida and is a kind of a pipe with eight holes for the fingers, seven of them which are on the front side and the eight hole is on the back side of the pipe.

THE GAIDAThe tone possibilities of the gaida are poorer then these of the caval. The players are used in differing two main kind. Low (caba) and high (dzhura) - the low type of gaida is diffused in the mountain regions. In Bulgaria is popular so called Rhodopian gaida, which is used from the accompaniment of the fine lyrical Rhodopian gaidars. The most used gaida is with the main tone "sol" (dzhura). It's with a loud tone possibilities in comparison to the other kind of gaida.

THE KAVAL

The caval is one of the most diffused musical folk instruments used a lot by the Bulgarians from long time ago still now. It's used in the whole Bulgaria and especially in Thrace and Dobrudja. The technical construction of the all kinds of the kaval is the same. They differ only in the length of the pipe. There are some kavals with lengths of 50, 70, 75 and 80 cm. In consequence of it the cavals are with different kind of highs. The kaval's volume of the tone is concerned with the tune.

THE GADOULKA Gadoulka is a Slavonic stringed instrument

without a fingerboard as it is in the current violin. Strings are not with one and the same length and the same height. The first string is the lowest, the second is longer and higher and the third is the highest. Usually gadulkas have three of four strings. In some there are further, thinner metallic strings conforming to the tones, which are played on the instrument with fingers. The folk gadulka player calls these strings under-sounds that make resonance. Their purpose is to resonate on tones which in the gadulka sound more deafly and not clearly.

THE GADOULKA

As playing on a violin fingers press the strings against the fingerboard still in difference, playing on gadulka without a fingerboard, fingers, instead of playing onto the strings, touch them with nails. The sonority of gadulka in comparison, with the sonority of violin is more quiet and deafer, but more pleasant. Possibilities of tones are from "sol" on the little octave still "re" on the second octave.

THE TAPAN

The tapan which is used in Bulgaria has an elementary kind of structure. Its body and hoops are wooden and the tighten of the skins is made of strings. It has a really small diameter (from 50 to 60 cm).

The tapan is beaten from one of the sides with a big wooden kiyak and from the other side - with a thin osier, through which it is played the part of the small drum, which the Bulgarians don't use in the folk music.

THE DVOYANKA

The Dvoyanka is a wind instrument originating in Bulgaria. It is a simple, dual-chamber flute, with one chamber being a drone, which creates a hauntingly beautiful sound.It has a length from 30 to 40 cm. All of the two tubes begin with a bill formed nozzle in which the tone is produced with an ordinary blowing.

THE DUDUK

The duduk's nozzle has a bill form. It's different from the little kaval and the tsafara with its construction and way of reproducing the sound. It's used mostly in west Bulgaria (rarely in other regions). It is tonalities "do" and there are some duduks with lenghts of 30, 32 and 35 cm. It's made of cherrytree.

THE TAMBOURA The tamboura in comparison with the

other musical folk instruments is not so diffused as gadoulka. There are tambouras with the different extent very often in the region of Raslog, Gotse Delchev and others. All tamboura's strings are metallic - four pairs or altogether 6 strings with different thickness.

Folk orchestras are used in utilizing the six-stringed tamboura, whose strings are with different thickness and are disposed in three groups, too. The violin key is written with notes and has a volume from "la" on the little octave still "la" on the second octave.

I hope you enjoy my presentation!