Sopilka

Sopilka (Audio Sopilkafail) is a folk wind musical instrument known in Ukraine since princely times. It was made of viburnum twigs, elderberries, hazelnuts, reeds, etc. The length reached 30-40 cm, at the lower end drilled 4- 5-6 holes. In the western regions there were varieties of bagpipes - dentsivka, dvodentsivka, floyara.

Bagpipe "Dvodentsivka", XIX century. Kosiv district

Nowadays, the so-called "continuous" flute is widespread - on the example of folk, it has 10 holes, which provides it with a chromatic scale

History of origin

According to the method of sound extraction, the bagpipe is one of the oldest wind instruments: Academy. M. Lysenko Myroslav Korchynsky. We find mentions of this instrument in the ancient chronicles of the Eastern Slavs of the XI century, monuments of old Ukrainian writing Theodosius of Pechersk, Metropolitan of Kiev Cyril, Pamphilus (XI - XIII centuries), Ukrainian songs, fairy tales, legends, legends, works of Russian and Ukrainian writers (V. Korolenko "Blind Musician", Lesya Ukrainka "Forest Song", M. Kotsyubynsky "On the Wings of Song", etc.), which describes the use of the flute among shepherds, buffoons, chumaks, musicians at weddings in the oral tradition.

The first samples of the flute were technically imperfect, had 6 holes. According to M. Lysenko, "closed or open, in various combinations, these holes change the length of the air column in the pipe, and thus change the pitch or tone." These instruments were diatonic, used to win singing and dancing, the repertoire includes "shepherds epic songs" (XIV - XVII centuries.). That is, their use was limited to the purely ethnographic environment. This is what M. Lysenko emphasizes: The flute is a tool specifically for shepherds.

As a professional, academic, ensemble instrument, the bagpipe began to be used only in the second half of the XX century.

At the end of the 1920s, the first amateur orchestras of Ukrainian folk instruments were organized in Ukraine. Leaders of these groups, along with solving various artistic and stylistic tasks, creating a repertoire, educating conductors, begin painstaking work on improving musical instruments, creating orchestral families, organizing ensembles of folk instruments in orchestras. For the first time, attempts are being made to unite a family of orchestral flutes into a homogeneous ensemble by talented master designers, leaders of orchestral groups LG Gaidamaka and VO Zulyak. Their followers were masters and connoisseurs of this instrument: G. Kaskun, O. Shlonchyk, E. Bobrovnikov, I. Sklyar.

A significant contribution to the improvement and reconstruction of the flute was made by the teacher of Opolonivska secondary school of Shtepiv district of Sumy region Nikifor Matveev. He can rightly be considered the first master bagpiper in Ukraine, who made standard bagpipes (diatonic system, 6 holes) and bass pipes. He created the first amateur children's groups of bagpipers (1939, 1940, 1945), their numerous performances at district, regional, national reviews of amateur art testified to the popularity of this instrument, the high level of performance of these ensembles, the diversity of repertoire. N. Matveyev's successors in the organization of bagpipe ensembles were his students V. Ya. Borukha, MS Andrusenko and master performers V. Zulyak, E. Bobrovnikov.

The flute of the master designer I. Sklyar became the first concert instrument with fine tuning, chromatic scale and with a tonal tuner such as moving celluloid rings placed on the surface. The basis for the improvement was the 7-hole flute of the folk artist I. Yarosh. In the process of improving the bagpipe, I. Sklyar managed to develop stable principles of manufacturing standard instruments, on which the entire chromatic scale can be obtained by means of a combined overlap of the fingering holes with the appropriate air flow. As I. Sklyar himself writes, "the purpose of this painstaking work was to create a basis on which to develop a school of playing the flute, as well as, most importantly, to educate performers of the game on this wonderful folk instrument." In addition to theoretical justifications, I. Sklyar in his book "Gift to the flute players", provides a musical appendix, which contains recommendations for the performance of musical material. Among the works included in this book: duets (flutes I and II; piano and flute; flute and bandura); quartets (pipes I, II, III and piano); quintets (pipes I, II, viola, banduras I and II).

The process of improving the flute at this stage has not yet been completed, N. Matveev in the late 50's stressed: "The process of improving and chromatizing the flute is not over, it has a great future in the family of Ukrainian folk instruments." In 1970, master DF Deminchuk created a chromatic flute with 10 holes [1], where the chromatic scale is easily obtained by sequential fingering (its structure - in C major, range - From C to second to Sol fourth octave; noted one octave lower) [2 ]. Bagpipe classes are being opened in universities, in particular at the Lviv State Conservatory named after M. Lysenko (today the Academy of Music). Among the teachers of the special class, Professor Myroslav Korchynsky became an active creator of the repertoire and introduced it to the curriculum.