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Zurna

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The zurna (sorna, mizmar) is a double-reed wood-wind instrument with a conically bored tube that's mostly finished with a large bell. It has eight medium sized fingerholes whereby eight hole is fingered with left thumb. Upper end of tube is closed with a clothespin-like piece called capisto. Thumbhole is not first hole nearest by player in difference to European wood-wind instruments. Thumbhole is nearly in the middle between fingerholes for left forefinger and left middle finger. This fingerhole configuration is typical for oriental wood-wind instruments. Cross fingerings can be used. Zurnas have a large range to slide tones. That enables to tune tones to every scale incl. microtones. Also a limited possibility to play glissandi exists. Zurna has its orign in antique predecessors and it's the oldest known member of shawm family. Many kinds of the instrument exist in accordance to this. Sound passes from sonorous to strong nasal. Sound is always clearly sharp, often rough and sometimes a little bit scratchy. All kinds of the instrument sound very loud. It's played sometimes with oboe technique but mostly it's played with free blowing and circular breathing whereby lips are relieved by a lip-disk. Zurnas have a scale range of about 1½…2 octaves whereby it's overblown once. Three sizes really exist. Medium sized zurna (orta zurna) is mostly known. Thats scale range starts about the middle of the once-accented octave. Short sized zurna (cura zurna) has a scale range that starts about a fifth above the deepest tone of the medium sized zurna. Long sized zurna (kaba zurna) has a scale range that starts about a fifth below the deepest tone of the medium sized zurna. Traditionally zurna is only played together with double-skin drum davul (dohol). Short and medium sized zurnas are normally played solo or in pairs. If they are played in pairs, one zurna plays the melody and the other accompanies it with drones. Long sized zurnas are played at more than two too. If two ore more long sized zurnas are played together, traditinally only one melody part is played and other zurna players accompany the melody with drones, partially in parallel fourths and fifths. All European members of shawm family are descendants of zurna.

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