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Side-blown flute

Maker Han Chinese people

Date1900-1925 ca.

Place MadeChina, Asia

Serial No.none

SignednoneMarkingsnoneDescriptionBamboo body with bone ferrules. Silk thread wrappings. Six fingerholes. Two ventholes. One mirliton hole, mirliton present. The thin vibrating membrane peeled from bamboo stalk interior, adhered to flute with peach sap, gives flute a buzzing sound. Longer flutes like this are often played in the kunqu opera, where they are called kundi. Sound is produced by blowing across the single hole to the left of the membrane.
DimensionsOverall length: 667mm

ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Published ReferencesAlan Thrasher The transverse flute in traditional Chinese music (Asian Music, Vol X, no. 1, 1978) p. 96 "The ideal bamboo for transverse flutes is thought to be those species with a distance of 60 or more centimeters between nodes."
In the same article (p. 95) the author gives the dimensions of a typical instrument and (p. 96) describes the process of manufacturing the mirliton, which is made of the thin inner skin of a stalk of bamboo, or a reed; more rarely an onion or a piece of flat paper. He reports (p. 110) that flutes manufactured earlier this century have equidistant or almost equidistant fingerholes, since they were not normally tuned in equal temperament. "The relationship between finger-hole placement and temperament is influenced by still another factor: Bamboo Flutes have irregular bores, usually with somewhat of a reverse taper (due to growth), making this relationship unpredictable." (p.100).
The author also describes the playing technique of the instrument.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number04410

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