Willow flute: Finland musical instrument

He willow flute is also known as sallow flute. Is a Scandinavian folk flute, or whistle that is made up of a simple tube with a transverse fipple mouthpiece and no finger holes are found on the musical instrument. The mouthpiece of the musical instrument is typically carved by inserting a grooved plug into one end of the tube and cutting an edge opening in the tube a short distance away from the plug of the instrument.

source: photo-dictionary.com

Analogous, but not the same musical instrument was manufactured by the peasants in Poland, often using a distinct method that is described in sources as ‘krecenje’, ‘ukrecanje’, ‘ulinianje’. Such musical instruments are mentioned in folk poems or songs.

The musical instrument is a kind of overtone flute. The willow flute is performed by different forces of air that is blown into the mouthpiece of the instrument, having the end of the tube being covered or left open by the finger of the hand. The tones manufactured are based on the harmonic series. Performing the musical instrument with the end of the tube covered manufactures one fundamental and its overtones, performing it with the end of the tube left open manufactures another fundamental and series of overtones. The musical instrument cannot be tuned to an equal tempered scale.

The modern versions of the musical instrument are typically produced of plastic, original willow flutes are produced from sections of bark cut from green willow branches. The musical instrument can only be produced this way during the spring and became un-performable when the bark is dried.

There is a Karelian version of the musical instrument that is produced in Finnish Karelia and the Russian Republic of Karelia. The instrument is produced the same way as the willow flute, meanwhile, instead of using the willow bark; the instrument is produced out of birch bark.