PIRI: Korean musical instrument

The piri is a double reed musical instrument from Korea. The musical instrument is used in both the Korean folk music and classical music. The musical instrument is manufactured of bamboo. The large reed of the musical instrument as well as the cylindrical bore of the musical instrument gives the piri a sound that is mellower than that of several other kinds of oboe.

In the typical version of piri, there are 8 finger holes on the body of the musical instrument. 7 of the finger holes are situated on the front of the musical instrument and one thumb hole is situated on the back of the musical instrument. The musical instrument is of four different versions, which are; Hyang piri, se piri Dang piri and Dae piri.

The Hyang piri is the longest version of the musical instrument and the most corporate out of all versions of the musical instruments. Because of the loud and nasal tone of this musical instrument it usually performs the key melody in an ensemble. The se piri is the smaller version of the musical instrument; it is thinner, and much quieter than any other version of the musical instrument. Additionally, because of the quiet tone of this version of the musical instrument, the se piri is used together with voices or soft stringed musical instruments. The Dang or Tang piri is the wider version of the musical instrument. It is analogous to the Chinese guanzi musical instrument. Additionally, the dae piri is a modernized version of the musical instrument, having keys as well as a bell, looking much more like a western version of the oboe.

Piri is believed to have been made known to Korea from a country that is bordering west of China prior to the Goguryeo period. According to Suseo, the musical instrument was also called as gagwan and it instigates from Kucha. During the rule of King Yejong of Goryeo dynasty, a different double-reed cylindrical musical instrument was introduced from Song dynasty China, and to disambiguate, the previous was called hyang piri and the second was called dang piri. Se piri is smaller and thinner than hyang piri, although it has the same construction and range. Se version of the musical instrument appears to be conceived much later than hyang version of the musical instrument.