Take a moment to read this review written by Siamak Jahangiri about a new instrument, the wooden Ney.
“Since the completion of the wooden Ney, approximately two years have passed. I have, of course, performed with it in different performances during the last two years so that I can comment on it with more confidence. Here are the reasons for its creation:
As you may know, Ney is made of the stem of a reed plant, therefore, it is difficult to replicate its length, width, or texture accurately. Similar to a fingerprint, it is not duplicable. Therefore, one of the most significant problems with Ney’s creation is not being able to have exact intervals. This is why Ney players are always searching for a Ney with better intervals. It is obvious that this difficulty is not due to the shortcoming of any makers, but rather a characteristic of the plant Ney is made out of. So, even with the tremendous hard work of Ney makers, there has always been some marginal yet significant error. Though Ney players have adapted themselves and developed tremendous techniques to create perfect intervals regardless of this problem, they have done so with great cost having to put in considerable extra effort. It also makes it difficult for beginners learning the Ney to create the correct pitches without making too many mistakes.
The wooden Ney is a replica of the original reed Ney, except with a calculated, specific, and replicable acoustic body. The interval problem has been addressed in it. Sound, playing techniques, and everything else that happens with the reed Ney happens similarly in the wooden one, and therefore, playing it requires no modification.
Some important notes about this instrument:
- It has a very specific acoustic body, completely similar from one to the next, therefore it has replicable intervals.
- The mouthpiece is similar across all differently tuned Neys, no longer requiring the player to change the shape of their mouths accordingly.
- The mouthpiece has a V shaped cut with a plastic or metal cover that sits very easily between the front teeth. This also has a very positive effect on the instrument’s sonority.”
