Mey (instrument)

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The Mey is a cylindrical double-reed aerophone used in Turkish folk music. Cylindrical in shape and made of wood, it has 7 finger holes on its front side, and one finger hole at the back. A double reed (kamish) is used that obtains the characteristic sound of the instrument. A tuning-bridle called "kiskach" serves to tune the Mey and to prevent alterations in pitch of the sound. A wooden piece smilar to "kiskach" which is called "agizlik" covers the part of the reed's mouth, when the mey is not used in order to preserve it. The size and nature of the reed is dependent on the size and nature of the instrument.

There are many instruments similar to the Mey in Asia. These are called "Balaban", in Azerbaijan, Iran and Uzbekistan; "Yasti Balaban" in Dagestan; "Duduki" in Georgia; "Duduk" in Armenia; "Hichiriki" in Japan; "Hyanpiri" in Korea; "Guanzi" in China; and "Kamis Sirnay " in Kyrgyzstan.

Musicologists like Farmer (1936: 316) and Picken (1975: 480) have suggested that ancient Mait, Monaulos, and Auloi present major resemblances with the Mey and the other similar instruments. In Hellenistic Egypt, there was an instrument called "Mait" or "Monaulos" which was similar to the Mey and there was another one in Anatolia which was called "Auloi" and its picture was found on a vase. Mey is a Turkish folk instrument of the wind type. It consists of three parts. Ana Gövde (main part), Kamış (reed) and Kıskaç (clip). The clipis mounted to the end of the reed and can be pushed up and down on the reedand thus enabling tuning by providing one note variation in the sound. May which is made of wood from plum walnut, beech etc. has sound distance of about one octave. It has a total of eight melody keys with seven on top and one underneath. There are three types of mey: Cura Mey, Orta Mey and Ana Mey. Mey is called Balaban in Azerbeijan.

[edit] External links

• http://mey.gen.tr/Mey/eng/themey.htm

v • d • e Turkish musical instruments String Instruments : █  Bowed instruments:    Kemenche  • Yaylı tanbur  • Rebab  • Adapazarı kemane  • Kars kemane  • Bafra kemane  • Yörük kemanesi  • Tırnak kemane  • Iklık █  Plucked instruments:    Kanun  • Çeng  • Tanbur (Turkish)  • Tar  • Ud  • Cümbüş  • Saz  • Gopuz █  Struck instruments:    Santur Woodwind instruments : █  Exposed:    Zurna  • Tulum  • Dankiyo  • Gaida  • Düdük  • Çifte █  End-blown:    Ney  • Ney (Turkish)  • Kaval  • Sipsi  • Dilli kaval  • Dilli ney  • Mey  • Taragot  • Dilli düdük  • Kargı Düdük Percussion instrument : █  Auxiliary Percussion:    Bendir  • Daf  • Davul  • Darbuka  • Naqareh  • Kus  • Kudüm  • Nagara  • Turkish crescent  • Zill  • Castanet See also: Turkish musical instruments  • Turkish folk music  • Ottoman classical music  • Ottoman military band  • Music of Turkey