Tuning the Ney

All other factors being held constant, the fundamental pitches of a wind instrument are determined by the distance from the mouthpiece to the first open hole. The following factors apply:

(a) The rougher the bore, the flatter the note and the less responsive the instrument;

(b) the larger the tone hole, the sharper the note, up to a certain point, after which the vibrating air column responds to the open tone hole as if it were the end of the flute;

(c) The larger the bore, the flatter the note and the harder it will be to play higher overtones;

(d) the smaller the tone hole, the more the note will be affected by other tone holes being open or closed distally (further down the air column) to that tone hole;

(e) the smaller the tone hole, the flatter successive overtones will be. A flute with tone holes too small will not be in tune with itself. The upper overtones will be too flat.

These are the general principles that apply to a ney.

The player has tremendous control over the pitch. Embouchure adjustments and angles of attack may raise or lower the note noticeably. This is why tone hole placement is not critical. Most flutists, once they become aware that a flute, including the Western orchestral flute, will not play in pitch simply because the correct fingering is being employed, will learn to adjust their embouchure accordingly. The player is not conscious of this process after a while.

How is it possible to play a flute with but six holes and still get all the notes of the Turkish music system, with twenty-four or more notes per octave? The key lies in the long distance between the thumb and first finger hole; the thumb has to do more than its fair share for the flute to play all the notes. But first a finger chart is in order.

The ney size called mansur sounds the tone Rast (concert G) with all fincerholes covered in the middle register. Turkish music has notes both slightly sharper and slightly flatter than Western notes, so Western named equivalents are approximate. Half-holing the A fingerhole produces Nim Zirgüle/Zirgüle (G#/A-flat), a note whose pitch will depend upon how much of the hole is covered. Opening the A fingerhole completely produces Dügah (A-natural). Opening the second hole produces Kürdi (B-flat), a note slightly lower than the Western B-flat by about fifteen cents. Opening the third hole produces Segah (B-comma flat). The ney should play a note about twenty cents flatter than the Western B-natural. The ney, like the Western flute, requires embouchure adjustment to find the correct pitch.

Next: Tuning the Ney, continued