 A pan flute (also known as pan pipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length. The pan flute is named after Pan, the Greek god of nature and shepherds. The pipes are typically made from bamboo, giant cane, or reeds. Other materials can include wood, plastic, metal or ivory. The pan flute is one of the oldest instruments, and its precise origin is unknown. It was played in Ancient Greece. European pan flutes come from the original Greek instruments. In South America, pan flutes were popular during the Inca Empire and likely much earlier. 
The pan flute's haunting and beautiful sounds are played by blowing horizontally across an open end of a tube, against the sharp inner edge. Each tube, or pipe, is tuned to a keynote, called the fundamental frequency. The flute's tubes are stopped at one end.Sound is produced by the vibration or resonating of the air-stream inside tube. The length of the tube determines the fundamental frequency. The standing wave of sound is reflected at the bottom, giving a note an octave lower than that produced by an open pipe of equal length. In the traditional South American style, pipes are fine-tuned to correct pitch by placing small pebbles or dry corn kernels into the bottom of the pipes. Modern makers of curved pan pipes use wax to tune new instruments. Corks and rubber stoppers are also used, and are easier to quickly tune pipes. 
Pan pipes can play all the sharps and flats with a special technique of both tilting the pipes and jaw movement; this reduces the size of the pipe's opening and produces a change in pitch.An advanced player can play any scale in any key. Breath vibrato, which is more accurately described as a tremolo, is the same technique used by players of the flute and other woodwinds by use of the player's diaphragm, or throat muscles. |