Make Music – XV: Double Aulos Player
Female figure to right, with long curls, back hair tied in a bunch, earrings, necklace, long sleeved white chiton with red borders and stripes, and shoes; she plays the double flute, and before her is an incense-burner;.
[Museum notice 1875,0818.9]
The αὐλός - aulos, commonly mistranslated ‘flute’, was akin rather to the clarinet or oboe. The exact nature of the vibrator is a matter of uncertain inference, but it was probably a double-reed. This was inserted into a cylindrical or slightly conical pipe, and the extrusion of the reed was partially hidden by one or more bulbs. The pipe, of reed, wood, bone, or ivory, was open at the lower end and pierced with lateral holes. Of these the early aulos had probably from three to five, which would seem to provide a very limited range.
Auloi were generally played in pairs, the pipes being often, though not always, held in position by a band which passed round the cheeks and over the head of the player, assisting him to blow strongly. Since the pipes had each its own reed-mouthpiece, they may have spoken separately and together provided a more extended scale. The pipes were not always of the same length: in the Phrygian auloi, the left was longer, with a bell, and consequently lower in pitch.
In the early period a separate pipe (or pair of pipes) may have been required for each mode (ἁρμονία). Later, later 5th century, the potentialities of the instrument were greatly enlarged: length and the number of holes were increased (the longest of surviving auloi has 15 or 16, the shortest 6). In this way it was possible to play a number of different modes on one pair of auloi; and instruments were no longer classified according to mode, but by general range of pitch. Aristoxenus distinguishes five types, and he states that between them they embraced a range of more than three octaves. Furthermore, a practitioner of the highly individualistic art of aulos-playing had at his disposal many professional tricks such as overblowing, cross-lingering, partial obturation of holes, regulation of the reed and of his own breath, whereby he could extend the capabilities of his instrument.
Source: Music, entry in Oxford Classical Dictionary.
Black glaze Gnathian pelike
Height 35.6 cm; diameter 21 cm
Attributed to The Naples Harp Group
Ca. 330 BC
From Gela, Sicily
London, The British Museum - Vase # F557
F557
Make Music – XV: Double Aulos Player
Female figure to right, with long curls, back hair tied in a bunch, earrings, necklace, long sleeved white chiton with red borders and stripes, and shoes; she plays the double flute, and before her is an incense-burner;.
[Museum notice 1875,0818.9]
The αὐλός - aulos, commonly mistranslated ‘flute’, was akin rather to the clarinet or oboe. The exact nature of the vibrator is a matter of uncertain inference, but it was probably a double-reed. This was inserted into a cylindrical or slightly conical pipe, and the extrusion of the reed was partially hidden by one or more bulbs. The pipe, of reed, wood, bone, or ivory, was open at the lower end and pierced with lateral holes. Of these the early aulos had probably from three to five, which would seem to provide a very limited range.
Auloi were generally played in pairs, the pipes being often, though not always, held in position by a band which passed round the cheeks and over the head of the player, assisting him to blow strongly. Since the pipes had each its own reed-mouthpiece, they may have spoken separately and together provided a more extended scale. The pipes were not always of the same length: in the Phrygian auloi, the left was longer, with a bell, and consequently lower in pitch.
In the early period a separate pipe (or pair of pipes) may have been required for each mode (ἁρμονία). Later, later 5th century, the potentialities of the instrument were greatly enlarged: length and the number of holes were increased (the longest of surviving auloi has 15 or 16, the shortest 6). In this way it was possible to play a number of different modes on one pair of auloi; and instruments were no longer classified according to mode, but by general range of pitch. Aristoxenus distinguishes five types, and he states that between them they embraced a range of more than three octaves. Furthermore, a practitioner of the highly individualistic art of aulos-playing had at his disposal many professional tricks such as overblowing, cross-lingering, partial obturation of holes, regulation of the reed and of his own breath, whereby he could extend the capabilities of his instrument.
Source: Music, entry in Oxford Classical Dictionary.
Black glaze Gnathian pelike
Height 35.6 cm; diameter 21 cm
Attributed to The Naples Harp Group
Ca. 330 BC
From Gela, Sicily
London, The British Museum - Vase # F557
F557