ney

from: Maged Mikhail Ney Page

It is the soul instrument in the Arabic music. It has also been called the salt and peper of Arabic music. The current name is the word "Ney" which is Persian for "reed" . It is the material from which the Ney is made. Because of the different dialects of Arabic, the name may be written in different forms in the English Language. In some parts of Egypt, a Ney is referred to as Qassaba which is the colloquial word for a piece of reed. I am quite certain this instrument had many different names in the past. It is more than 5 thousand years old. The oldest forms of the Ney dates back to the age of the pyramids.

It is an end-blown flute with seven finger holes. Six in the front and one in the back. The Ney is made of a nine-segment section of reed. This is very important for the Ney to work properly. The first node at the wider mouthpiece end opened with a part of the node left making a small hole, and the other nodes fully opened, with an outside bevel around the embouchure. There are six holes on top and one hole for the thumb on the bottom. The traditional Ney is made of Nile Reed.

Neys are keyed instruments. They are similar to penny whistles in that way. So, a Ney player usually has a set of neys to use depending on the Maqam and key. The normal set consists of seven Neys. However, a competent Ney player usually uses two. The Neys are referred to by the name of the second note. That is the note the Ney produces when the first hole is uncovered. In the typical Ney, the note is "D" . It is usually called by the Turkish name which is "Docah".

For the Docah Ney, when all the holes are covered, the basic note is 'C' or Do as most Egyptian musicians call it.

The Arabic music containes so many modes called "Maqams" that cover most of the European Chromatic Scales as well as older Arabic, Turkish, and Persian scales. As a result, a middle eastern instrument should be capable of playing a wide range of notes. The Ney was designed to be multi-modal. Although it does not have a full chromatic scale, it can play Major (called Ajam in Arabic), Minor (Nahawand), as well as Rast, Bayatee, Higaz, Seekah and more depending on the starting note.

Here is a list of the notes generated from the Docah Ney in the first two registers:

Register 1: C, D, D#, E1/2b, F, F#, G,

Register 2: G, A, A#, B1/2b, C, C#, D

E1/2b is a special note in Arabic music that is in between Eb and E Natural. Its is called Seekah in Arabic. This note sounds off-key to people that are not used to it but it is really what gives the Arabic music its flavor.

The same goes for B1/2b. These notes are necessary for the basic Arabic scales such as Rast and Bayatee.

So, the dokah ney can play the following modes with ease:

Major (Ajam) in Bb, Rast in C, Higaz in D, Bayatee in D, Saba in D, Minor(Mahawand) in G.

Other modes require more experience in using the ney.

The Ney is held with the right hand covering the three bottom holes and the left hand is used to cover the top three front holes and the thumb covers the back hole. The holes have to be firmly covered to get the Ney playing properly.

Place the top part of the Ney on the mouth. The Ney will feel like an extension to the lips and you should be ready to start making a sound...

The lips have to be pearced and the blown air is directed at the edge of the Ney. The embosure is not the same as playing the bottles or the transverse flute. Basically there is no good way to describe this. It is like someone explaining whistling to you. You just put your lips together and blow.

Initially, you may get screeching sounds or whistling in the Ney. It takes a lot of practice to get clean notes. You should also start with all the holes open. When you are able to get a clean sound, cover the back hole then start over. As you get better, cover more holes until you are able to get sounds from all the holes of the Ney.

It will take a lot of practice to get the ney playing properly. It took me about three weeks to get sound from one hole only. If you are feeling dizzy, that means that you are trying too hard.