Xaphoon

Xaphoon is a 1976 developed single reed instrument made ​​of bamboo or plastic, that sounds like a saxophone or a clarinet. It overblows as the clarinet into the twelfth, not as recorder and saxophone in the octave. Because of its handy design and its low weight, it is a so-called pocket saxophone particularly suitable for playing on the road and outdoors.

History

The Xaphoon was invented by the Hawaiians Brian Lee Wittman and produced in 1976 for the first time for sale; now it is a patented musical instrument. In art music, the instrument has not yet been established, in part because it has a comparatively small range of only two octaves and reaches rather low volumes. Through the use of the band percussionist Airto Moreira of Brazil it has been known and passed through the demand for professional mass production.

Production

Xaphoons can be made of two materials:

Bamboo Xaphoon

(also: Maui Xaphoon )

The classic instrument that was initially produced as standard as the sole is made of raw Hawaiian bamboo ( bot.: Bambusa spinosa), which is fired to ensure preservation after four months of drying. The first manufacturing step according to the provision of the materials, the manufacture of the mouthpiece. It affects playability, tone and tunability most sustainable and is then checked for the correctness of the standard pitch. Then, the finger holes are drilled.

Plastic Xaphoon

(also: Classic Xaphoon )

The production of the plastic is much simpler and Xaphoon maschinisierter than the bamboo Xaphoon. The instrument is molded from plastic and is characterized by the mechanical production significantly sounded faithful and resistant to environmental influences. It is mainly produced in C tuning.

Game art

The Xaphoon is related with the similar mouthpiece clarinet and saxophone, on the other hand suitable by the flute -like fingering technique and the relatively low blowing pressure, especially for beginners in the field of woodwind instruments. The instrument can be played chromatically and is blown with a tenor saxophone reed. To play the Xaphoon requires a skilled coordination of finger and blowing technique. The blowing technique is similar to the saxophone and has the greatest impact on the volume and timbre of the sound produced and the melody played. The fingering chart is slightly different from that of a flute, because the left little finger is responsible for the tone G, ie included in the scale. Since the Xaphoon overblows into the twelfth (see above), the sounds in the second octave, unlike in the first grasped.