panpipe

/pan"puyp'/, n.

a primitive wind instrument consisting of a series of hollow pipes of graduated length, the tones being produced by blowing across the upper ends.

Also, Pan's pipes, panpipes.

[1810-20; PAN + PIPE¹]

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or syrinx

Wind instrument consisting of pipes of different lengths made of cane (less often wood, clay, or metal) arranged in a row.

It is blown across the top, each pipe producing a different note. The panpipe dates from с 2000 BC and is found worldwide, especially in eastern Africa, South America, and Melanesia.

Romanian panpipe; in the Horniman Museum, London

By courtesy of the Horniman Museum, London

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▪ musical instrument

also called  syrinx  

 wind instrument consisting of cane pipes of different lengths tied in a row or in a bundle held together by wax or cord (metal, clay, wood, and plastic instruments are also made) and generally closed at the bottom. They are blown across the top, each providing a different note. The panpipe was widespread in Neolithic and later cultures, especially in Melanesia and pre-Columbian South America.

      In the Greek legend of Pan the invention of the instrument is ascribed to the nymph Syrinx. In Europe it has been mainly a shepherd's instrument and has so endured in the Pyrenees. In Romania, however, it is played among professional lăutari (fiddlers); their panpipe, the nai, has from 19 to 22 pipes tuned diatonically (i.e., to a seven-note scale), semitones being made by tilting the pipes toward the lips. The panpipe also has a long tradition in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

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