Koncovka is a Slovak

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 duct-blown overtone

Overtone flute

Overtone flute refers to a type of a flute which lacks playing holes, and so can only produce notes from a natural scale. Lacking holes, the tube of such a flute has much higher resonance Q factor than a tube of standard flutes, and so can produce dozens of upper harmonics , making it possible to...

 fipple

Fipple

A fipple is a constricted mouthpiece common to many end-blown woodwind instruments, such as the tin whistle and the recorder. These instruments are known variously as fipple flutes, duct flutes, or tubular-ducted flutes.-How it works:...

 flute without finger holes, traditionally played by shepherds. The koncovka flute is played by closing and opening the bottom hole of the flute. By increasing the air speed, two different harmonic series

Harmonic series (music)

Pitched musical instruments are often based on an approximate harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous frequencies simultaneously. At these resonant frequencies, waves travel in both directions along the string or air column, reinforcing and canceling...

 of notes can be played with the end either open or closed. Traditional koncovka melodies use the partial Lydian scale

Lydian mode

The Lydian musical scale is a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone. This sequence of pitches roughly describes the fifth of the eight Gregorian modes, known as Mode V or the authentic mode on F, theoretically using B but in...

 available on this instrument.

See also

• Fujara
  Fujara
  The fujara originated in central Slovakia as a large sophisticated folk shepherd's fipple flute of unique design. It is technically a contrabass instrument in the tabor pipe class....
  
  , another Slovakian overtone-based shephards flute
• Willow flute
  Willow flute
  The willow flute, also known as sallow flute , is a Scandinavian folk flute, or whistle, consisting of a simple tube with a transverse fipple mouthpiece and no finger holes...
  
  , a Scandinavian overtone-based folk flute