Pyzhatka — Russian

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 folk musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

, a wooden flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

, traditional for the Kursk Oblast

Kursk Oblast

Kursk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kursk.-Geography:The oblast occupies the southern slopes of the middle-Russian plateau, and its average elevation is from 177 to 225 meters . The surface is hilly, and intersected by ravines...

.

Pyzhatka is made of a wooden tube, 15–25 mm in diameter and 40–70 cm long, one side of which is closed with a wad

Wad

Wad is an old mining term for any black manganese oxide or hydroxide mineral rich rock in the oxidized zone of various ore deposits. Typically closely associated with various iron oxides. Specific mineral varieties include pyrolusite, lithiophorite, nsutite, takanelite and vernadite....

 (Pyzh in Russian). The wad has an oblique incision on it, which leads the air on a sharp edge of a square opening, forming a whistle like that of a recorder

Recorder

The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...

. Unlike in the majority whistle flutes, though, the whistle of pyzhatka is then wound with a wax

Wax

thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...

ed thread

Thread (yarn)

Thread is a kind of yarn used for sewing.-Materials:Thread is made from just about everything. Following table lists common materials, a general description and what they are supposed to be good for. If your machine will sew with the thread, any thread can used for just about any purpose. This...

, which gives the instrument a peculiar hissing sound. The flute has 6 finger holes (3 for the right, and 3 for the left hand), which covers one full octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

. To make the sound better, the pyzhatka flute is usually moistened before play, as it seals the holes and makes the notes clearer.

Other local alternative names for pyzhatka include pazhatka, puzhatka, pikla, travyanka.