LONG MEMREED

In reed instruments, the vibration is set up when the flow of air from the player’s lungs is converted into a series of air-puffs as the reed rapidly snaps open and shut over the mouthpiece opening. Another way to create such an open-and-shut mechanism involves stretching a light, stretchy membrane over the opening in such a way that the blown air is forced to squeeze under rim of the membrane to enter the tube. Several membrane reed instruments appear in this collection. This version is a set of long tubes each of which makes one note, to be played by several players in hocketing style.

In the audio clip, a set of honking memreeds are joined by several other instruments in the tune “Use Me” by Bill Withers. The melody is played on scraper flute.

In the video linked below, long memreeds appear toward the end of the video. You can also see long memreeds, along with a lot of other membrane reed instruments, in this video.