4184 by Meso & Central American Sound Library Project

This unprovenienced four-tone-hole tubular fipple flute was hypothetically retrieved/looted in the present-day state of Colima or Jalisco and dates to the Early Comala (AD 100-300) or Early Verdía (AD 0-300) phase. It was formerly part of the Jean Dierickx private collection; the KMKG-MRAH purchased it on March 20, 1965.

The sounding artifact features a bulgy framed aperture partially overhung by a sizeable awing-type hood. In all likelihood, this latter organological element is a timbre shaper whose function is to limit/muffle the upper partials generated by the aerophone by making its sound less bright and gently reedier. A hood also hinders the excitation of a higher frequency impedance minimum; that is, the achievement of higher regimes of oscillation (overblowing) by increasing/adapting the blowing pressure. These observations are based on acoustic measurements carried out on a wide range of such instruments. The aperture's side frames (or 'ears') could hypothetically have been designed to protect the airflow from any disruptive wind when played outdoors. However, they don't affect the flute's timbral features, although they focus the airflow towards the edge (see Rawcliffe 2010:3 [https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3559150]). If framed apertures are found everywhere in Mesoamerica, hoods were extensively designed in West Mexico during the Late Preclassic (400 BC-AD 200) and Early Classic (AD 200-650) periods on single or double tubular flute mouthpieces. Please click the Tracks #1 & #2 info buttons to access images of West Mexican tubular flutes held in Brussels and equipped with various hooded and framed aperture types.

The three protruding and pointy appliqué elements on the front side of the pipe refer to the dorsal scutes of semi-aquatic reptiles of the Crocodylidae family. Reptilian and serpentine iconographic motifs were widely represented on West Mexican aerophones during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic periods (see, for example, the AAM 48.26.65 whistle presented in this project). The symbolic links between the sounds generated by these instruments, the aquatic realm and its biophony, the underworld, and the fertility theme are still to be further investigated.

Since the tone holes were drilled close to the distal end of the tube, the resulting intervals are relatively small, and the tessitura is rather 'narrow'. It is, therefore, likely that several flutes of the same type played simultaneously generated a broad range of beats, roughness, and combination tones.

Overall dimensions (length x depth x ⌀): 23.3 x 2.89 x 2.22 (cm).

The MCASL Project aims to share, visually and sonically, a sample of the large pre-Columbian era sound-producing artifacts collection from Mesoamerica and Central America housed at the Royal Museums of Art and History (KMKG-MRAH), Brussels. The development of this audio/data library is part of Jean-François Brohée's doctoral research, funded by a FRESH grant of the F.R.S.-FNRS.