Lithuanian folk instruments

Lithuanian wind instruments

Wind instruments in Lithuanian tradition range from simple shepherd pipes to powerful horns and multi-part ensembles such as skuduciai.

Wind sound in Lithuanian folk culture

Wind instruments range from simple shepherd pipes to powerful horns and multipart skuduciai. Read them through sound, work, signal, outdoor space, and local musical practice.

Wind-instrument guides

Read about Lithuanian pipes, horns, trumpets, signal instruments, and their musical settings.

A wooden birbynė with a horn bell as a Lithuanian folk wind instrument

Wind instrumentsBirbynė

Birbynė is a Lithuanian reed wind instrument whose history runs from shepherds' straw or feather pipes to the refined stage birbynė with an animal-horn bell.

Long wooden daudytės in a Lithuanian field as traditional wind trumpets

Wind instrumentsDaudytės

Daudytės are long Lithuanian wooden lip trumpets, 140-250 cm birch-bark-wrapped tubes, used by men in pairs in northeastern Lithuania to play sutartinės and herding signals.

A Lithuanian dūdmaišis with a leather bag and wooden pipes in an eastern Lithuanian homestead

Wind instrumentsDūdmaišis

Dūdmaišis, or Labanoro dūda, is a Lithuanian reed bag aerophone with a leather bag, melodic pipe, and drone pipes; it spread in Lithuania from the sixteenth century, especially in eastern Lithuania and Lithuania Minor.

Kerdžiaus trimitas by a field fence as a Lithuanian shepherd signal instrument

Wind instrumentsKerdžiaus trimitas

Kerdžiaus trimitas is a Lithuanian mouthpiece aerophone: a wooden signal trumpet wrapped in birch bark or bark, used by herdsmen to manage the herd and by hunters to call dogs.

A wooden lamzdelis with tone holes on linen as a Lithuanian folk flute

Wind instrumentsLamzdelis

Lamzdelis, also called lumzdelis, is a Lithuanian end-blown whistle flute with 3-8 finger holes, known especially through makers and players from the Kupiškis area.

A clay bird-shaped molinukas as a Lithuanian folk whistle

Wind instrumentsMolinukas

Molinukas is a Lithuanian clay whistle: a whistle vessel flute close to the ocarina, often shaped like a bird or small animal and associated with children and imitating nature sounds.

Ožragis made from an animal horn as a Lithuanian folk wind instrument

Wind instrumentsOžragis

Ožragis is a Lithuanian wind instrument made from a goat horn: a lip or reed aerophone used throughout Lithuania for herdsmen's signals and song or dance melodies.

Lithuanian wooden ragai on a wooden table as signal wind instruments

Wind instrumentsRagai

Ragai are Lithuanian lip-blown wind instruments made from animal horn, metal, or wood. They were key signaling tools for herdsmen and hunters, while in northeastern Lithuania tuned wooden horns were used to play sutartinės.

Wooden skudučiai on linen as a Lithuanian folk wind instrument

Wind instrumentsSkudučiai

Skudučiai are one of the most important Lithuanian wind instruments: a set of 5-8 separate pipes used by a group of players to create the polyphonic sound characteristic of sutartinės.

A long wooden švilpa as a Lithuanian folk whistling instrument

Wind instrumentsŠvilpa

Švilpa is a long Lithuanian whistling instrument: a natural flute without finger holes, regarded as a prototype of the modern transverse flute and associated with solo music-making in northeastern Lithuania.