End blown flute – Kaval

A kaval is a straight bore tube made of three sections. The first section has a sharp rim over which the musician directs a narrow stream of air to produce the sound, the centre section has seven finger holes and one thumb hole and the third section has several extra holes for tonal quality. The instrument is fully chromatic, with each successive covering of a hole changing the note by a semitone. This leads to easy semitone trills which are used to elaborate Bulgarian music. In Thrace the instrument is played with a rolling of the base of the fingers across the holes and no stopping of the notes with the tongue, leading to a smooth sound. In the west and north the music is crisper, with some tonguing of the notes.