pipe without fingerholes (bird call whistle)

Local name: kusoc, gwizdek
Classification: 4 Aerophones / 42 Wind instruments proper / 421 Edge instruments or flutes / 421.2 Flutes with duct or duct flutes / 421.22 Flutes with internal duct / 421.221 (Single) flutes with internal duct / 421.221.3 Stopped flutes with internal duct / 421.221.31 Without fingerholes / 421.221.311 Stopped flutes with internal duct, without fingerholes, with fixed stopped lower end
Maker: Szczotka Franciszek
Date: 1966
Village / Town: Kamesznica
Region: the Carpathian region (Beskid Żywiecki)
Country: Poland
Owner: The Municipal Museum of Żywiec – The Old Castle, Department of Ethnography
Inventory number: MŻ-E/727
Description: short body without finger holes, stopped at the lower end
Measurements: 140 x 30 mm
Materials: wood
Sound compass, tuning: single sounds of unstable tonality (usually within a minor third); tuning depends on the instrument's size
Performance practice: traditionally, the kusoc was used to attract owls – they may produce soudsnsimilar to owls' calls; originally the instrument was used in hunting magic practices, nowadays it is a children's toy
Catalog card by: The Municipal Museum of Żywiec / Zbigniew Jerzy Przerembski


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