Conch Music Instrument

History and Facts about Conch Music Instrument. Conch is a wind instrument, which is prepared from the shells of the medium-sized to big-sized marine snails. These musical instruments are fashioned through cutting a hole in the shell spire close to the apex, and after that, blowing into the shell as though it is a trumpet, like in blowing horn. Occasionally, the instrument is designed with a mouthpiece, but a few shell trumpets are blown with no mouthpiece.

The last part of the spire is detached and after that, the player blows air into the shell during the hole. The noise will be loud and spectacular, and contains a creepy quality. Conch trumpets have long been employed in ceremonies and rituals and for communication. Nowadays, these instruments are used in music, as well.

A conch performer controls the pitch of the resonance through his/her embouchure, which is the control of the resonance by the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips. The performer may as well, change the pitch by putting his/her hand into the opening of the conch shell. Dissimilar shapes and sizes of conch shells are looked out for their dissimilar pitch possibilities and tonal individuality.

Constructing a Conch Trumpet

The primary step in the creation of a conch trumpet is to eliminate the top part of the spire, which is more often than not made by means of a hacksaw. As soon as the tip of the spire is detached, the wrecked plane of the shell is smoothed or filed by means of sandpaper in order that it does not cut the lips of the conch trumpet performer. The shell substance in the middle of the mouthpiece is detached. Some musical groups exploit the spire as a normal mouthpiece, whereas some other groups incorporate a synthetic mouthpiece.

Uses of conch instruments

Conch instruments have been used as trumpets in several cultures during the past and are still employed nowadays, regularly in a ceremonial or religious context, like in a call to entreaty. Once, trumpets were employed to call fighters to engage in combat. Traditional Conch instruments that have endured from the past are frequently decorated elaborately by means of gilt metal, bright colors, valuable stones and textiles.

An admired conch instrument is the Triton’s trumpet that is employed in Melanesia, Polynesia, Japan and Korea, even though it is called by a different name occasionally. The queen conch instrument is employed in the Caribbean. The chank, occasionally called as holy chank, is employed as a trumpet in Tibet and India. In Hinduism the conch instrument is called by the name the shankha or shankh and it is considered to be a holy instrument. In Buddhist religion the holy conch instrument is called by the name, the dung-dkar.

The Chavín de Huantar temple contains several contracted and twisted staircases and passages that shape patterns similar to a maze and passages contains airing shafts, as well. The temple appears to have been constructed with audios in mind. When the performers played the conch trumpets within the temple the passageways in the temple will act like a chain of interlocked, resonant chambers that generated odd acoustic effects.