Musical leaf

"Leaf instruments occur in many music-cultures notwithstanding a sense that gumleaf sounds 'belong' to Australia. Unlike the complex leaf-derived instruments of Australia's closest neighbours in the Indian Ocean littoral and Oceania, the 'gumleaf' is composed of unmodified organic leaf matter."2013

“Not Really a Musical Instrument?” Locating the Gumleaf as Acoustic Actant and Environmental Icon

Robin Ryan

To play a leaf, one can pluck a leaf or play it while it is still on the plant. The leaf needs to be slightly curved and placed in the mouth. However, not all leaves can produce a sound as it requires the correct rigidity, flexibility and thickness. If the leaves wilt, they lose turgor pressure which makes them not rigid enough to play. In Germany and Austria shepherds modified the bark of birch trees to play similarly. However, unlike leaves, they do not wilt allowing the musician to play for longer periods of time.{{Cite web|title=Birkenblattblasen im Harz – Musikkoffer Sachsen-Anhalt|url=https://musikkoffer-sachsen-anhalt.de/brauch/birkenblattblasen-im-harz/|access-date=2021-08-05|language=de-DE}}

Much like whistling, the range of a leafophone depends on the size of the players mouth and mostly playing in the higher registers. Through breathing techniques which open the throat, therefore increasing the size of the resonance chamber, one can achieve playing lower notes. Additionally using thicker leaves makes it is possible to reach lower notes that require far more air to set the leaf in vibration. If a musical piece requires low notes, often the player will raise those notes by an octave. The player can play a 2–3 octave range depending on the leaf used.

Through use of a high-speed camera, one can see that the leaf moves away from the lips when the player blows and its elasticity brings it back onto the lip. This oscillating movement sets it in vibration to produce a sound. An analysis of the overtone series comparing an oboe and {{Lang|de|birkenblatt}} (birch leaf) playing the note F2 are nearly identical.

While called {{Transliteration|km|slek}} in Cambodia, the instrument is used in other places under different names. In China, recorded knowledge of the wood leaf ({{Lang|zh|木叶}}, {{Transliteration|zh|Mù yè}}) as an instrument dates back to the Tang dynasty, 7th to 10th centuries A.D.{{cite web |url= http://www.chinamedley.com:80/langyuan/muye/muye_lishi.shtml|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040807121513/http://www.chinamedley.com:80/langyuan/muye/muye_lishi.shtml|url-status= dead|archive-date= 7 August 2004|title= 木叶的历史 [The history of wood leaves]|author= |website= chinamedley.com|access-date=2 November 2018 |quote=
[https://web.archive.org/web/20030330150555/http://www.chinamedley.com:80/images/chatu/chuiye.gif Picture of the sculpture of wood-leaf player from the tomb of Emperor Wang Jian]}} It is depicted in a sculpture at the tomb of Emperor Wang Jian of the Five Dynasties in Chengdu, Sichuan. In modern times, plastic has been substituted for the leaf, and the instrument has been recorded and used in movie music. With synthetic materials, the instrument does not wear out quickly while playing, and has a range of nearly three octaves.

• China, {{Lang|zh|樹葉笛}} ({{Transliteration|zh|Shùyè dí}}) tree leaf flute{{cite AV media |title=Flute with leaves Amazing Voice -Musical leaf by Khmer old man |medium= Motion picture|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY9LRIn-qHA|access-date=2 November 2018 |quote= [From YouTube description. These are not all the name of the instrument; some (Whispering Hope, gospel duet) are the name of the song being played: 樹葉笛, musical leaf, 草笛, kusabue, 草琴, leaf, whistle, gospel duet, 木叶, 希望のささやき, 陳宏志, 微聲盼望, Whispering, Hope,leaflute. ]}}
• China, {{Lang|zh|草琴}} ({{Transliteration|zh|Cǎoqín}}), grass piano
• China, 木叶 ({{Transliteration|zh|Mù yè}}) wood leaves
• Japan, {{Lang|ja|草笛}}, grass flute or grass whistle
• Australia, gum leaf
• Nepal, पिपिरिमा ({{Transliteration|ne|pipirma}})
• Brazil, {{Lang|pt|folhinha}}
• Germany and Austria, BirkenblattblasenÜber das Birkenblattblasen im Harz, Landesheimatbund Sachsen-Anhalt e.V., Halle an der Saale 2010, ISBN 978-3-940744-10-4
• Albania and Kosovo, [https://ata.gov.al/2018/10/27/muzike-me-gjethe-e-gjeni-ne-shqiperi/?fbclid=IwAR2c5wmJ_XdfzcT274aUl2L5nZbjJm3HlCAQ-5Udfw035Qyk4Ncvj8LuFFo]

The Make Music festival 2021 featured the leaf as a musical instrument.[https://www.makemusicday.org/national-projects/leaf-music/ Make Music 2021]

• Herb Patten
• Levi Celerio
• Sodō Yokoyama, Japanese man known as the Leaf Flute Zen Master ({{Lang|ja|草笛禅師}})

• Music of Cambodia

• Ledgerwood, Judy., Mortland, Carol A.. Cambodian Culture Since 1975: Homeland and Exile. United States: Cornell University Press, 2018.
• The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music. N.p.: Taylor & Francis, 2011.
• Mizerski, Jim. Cambodia Captured: Angkor's First Photographers in 1860's Colonial Intrigues. Portugal: Jamine Image Machine, 2016.
• Trankell, Ing-Britt., Ovesen, Jan. Cambodians and Their Doctors: A Medical Anthropology of Colonial and Postcolonial Cambodia. Denmark: NIAS Press, 2010.

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY9LRIn-qHA Video, Cambodian slek.]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3przA4Mgf8 Video, demo of how to play a leaf, Australia]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoPPGuNmq6w Video of a leaf being played as part of an orchestra, Washington D.C.]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtR3KqVtI1A&t=9s&ab_channel=Leafophonist Video, demo of 5 different leaves]

{{Cambodian musical instruments}}

Category:Cambodian musical instruments

Category:Chinese musical instruments

Category:Japanese musical instruments

Category:Australian musical instruments