The ''tunso'' (hangul: 퉁소; hanja: 洞簫) (sometimes ''tonso'', transliteration of its Chinese name of '' dòngxiāo'') is a Korean notched, end-blown vertical

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

used in Korean traditional music. It is similar to the ''

danso The ''danso'' (also spelled ''tanso'') is a Korean notched, end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean folk music. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but since the 20th century it has also been made of plastic. It was imported from China ...

'', but longer and larger. The

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

tong(洞) was used to describe the shape of the instrument that resembles a long cave. The instrument is parallel to the Chinese xiao, and equivalent to its variant, dongxiao, and the Japanese name is ''

shakuhachi A is a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

''. A distinctive feature of the tungso, unlike other vertical flutes is that it may have a buzzing membrane, similar to that of the Korean transverse flute, the

daegeum The ''daegeum'' (also spelled ''taegum'', ''daegum'' or ''taegŭm'') is a large bamboo flute, a transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a special timbre. It is used in court, aristocratic, and f ...

. This is especially common in the folk variety of the instrument. The tungso is a vertical flute made of thick, aged bamboo. Until the mid-Joseon Era, tungso had been used mainly in court music, but by the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, it became a more widely used instrument. Today, it is played in accompaniment to masked dances like the

Bukcheong sajanoreum {{Infobox Korean name , title= Bukcheong sajanoreum , img= , caption= Bukcheong sajanoreum , hangul=북청사자놀음 , hanja={{linktext, 北, 靑, 獅, 子}놀음 , rr=Bukcheong sajanoreum , mr=Pukch‘ŏng sajanorŭm } Bukcheong sajanoreum is ...

. The tongso is made thicker and larger than

Danso The ''danso'' (also spelled ''tanso'') is a Korean notched, end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean folk music. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but since the 20th century it has also been made of plastic. It was imported from China ...

, and the length is 55 cm and the inner diameter is 2 cm.

References

End-blown flutes Korean musical instruments Bamboo musical instruments {{Flute-stub

See also

References