Piston (music)

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[edit] The Piston: A Modern Baroque Oboe from Brittany

Breton musician, teacher, and luthier Youenn Le Bihan invented the "pistõn" in 1983^[1]. The piston is a contemporary development of the hautboy or baroque oboe, influenced by the bombard or talabard, the traditional double reed instrument of Brittany. It is typically rooted in the key of D, and may feature simple system key-work to expand it's range. The tone of the piston stands in a warm and rich middle ground between the trumpet-like tone of the bombard and the more narrow sound of the conservatoire oboe.

The piston uses a fairly stiff reed very similar in size to to that of a baritone oboe (approximately 10 mm in width at the tip), with some similarities to the baroque oboe reed as well. Unlike either of these, however, the piston's staple has the modern oboe staple's cork outer layer and fits into a cylindrical ( as opposed to conical) opening in the instrument, requiring neither thread wrapping nor bocal.

Since it's debut by Mr. Le Bihan with groups such as Gwerz and Skolvan^[2], use of the piston has slowly expanded in popularity in traditional groups associated with the "fest noz" dance culture, typically accompanied by instruments such as fiddle, guitar, flute, and accordion. Some other musicians who have recorded with the piston are the group Koun ( piston: Josik Allot ), Tud ( instruments and music by Eric Ollu ), and Penn Gollo ( piston: Jean-Claude Petit ).

Initially Mr. Le Bihan was the only maker of the instrument, and he made them on only a very limited basis. Other makers soon filled the void, however, and instruments by makers such as Hervieux & Glet ^[3] and Eric Ollu ^[4]began to fill the piston role as well.

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1. ^ SKOPAVEL-Youenn Le Bihan & Stéphane Morvan
2. ^ Skolvan
3. ^ HERVIEUX & GLET : le site Web
4. ^ Eric Ollu - player of traditional music form Britanny