Bearded Flutes

Pladeholder Dwof by Katy Smith

Each grand dwarven city prides itself on their unique culture. Through food, festivals and even quirks of local language. Each city prides itself on its individual blend and local instruments are one such example of how this is expressed.
In the taverns and public spaces of the city of Ang’Verd, they have taken to a stylised version of the flute.

Appearance

The bearded flutes of Ang’Verd are a single instrument that is played by blowing air over a single opening near the top (Otherwise known as the ‘mouthpiece’ which looks like the space where a mouth should be present on an actual bearded face) where the air is then diverted. Two slots located on the rear of the instrument allow the musician to place their hands in an upwards position to control a number of airflow holes on a hidden bar. Each individual section (or ‘strand’) is of a different size and length; some of which can be linked together in chords. The number of individual ‘strands’ varies from instrument to instrument and allows a huge variety of customisation. No two bearded flutes are the same and this is intentional. Carvers and sellers of the instrument very rarely sell a full bearded flute in one section and instead it is encouraged to mix and match different ‘strands’ to create something deeply personal for the musician.
When blowing into the mouthpiece, the bearded flute sits in front of the user's face and resembles an actual beard (hence the name). As such, in addition to being highly customised for sound purposes, these flutes are also highly decorated and often bejewelled. They can often be made to look as ‘beard-like’ as possible and in some cases, feature braiding or plaits.

Sounds

As the bearded flute is extremely customisable, no two flutes will also never sound exactly the same. Generally, they will have a soft mid-high pitch range but many variants have been made. Larger, wider strands can allow for some deep bellowing tones to be played alongside the higher notes or convert the instrument into a far more bassy depth of notes.
Other versions include additional flair through additional flutes that mimic an extravagant moustache to produce a warbling effect to the notes when played.

Origin & Cultural Importance

Due to Ang’Verd’s proximity to the city of Bakan’Grod, many of these flutes are made of woods provided to the dwarven people through trade. Traditionally, the flutes are made from a variety of metals, fungal material or finely carved stone, however, the introduction of wood has drastically increased the variety of textures of sound able to be played.
Unfortunately, the obvious benefits that the multicultural nature of Bakan’Grod’s trade brings to the city of Ang’Verd is often lost on the dwarves that live there. It is likely that the degree of separation is a factor in this long established divide but it could equally be the stubbornness of the old ways and erroneous long-held beliefs. However, many individuals can see the benefits of opening trade further or even allowing some of the surfacefolk to visit the city and experience the music of the bearded flutes for themselves.

This is a submission for my second World Ember - I hope you enjoy the world I am building!