Tibia (reedpipe)
Man playing tibiae, detail from Choregos actors MAN Napoli Inv9986. | |
| Woodwind instrument | |
|---|---|
| Classification | woodwind |
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | Reed aerophones: 422.111.2 and 422.121.2 (Double reed instruments – There are two lamellae which beat against one another, single oboes with fingerholes and double oboes with fingerholes.) |
| Developed | Roman Tibia likely developed from or were closely related to Greek aulos and also related to other reedpipe instruments from antiquity. |
Tibia or tibiae (Latin, singular and plural) were musical instruments of ancient Rome equivalent to Greek aulos (αὐλός). In Roman culture, the word stood for reedpipes and possibly duct flutes and trumpets. The word is similar to the English word pipes, in that — while it describes instruments that are blown through at the musician's mouth and have fingerholes to choose notes — the word lumps together different instruments which today would be put into different classes. Pipes in English can mean either reedpipes or duct flutes. Similarly, single-reed clarinets, double-reed shawms, duct flutes and lip sounded trumpets are all possibly described by the word tibia.
Tibia were used for religious ceremony in ancient Rome.
The family of single and double-reed tipped instruments includes the aulos, arghul, balaban, bülban, cifte, dili tuiduk, diplica, dozaleh, duduk, launeddas, mey, pilili, pku, sipsi, triple pipes and zummara, as well as modern reed instruments such as bassoons, clarinets, oboes and shawms.