A suling is an Indonesian/Philippine flute made out of bamboo. It is used in gamelan ensembles.
Depending on the regional genre, a suling can be tuned into different scales. Sulings can be found in the following regions:
* Sunda (West Java), Indonesia
* Java (Central Java), Indonesia
* Bali, Indonesia
* Maguindanao, Philippines
Suling parts
Sulings are made mainly of 'tamiang' bamboo (Schizostachyum blumei, Nees), a long tube bamboo with a which has very thin surface. The head of suling, near a small hole, is circled with a thin band made of rattan or rotan to produce air vibration.
Playing a suling
There are two factors that affect a fine suling's tone:
1. Fingering position.
2. Speed of the airflow blown by the mouth.
The fingering position changes the wavelength of sound resonance inside the suling's body. Depending on the distance of nearest hole to the suling's head, different notes can be produced. The airflow speed also can modify the tone's frequency. A note with twice frequency can be produced mostly by blowing the air into suling's head's hole with twice speed.
