The Dulzaina

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF THE DULZAINA (by Xavier Richart Peris, dulzaina teacher at the José Iturbi Conservatory in Valencia).

DEFINITION
The dulzaina is a double reed, woodwind instrument with a conical bore. Correctly pitched notes are achieved on the Dulzaina by using different finger combinations to close over its 8 keyless holes, and by using changes in air and embouchure pressure.

The instrument has different names depending on the region in which it was introduced. These vary from “xirimita” through to “dolçaina” and its variants.

TESSITURE
Its actual sound range extends from A 4 to E 6. On rare occasions it uses F# 5, and is always well-prepared, played in a legato manner and in progressions of neighbouring tones

MUSICAL READING AND WRITING SYSTEM
Music for the Dulzaina is always written in the G key. Our instrument is known as Dulzaina in G, which means that it is a transposing instrument that reads music in G.
Correctly written scores for the Dulzaina are transposed for the instrument in G thus making the lowest note a D, which is written below the staff and the highest note an A, that is placed on the first ledger line above the staff. If you want to use the real notes (in C) in a Dulzaina score, you need to transpose by a pure fifth higher. For this reason, unless otherwise specified, when in the following sections we refer to the names of the notes and/or keys we are referring to the notes and keys used for the Dulzaina (in G) and not to the real notes (in C).

ACOUSTICS
The Dulzaina has a powerful and penetrating voice.
Until just a few years ago, it was played exclusively outdoors in the street and squares of our towns and villages and had the starring role in the our local fiestas and celebrations. It is therefore not surprising that, as it has evolved, it has been appreciated and developed, above all, for its powerful voice.
Its double-reed and conical bore mean that the Dulzaina can sound very like the oboe or the shawm. Although the Dulzaina produces sounds in a high tessiture, it has a wonderful timbre thanks to its richly textured harmonic palette. In certain acoustic conditions it can also sound like a soprano saxophone or a trumpet. Correctly pitched notes are achieved on the Dulzaina by using different finger combinations to close over its eight holes (seven in front and one behind), and by using changes in air and embouchure pressure.

REGISTERS
The acoustic range of the Dulzaina can be divided into two registers that can be distinguished by their timbre and the way in which they are produced.

1. Middle register: The sound produced is the most natural and relaxed sound. It includes the first octave, from low D (real A 4) to high D (real A 5). It is fairly straightforward to play.

2. Treble register: The first tones of the natural notes are produced by an increase in pressure in the air stream. Tuning is complex and playing in this register is very tiring and difficult. Maintaining this register for a prolonged period of time is truly exhausting and can actually prove to be impossible. This register is in the second octave, from low E (real B 5) to high A (real E 5).

ALTERATIONS
Although the Dulzaina was not designed as an instrument for producing chromatics, nowadays this can be achieved, but only by using a difficult technique that affects the timbre and volume. Alterations with a clear and powerful voice that are easy to produce are C# and D# of the first octave.

Notes which are more muted, are increasingly difficult and produce sound that is significantly decreased in strength are F natural , Bb / A#, G# / Ab of the first octave and F natural and D# / Eb of the second octave.

The hardest alterations with harmonic tuning are: Bb / A#, G# / Ab of the second octave.

KEYS
The most commonly used keys due to their ease of use are: G major, D major and E minor, F# is produced naturally and C, like D#, are relatively easy alterations.
More difficult keys to achieve are C major, as even F natural cannot be produced naturally, and within the natural scale of the Dulzaina it is considered as an alteration.

There is no low tonic (low D). Difficult: B minor, G minor, A major and A minor. Very Difficult: E major, D minor, F# minor, C# minor, F major, Eb major, C minor and Bb major The remaining keys are of extreme difficulty.

DYNAMICS
As I have said above, the Dulzaina has an extremely powerful voice. This means that playing loudly is normal, and that to play louder still is impossible. With current playing techniques dynamic effects can be achieved, but it is extremely difficult because it interferes enormously with pitch and loss of timbre. For this reason the following points should be taken into consideration if one wants to get the most out of this instrument and its expression:

1 – Never use dynamic changes in the second register (from high E to A). These notes are always loud and their sound can only be dampened down with great difficult.

2 – With the Dulzaina, unlike with other instruments, reducing the sound level involves massive physical embouchure strength and the use of a hugely difficult and complex technique. It is important not to amass difficulties.

3 – Success can only be assured in the range between ff (fortissimo)and mp (mezzo-piano).

4 – One should not have too many unexpected changes.

TONGUING
Tonguing with the Dulzaina is very limited compared to other instruments in its family. Because of this and also because of technical issues, such as the impossibility of playing a double and/or triple staccato, the Dulzaina is played slowly. In order to play more quickly, legato combinations are required. However, it is important to be aware of how difficult, if not impossible, octave changes are.

One of the peculiarities of the Dulzaina is that the most natural and easy way of producing sound is achieved by tonguing the first and last note, while in other wind instruments the most normal way to produce sound is without tonguing.
On the other hand, comfortable tonguing for a Dulzaina player consists of a hard and concrete attack, which is very understandable if one thinks that this is an instrument with a powerful voice for which other techniques have not been developed because they have not been necessary (evolution occurs almost always through necessity).

Yet in spite of these circumstances, the technique in the basic attack and the legatos is rapidly evolving to produce a wide range of subtleties in the expression of the musical phrase. This is mainly a result of being played alongside normalized instruments.

FINGERING
The fingering characteristics are practically identical to any other keyless woodwind instrument. You need only consider that the positions for F natural, Bb / A# and Ab / G# make playing at certain speeds extremely difficult.

One must also take into account the fact that, given that the Dulzaina does not have any keys or fingering positions with which to change octave, register changes must be executed through changes in air and embouchure pressure (overtones).

RESISTANCE
The Dulzaina is a musical instrument which can quickly tire the player both physically and psychologically - much more so than with metal wind instruments - if its characteristics are not taken into account. Because it is a short instrument it offers little resistance to airflow and thus requires a lot of pressure.
The reed that it uses is one of the largest and hardest of all the reeds used in the oboe family, and a lot of pressure needs to be exerted on it in order to be able to control the sound. However, resistance will gradually increase if the piece does not contain too many sharps, has numerous and deep breath marks, multibar rests, fewer dynamics and avoids, as far as is possible, difficult alterations.

Valencia, July 2002