There is a tree that grows in Africa, which goes by the nickname "The Tree that Makes Music."
The world's finest clarinets and oboes are made from this east African hardwood. It is sometimes referred to as Grenadilla wood. In Swahili, the tree is called 'Mpingo. The Portguese know it as pau preta. Its Linnaean taxonomic name is Dalbergia melanoxylon.
It is an angiosperm in the family Fabacaeae, and it is endangered. The only remaining viable stock is in northern Mozambique, Tanzania, and southern Kenya.
The 'Mpingo has been called the "Tree of Music" because, for two centuries, oboes, clarinets, highland bagipes and their chanters, Northumbrian bagpipes and their chanters, wood piccolos, some transverse flutes (Blockflote), and the black keys on the finest pianos, have been crafted from this amazing, hardy, incredibly dense, and now sadly depleted woody perennial.
The 'Mpingo has been called the "Tree of Music" because, for two centuries, oboes, clarinets, highland bagipes and their chanters, Northumbrian bagpipes and their chanters, wood piccolos, some transverse flutes (Blockflote), and the black keys on the finest pianos, have been crafted from this amazing, hardy, incredibly dense, and now sadly depleted woody perennial.
(East African blackwood is no longer called "ebony." That term is reserved for a timberwood of the genus Diospyros; these have more of a matted appearance and are more brittle).
The genus Dalbergia yields other valuable and "musical" timbers such as Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) and cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa).
I have several clarinet barrels (the cylinder between mouthpiece and upper joint) of different lengths, one made from 'Mpingo, one made from rosewood, and several made from cocobolo.
Each of these barrels has its own subtle and distinct timbre and resonance, based on the unique acoustic characteristics of the specific wood.
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| Barrel and Bell of Cocobolo wood (Dalbergia retusa) by Backun |
I have several clarinet barrels (the cylinder between mouthpiece and upper joint) of different lengths, one made from 'Mpingo, one made from rosewood, and several made from cocobolo.
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| A Clarinet barrel manufactured by Chadash. Notice the lathe above the wood barrel cylinder. |
Each of these barrels has its own subtle and distinct timbre and resonance, based on the unique acoustic characteristics of the specific wood.
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| "The Tree That Makes Music" Dalbergia melanoxylon East African Blackwood |
The cortex (the heartwood) of the 'Mpingo is the hardest known material in the plant world, behaving more like stone or metal. It is this feature that makes the wood ideal for crafting fine woodwinds as it can tolerate multiple lathe shaving and drill holes without cracking.
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| Cross section of the trunk of a Dalbergia melanoxylon tree |
Until recently.
As you might imagine, like any commodity in great demand with limited supply, 'Mpingos are being overharvested, felled before maturity, and smuggled. Poachers clear cut these magnificent trees, and brush fires in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique are destroying them; the fires weaken the cortices of those trees which manage to survive.
This sad fact was brought home to me shortly after I bought my A clarinet and my Bb clarinet, at the House of Woodwinds in Berkeley, California during my internship at UCSF, in 1978.
This sad fact was brought home to me shortly after I bought my A clarinet and my Bb clarinet, at the House of Woodwinds in Berkeley, California during my internship at UCSF, in 1978.
In the early 1980s I read a news article about clarinet and oboe craftsmen in the venerable old line manufacturing facilities, Selmer and Buffet Crampon in Paris, and similar workshops in Vienna and Germany, began noticing that the timber was cracking under the lathes during polishing and drilling. The cracking was analyzed and was determined to be secondary to the fires in east Africa affecting the usually extremely hard, dense and strong Dalbergia melanoxylon.
The Buffet Crampon Company in Paris developed their Greenline series, in which scraps of cracked and broken Dalbergia melanoxylon, instead of being discarded, are crushed and mixed with resin, making a material that can be crafted into perfectly serviceable clarinets, though not quite the same as those made from natural 'Mpingo.
Today, conservation efforts such as Clarinets for Conservation, The 'Mpingo Conservation and Development Initiative (MCDI), and the African Blackwood Conservation Project, are raising awareness in the region, planting new Dalbergia melanoxylon saplings, all the while teaching music to children.
Today, conservation efforts such as Clarinets for Conservation, The 'Mpingo Conservation and Development Initiative (MCDI), and the African Blackwood Conservation Project, are raising awareness in the region, planting new Dalbergia melanoxylon saplings, all the while teaching music to children.
These projects are helping to bring forth new and wondrous "Trees of Music" so that the next generation (maybe we have to wait for the generation after that, as the trees take almost 70 years to mature), and future generations will be able to play their clarinets, oboes and bagpipe chanters on wood from the 'Mpingo.
Especially one for delicate instriment
ReplyDeleteYes, Nadia, I agree. Thank you for your comment. Vincent
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