Beyond Clarity: The Breath of the Pan Flute and the Value of Presence
- Ronald
- Aug 7
- 6 min read
In a previous post, I briefly discussed how South American pan flutes are sometimes dismissed as either lesser or exotic in terms of sound in comparison to Western instruments. The reason why, I argued, is in part due to the aesthetic qualities of the pan flute sound, which is breathy by nature. This breathiness is especially prevalent in the South American variety, which uses reed, a thinner-walled type of material that produces that sound effect.
This post will explore the aesthetic qualities of the South American pan flute. When I say aesthetic, I mean the characteristics that make this particular sound enjoyable and under what value judgments.
During my time selling pan flutes, it was not uncommon for customers to request flutes that were not breathy. In fact, a sign of quality is often associated with cleanliness in the sound. Even though the breathy sound is valued by some listeners, it is often considered to be contrary to the normative standard of what proper sound is, which is clarity. In Western music, clarity is the quality that a musician must pursue.
Consider, for instance, how their article "Upgrade Your Sound: Student vs. Professional Instruments," on the website The Vault (thevault.com) says, "While student models produce a decent sound for beginners, the sound is nowhere near as crisp or clear as a higher quality instrument" (my emphasis). This article, as we can see, associates the quality of a musical instrument with clarity.
Moreover, it is not uncommon within the sphere of woodwinds to consider clarity a principle and breathiness something that must be avoided. Take, for instance, the video, "How to get rid of the AIR in your sound" by The Flute Channel on YouTube. The YouTuber opens her video by saying that "many people ask her that question (that from the title) because everyone wants a pure tone" (my emphasis). This is an excellent video in terms of technique, but here I analyze it on the basis of what aesthetic principles it follows. Again, the video renders breathiness as negative while making clarity a positive value.
This phenomenon has been explored by music and sound studies specialists. In his book Sounds as They Are, Richard Beaudoin writes, "In classical recordings, the inclusion of breath sounds is often kept to a minimum, with traces of breathing appearing mainly at moments where it is cumbersome or (currently) impossible to delete them without also removing integral aspects of the sounding notes" (50). Beaudoin points out how breathiness is considered a defect in sound. It is true that different woodwind instruments include breathy sounds, but those are often techniques of melodic distortion and not part of the base sound of the instrument.
In a different perspective of sound and aesthetics, the anthropologist Nicholas Harkness studies the ideal of vocal clarity in Korean Christian music. Vocal cleanliness, Harkness explains, is a fundamental principle of songak technique (Korean gospel-style choral music). He writes, "Vocal cleanliness refers to the suppression and removal of two types of unwanted sound: the 'fuzz' caused by pressed vocal cords, abrasions on the vocal cords, or other forms of what we might call 'obstruence' along the vocal tract; and the 'wobble' of unstable vocal adduction, 'shakiness' from habituated muscle tension, or an 'artificial' vibrato" (9). If Beaudoin shows the prevalence of cleanliness as an aesthetic quality in musical instruments, Harkness identifies a similar pattern in choral voice. Yet, Harkness associates this cleanliness with the Christian principle of purity. In other words, he identifies a cosmological component in the aesthetic principles of sounds. Voice must sound pure and clear to mimic the purity of Christian values.
The standard of clarity as a principle of beauty can also be traced to the basis of philosophical thought. For instance, the German philosopher Theodor Adorno writes an essay on his predecessor Friedrich Hegel and how his writing style departs from the principles of clarity established by Descartes (the father of modern philosophy). I intend to keep this post accessible and informative, so let us not go deeper into these references. Let us, however, see how clarity is traceable as a principle to establish what is considered valuable or beautiful.
Returning to the South American pan flute, to understand the value of its breathiness, perhaps we must delve into Andean cosmology. If clarity in the Western tradition is bound to ideals of separation—removing the breath, erasing the musician—then in the Andean tradition, sound is not purified but rooted. To see how, we must step into a world where music is made not by removing what is “extra,” but by honoring what remains.
In his educational blog about Bolivian culture, Boris Bernal Mansilla cites the work of the musician and scholar, Ernesto Cavour. Cavour writes about the practices and rites associated with the construction of sikus (South American pan flutes) in the Andes.
Once constructed, the Siku (pan flute) of Taypi Ayca - Italaque must be presented to the deities in a ceremony, as the locals, Hilarion Espinal, Clemente Quispe and Pablo Cerdano, tells us: 'Before playing one must make a Wajta or challar the Siku to the Chuqui mama, so that it cries well, like an organ, and so that it lasts a long time. This is why we ask permission from the Apus (mountain deities) like Ilawinaka, Sunaris and others.'
This ritual, the siku masters, name it "To serene or tune the Siku" because one owes its melodies to Anchanchu (The god of Echo). August is the proper time, 'In the surroundings of the highlands of Huallpacayu, the instruments are serened, when the moon is completely dark, all the cut reeds are brought to the Surani lake and we put the Sikus in front of the reed beds. Then, from afar, we hear clearly how the siku sounds, and when they are amidst their song, one must scare them, because if the song finishes, we might get lost in the lake" (my translation)
The theme of breathiness is not simply an accidental characteristic of the South American pan flute. Instead, it is the very principle of its beauty. The fact that locals associate the melodies of the pan flute with an Echo deity shows that the sound does not strive for clarity but rather pursues carrying a trace. This trace, as we see in the ritual, is nature itself. The sikus must be "played" by the wind first so that they are serene and ready to serve as instruments. Then, if we can identify an aesthetic principle of the South American pan flute, it is perhaps the opposite of clarity. The siku strives for presence in its sound.
Let me be clearer. One can understand this at many different levels. For instance, and perhaps the clearest one, is in the refusal to erase the musician from the melody. Clarity, as an aesthetic principle, often involves a level of purity that makes the musician invisible. Paradoxically, dexterity can mean invisibility. To "enjoy" a melody is usually understood as getting lost in the sound without any interruption from the means (the musician). In the South American pan flute, the breathiness always carries a remainder of the material (the bamboo) and the means (the musician's breath). Take, for example, the following song, Jach'a Siku.
If you pay special attention to the sequence (00:34-00:45), you will be able to feel how both the material and the musician are present in the song. You might also notice that this song could by no means be considered "clear." Its notes are obscure. They are tinted by the remainder of everything that makes that sound what it is. It is true that clarity can be beautiful, but it also risks transparency. The pan flute reminds us of another route to beauty.
I am by no means saying that sikus represent a superior form of music, no. What I am certainly saying is that they are not inferior to their Western counterparts. They hold different aesthetic principles. Breathiness is not inherently "wrong." This judgment of value is based upon the standards of Western music, but what do we lose when neglecting it?
While Western music centers upon purity, Andean music strives for presence. This is the reason why, even though breathiness is not thought to be a sign of quality, several people are drawn to it. Especially in times like these, when social interaction increasingly deteriorates due to technology, we are drawn to presence. To play the pan flute and to listen to it is to practice co-presence. Pan flute music is communion, not only with others but also with nature.
To play the pan flute is to join a chain of breath that began long before the musician: the wind moving through the reeds by the lake, the reeds holding that memory, and the flute releasing it again into the air. Each note carries not just the melody, but the world that shaped it.
Sources
Adorno, Theodor. Hegel: Three Studies, translated by Shierry Weber. MIT Press. 1993. pp. 96-97.
Beaudoin, Richard. Sounds as They Are: The Unwritten Music in Classical Recordings. Oxford University Press, 2024. (50).
Harkness, Nicholas. Songs of Seoul: An Ethnography of Voice and Voicing in Christian South Korea. University of California Press. 2013. Pp.6.
Mansilla, Bernal. “El Siku Zampona de los Sikuris de Taypi.” Boris Bernal Mansilla.
Orquesta Andina. “Jach’a Siku.” Orquesta Andina. YouTube. 2021. (0:34-0:45)
The Flute Channel. “How to get rid of the AIR in your sound.” The Flute Channel. Youtube. 2018. (0:14 - 0:16). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrZDEWOAFsk
“Upgrade your Sound Student vs. Professional Instruments,” 10 April, 2022.
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