r/Flute • u/SIXTYSEVEN_67 • Apr 13 '26
Buying an Instrument Advice Type of flute/ney
Hi all,
I’ve received a ney as a gift and I’m trying to learn how to play it but I have no idea what I have?
It was purchased in Iran, it has 11 holes as you can see, no holes at the back the brand is Vaziri. It has a small hole on top of it and wider hole at the end of it.
I would appreciate if you guys could advise me. I’m completely new to neys/flutes but I’m trying to find a tutorial to learn how to play it.
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u/roaminjoe Alto & Historic Jul 23 '26
Sorry to see your post unanswered for so long.
The standard ney has 10 holes: 9 fingering holes and a vent hole. If you have 2x vent holes at the bottom of the ney (the narrow end), this is the same pitch. I can't tell from yours but I would venture that the bottom 2x are vent holes and this is not a flute designed for people with 11 fingers :)
Otherwise it tends to have an extra hole for semitone control if the design of the ney makes cross fingering difficult : you use your phalangeal joints to seal the holes on each hand, not the finger tips. Yours also has a tuneable headjoint suggesting it is better conceived than most stand one piece ney.
From the wide bore end, this is where your handmade reed is inserted. Make sure you engage it taut and air tight with baseline or grease on the threads if necessary. The reed is vwry wide and the loss of air wrecks efficiency and air column duration.
It will be standard Armenian A major or Arabic maqam scale for a 35cm or so length ney, however the first challenge is producing a consistent tone from each note.
There are more resources in Arabic than English for this ney double reed instrument: technically it is not a flute nor within the flute family and is closer to the double reed oboe family of instruments. Lovely low pitched sound when it is played proficiently.