https://www.sohl.com/categories/american-instruments/Recent content in American Instruments on SOHL.COMHugoen-usThu, 20 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000https://www.sohl.com/2011/01/20/the-quills-the-forgotten-american-folk-woodwind/Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000https://www.sohl.com/2011/01/20/the-quills-the-forgotten-american-folk-woodwind/<p>The Quills are a early American folk woodwind, first recorded in the early part of the 19th century among Afro-Americans in the south.&nbsp;There are at least two kinds of woodwinds called the quills: a cane fife with several holes, and a panpipe with several separate cane pipes.&nbsp;&nbsp;They are assumed to be of African origin, since similar instruments are found in various parts of Africa, and they were most common among&nbsp;1st and 2nd generation Africans in America.</p>https://www.sohl.com/2011/01/18/reconstructing-the-quills-a-lost-american-panpipe/Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000https://www.sohl.com/2011/01/18/reconstructing-the-quills-a-lost-american-panpipe/<p class="style3"><em>See the post <a href="https://sohlblog.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/the-quills-the-forgotten-american-folk-woodwind/">The Quills: the forgotten American folk woodwind </a>for general information about the American instruments known as the quills.</em></p> <p class="style3">African players make their own instruments, and I imagine that Henry Thomas did as well. Recent players of the cane fife in America do so as well.  So, what do you need to know in order to make a historically accurate instrument?</p> <p class="style3">First off, you need to understand the difference between the cane fife (quills) and the panpipe form of the instrument, and decide which one you want to pursue.  There are modern players and makers of the cane fife form of the instrument, so for the moment I&#8217;m going to concentrate on the panpipe version made famous by Henry Thomas.</p>