Birch trumpet facts for kids

A birch trumpet, also called a neverlur.

The birch trumpet is a cool musical instrument made from spruce wood covered with birch bark. It's known by different names in various countries, like neverlur in Norway and näverlur in Sweden. You can find this instrument in many northern European countries, including Finland, England, Denmark, and the Baltic states. Some older versions were even simpler, made just from birch bark!

Long ago, people in places like the Alps used instruments similar to the birch trumpet. They probably used them to scare away wild animals, warn off enemies, or call people together for meetings.

Most birch trumpets are "natural horns." This means they don't have any buttons or holes (like a modern trumpet or flute) to change notes. A skilled player can usually play about 10 different notes on a birch trumpet. Today, the birch trumpet is mostly used for special cultural events or just for fun, rather than for everyday tasks.

Two tuohitorvi (Finnish birch trumpets) at the Finnish National Museum. The one in front looks like a brass bugle.

In Finland, the birch trumpet is called a tuohitorvi. There are different kinds of tuohitorvi. Some are simple natural horns, used by shepherds to send signals across long distances. Others are made with fingerholes, like a mute cornett, which lets players play melodies.

Two birch trumpets are part of the coat of arms for Pielavesi, a town in Finland.

In Tolga, Norway, there's a special "culture school" that teaches people how to play the neverlur. This helps keep the tradition alive!

The oldest birch trumpet found in Sweden is about 1,000 years old! It looks a lot like even older trumpets made from bronze.

Who Makes Birch Trumpets Today?

Makers in Norway

• Magnar Storbækken makes natural instruments at his company, Naturinstrumenter, in Tolga, Norway.

Makers in Sweden

A young Swedish woman playing a birch trumpet around 1930.

• Rune Selén was a very famous näverlur maker in Sweden. He made over 11,000 näverlurs between 1959 and 2005! He stopped making them because of an allergy to dust. He passed away in 2011.
• Lisa Byers Runberg in Alunda learned how to make näverlurs from Rune Selén himself. Her husband, Per Runberg, is a folk musician.
• Jan Nordkvist makes them at his company, Lurmakaren, in Tällberg.

Other Similar Instruments

Many cultures have instruments similar to the birch trumpet. Here are a few:

• Alphorn: These are very long horns, sometimes 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) long! They are known from the Alps, Carpathian Mountains, and Pyrenees.
• Midwinter horn: This horn is mainly played in a specific area between Germany and the Netherlands. It's only played during the winter holiday season, from the first Sunday of Advent until Epiphany.
• Büchel: This is another type of natural horn found in Switzerland.
• Ligawka: A traditional horn from Poland.
• Karjapasun: This is the name for a shepherd's horn in Estonia.
• Trembita: A long wooden horn used in the Carpathian Mountains, especially in Ukraine.

See also

• Lur