Musicology Annotation << Back The instrumental variants of the Udmurt kubyzchi: Apay Syamen («Maiden dance») Irina V. Pchelovodova For the fi rst time the author makes an attempt to understand the principles of musical thinking of the Udmurt kubyzchi – performers on the traditional three-stringed bowed instrument kubyz. At the heart of the research there is a comparative analysis of a folk tune (Apay Syamen «Maiden dance»), which exists in the traditional culture of the Zavyatsky Udmurts – in Baltasinsky Region of the Republic of Tatarstan and Mari-Turek Region of the Republic of Mari El. The tune functions as a vocal composition accompanied by kubyz or without it. There are also instrumental versions of the tune in the repertoire of all kubyzchi. The analysis revealed that the instrumental versions of Apai Syamen have a distinct instrumental nature due to the lack of vocals. Poetic text of the four elements organizes rhythmic beginning. The absence of the text allows using rhythmic variation and shifting the metric accentuation. The differences also affect the composite structure of folk-tune. In the instrumental version the segment that performs the role of the song chorus falls out. Eight rhythmic segmentation of time remains general for all tunes. For the fi rst time the techniques of playing and ways of holding a bow from the point of view of their infl uence on a variety of «reading»: «reading» of melody in instrumental music is considered in the article. Keywords: the Udmurts, traditional musical instruments, bow chordophones, variants, composition, techniques of playing. Contacts: E-mail: orimush@mail.ru Pp. 36-46.