Tibia (reedpipe)
Tibia or tibiae were musical instruments of ancient Rome equivalent to Greek aulos. In Roman culture, the word stood for reedpipes and possibly duct flutes and trumpets. The word is similar to the English word pipes, in that — while it describes instruments that are blown through at the musician's mouth and have fingerholes to choose notes — the word lumps together different instruments which today would be put into different classes. Pipes in English can mean either reedpipes or duct flutes. Similarly, single-reed clarinets, double-reed shawms, duct flutes and lip sounded trumpets are all possibly described by the word tibia.
Tibia were used for religious ceremony in ancient Rome.
The family of single and double-reed tipped instruments includes the aulos, arghul, balaban, bülban, cifte, dili tuiduk, diplica, dozaleh, duduk, launeddas, mey, pilili, pku, sipsi, triple pipes and zummara, as well as modern reed instruments such as bassoons, clarinets, oboes and shawms.
Construction
Tibia were constructed of materials which were naturally hollow tubes or could be hollowed out, including "reed, cane, box-wood, horn, metal, and the tibia or shin-bone of some birds and animals."The name is related to the word for bones of birds and animals, and possibly came from use of these in musical instruments. This practice is still in used in the Middle East and Central Asia in the Ghoshmeh.
Tibiae and aulos were played with double reeds, kept in a separate box.