They Ney in Iran: The ney is regarded as one of the major instruments of Persian classical music. The Persian ney has a brass cap affixed to the top. In playing this ney the musician places the ney in his teeth and upper jaw and directs his breath with his tongue during performance of this ney. This technique is very challenging in learning to play the ney. 

The Ney in the Middle East & North Africa: When playing the Arabic ney the technique is called the the "Bilabial blowing system". This is where the mouth is on the extremity of the rim or bevel of the ney and is blown through from a 45 degree angle. The ney is used in classical and in folkloric genres. In a traditional Arabic ensemble one would find the ney, oud, kamane (violin), kanoun, doumbek, riqq. Usually the ney has seven finger holes the ney is available in a set of several sizes from bass to highest pitch. There is also a "folkloric" model of this instrument in which, is called Qawalla, and has no thumb-hole.

The Ney in Turkey: This ney is distinguished by its mushroom shaped cap at the mouth piece this type of ney is unique to Turkey. In Turkey the ney is either played solo or is played with an ensemble. In Turkish classical music "Maqamlar" such ensembles would have the ney, clarinet, tanbur, oud.