Behind the bridge (was HP's Composition Techniques)

>What a lot of people don't realize is that while a lot of Harry's 'melodies'
>sprang from the sequential plucking of the strings, one after another, he
>found great stuff on the OTHER side of the bridges too! It's hard to
>describe, but here goes. Let's say the individual bridges get closer to
>the, um, pegboard side. The pitch goes up the scale. But since the entire
>surface of the box is the sounding board, if you pluck the strings on the
>other side of the bridges you would get a descending series of notes. Fine
>adjust both the bridge location and string tension and you can get both
>sides to fall within your scale of choice!

I have tried this on the only other instrument that I know of designed to
be played on both sides of a bridge -- the European double-bridged dulcimer
-- without success. There are at least two problems: first, the bridge
itself does not have a knife-sharp edge. However, more importantly, it is
impossible on the dulcimer to precisely equalize the tension on both sides
of the bridge. So, while it is a straight-forward matter to get a precise
tuning on one side, the other side will almost always be off, usually a
random amount up to a sixth of a tone or so -- not an insignificant
interval! The folk musicians I have heard play this instrument have the
same problem, but, unfortunately, most of them seemed oblivious to it. If
one has a movable bridge, one can make slight adjustments on the fly, I
suppose, especially if the string is tight and the bridge has little
friction.

Bill

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)621-8360 (fax) ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^




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