To Kraig: Partials of Metallophones

Kraig,

I'm wondering if you can tell me if when you are tuning your
metallophone instruments, if you must take the partials of the timbre
into consideration?

Or do you tune entirely by the fundamentals of each bar/plate/tube
across the range?

I have a friend who built a tube metallophne, and he tells me that it
was recommended to him that he drill some holes in the top tubes, to
reduce some harshness in the timbre there.

Do you ever encounter such?

How do you deal with all this? Must the tuning be stretched or
compressed at all to keep things harmonious across the range? Is
there a similar logic to that found in the tuning of Gamelan
instruments?

I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but has slipped my
mind until now.

Thanks,

Jacky Ligon

Jacky!
Thank you for the wonderful CD. I just got through listening to it!!

ligonj@northstate.net wrote:

> Kraig,
>
> I'm wondering if you can tell me if when you are tuning your
> metallophone instruments, if you must take the partials of the timbre
> into consideration?

not at all!

>
>
> Or do you tune entirely by the fundamentals of each bar/plate/tube
> across the range?

fundamentals only. When you add resonators that is all you here for the
most part. It is like the tube/bar is a device to activate the air
column

>
>
> I have a friend who built a tube metallophne, and he tells me that it
> was recommended to him that he drill some holes in the top tubes, to
> reduce some harshness in the timbre there.
>
> Do you ever encounter such?

I have not heard this, but am interested. I have drilled holes at the
nodes to hold them in place!

> How do you deal with all this?

I not sure I understand this part of the question but let me say that
even with Marimba bars I prefer the sounds of bars where the harmonics
are not tuned. There is something artificial sounding to my ear when
they are tuned, It seems to take all the guts out of it.

> Must the tuning be stretched or
> compressed at all to keep things harmonious across the range?

not at all!

> Is
> there a similar logic to that found in the tuning of Gamelan
> instruments?

I don't think anyone can say for sure. It appears that difference tones
could have quite allot of influence on there tunings.

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

The Wandering Medicine Show
Wed. 8-9 KXLU 88.9 fm

--- In tuning@y..., Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@a...> wrote:
> Jacky!
> Thank you for the wonderful CD. I just got through listening to
it!!

Thanks kindly Kraig! I'm very pleased you enjoyed it! I'll let my
crew know too - we all greatly enjoy your work - and I know they will
be elated.

It took eight months to produce those 5 pieces. I hope to kick out
the next one in a fraction of that time, since I've got quite a bit
of the preliminary work for a new suite already staged.

> > I'm wondering if you can tell me if when you are tuning your
> > metallophone instruments, if you must take the partials of the
timbre
> > into consideration?
>
> not at all!
>
> > Or do you tune entirely by the fundamentals of each bar/plate/tube
> > across the range?
>
> fundamentals only. When you add resonators that is all you here for
the
> most part. It is like the tube/bar is a device to activate the air
> column
> >
> > I have a friend who built a tube metallophne, and he tells me
that it
> > was recommended to him that he drill some holes in the top tubes,
to
> > reduce some harshness in the timbre there.
> >
> > Do you ever encounter such?
>
> I have not heard this, but am interested. I have drilled holes at
the
> nodes to hold them in place!

I'll ask him about this at our next gathering to clarify the details.

> > How do you deal with all this?
>
> I not sure I understand this part of the question but let me say
that
> even with Marimba bars I prefer the sounds of bars where the
harmonics
> are not tuned. There is something artificial sounding to my ear when
> they are tuned, It seems to take all the guts out of it.
>
> > Must the tuning be stretched or
> > compressed at all to keep things harmonious across the range?
>
> not at all!
>
> > Is
> > there a similar logic to that found in the tuning of Gamelan
> > instruments?
>
> I don't think anyone can say for sure. It appears that difference
tones
> could have quite allot of influence on there tunings.

A huge part of my interest in asking the questions above, is that I'm
working quite a bit with scales derived from the spectra of Gongs and
such. I've had some really compelling listening experiences, where I
had Bill to play gongs while I sang the notes I heard in the Gong
chord. They could so clearly and distinctly be heard, that it makes
me wish to explore composing/singing with the inharmonic pitches
found in the timbre.

Your reply is very interesting to me and I see (and hear) your point
about what the resonators do (Mt. Meru Rules!!!). I think whether or
not partials might be of importance, would likely depend on the
physical properties of the individual instrument itself. Where there
is ambiguity as to the fundamental (as can be true of Gong Spectra),
is where things can get interesting! My preliminary thoughts about
this, are that if one could use a tuning that matched the inharmonic
timbres, then a special kind of Timbral Just Intonation would be
possible. That I could clearly sing it and make my voice unison with
the partials, makes me want to go deeper. Being able to sing (or make
melody with) something usually directs my ear toward things, and it's
a union of voice to timbre that I seek.

Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Jacky Ligon