[tuning] Jim French

Jim French is a woodwindwunderkind.

I was not aware of his making any ET in any #-tones.

He has shown me how to make a "French-aphone". A tapered four-sided wood affair, in various
tunings. As is well known, any equal spaced holes produce subharmonic action. I've never heard of
an end correction, but i know from making PVC Sulings with Bill Colvig, that he just
"scratched-up" until he heard the right note. No big deal, and certainly no technology beyond an
ale or two was needed to make several sulings in an afternoon. When played against the various
Gamelan's they were made for, they were perfect. Lou Harrison's ears were there, and they
approved. We then had a delicious Mexican family style lunch.

I digressed. French has shown me at various times several amazing wind instruments. One was a huge
copper affair that he said was a viking copy. Looked like a demonic Suessian bag-pipe. It looked
kinda scary, and the sound it made caused a fecal evacuation. Had i been approached by a band of
Vikings with that horn, i would have killed myself.

He has investigated many ancient cultures, and made replicas and "inspired" instruments from these
cultures.

Remember a few years back they found those Super-Ancient bone flutes in China? It didn't even faze
or excite Jim, as he had speculated as such the existence of such instruments based on research
and a craftsmens intuition.

Kraig Grady knows him better than I, and may chime in here with much greater detail. Jim and Kraig
have recorded alot together, and most of it was really great Fuc%ing music. Jim is also a truly
inspired improviser.

He also taught me how to make mead, and as such, weve spent alot of time "slangin" with a serious
buzz going on. I never had one of Partch's impossibly strong Mint Julep's, so this was as close as
i got to getting whacked with a Macro-tonal genius.

Incompletely, there's a sketch.

Beers,

GZ

George,

Correct me if I'm wrong: isn't Jim also a dramatically good at
recitation in ancient Greek (nb: is "ancient" superfluous here?)?

Cheers,
Jon

Jon,

Superfluous it is not. Modern Greek is indeed another animal all together.

GZ

Jon Szanto wrote:

> George,
>
> Correct me if I'm wrong: isn't Jim also a dramatically good at
> recitation in ancient Greek (nb: is "ancient" superfluous here?)?
>
> Cheers,
> Jon
>

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jon Szanto <JSZANTO@ADNC.COM>
> To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 7:21 PM
> Subject: [tuning] Re: Jim French
>
>
> George,
>
> Correct me if I'm wrong: isn't Jim [French] also a [_sic_]
> dramatically good at recitation in ancient Greek

John Chalmers has indeed told me that this is so.

> (nb: is "ancient" superfluous here?)?

Not at all, Jon. "Classic" (i.e., ancient) Greek is
quite different from modern Greek, especially in pronunciation.

Wish I could say more, but I'm no expert on this... just
a dabbler.

-monz
http://www.monz.org
"All roads lead to n^0"

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