Re: [tuning] Digest Number 2040

>

Jon!
Nice looking stuff and i hope you get steven to help you move it all!
a couple of questions in one of the photo of the extended PVC tubing it looks almost like it is corrugated. You play them with ping pong pallets?
And the oak bars have not arch cut out of them, did you cut them i some systematic way or did you "eyeball" them (having all those years consummating your relationship with wooden bars)
BTW I am a big fan of Spring and the biggest spring factory in the world, century spring in downtown here. I used to have an instrument called THE TREE which had all type of springs connected to it, some which acted as reverb for when you hit the tree trunk and
another held another spring that would go up and down and you would have a little rhythm machine. It was pictured in CONNOISSEUR MAGAZINE. Aug. 1983
I should put it up.
A while back there was a german composer here Volker Straub who used some smaller that 55 gallon containers both as a resonator for strings and to pack up the rest of his instruments. I mentioned it because you could put your stuff inside it and have
another instrument as well :-)

>
> From: "Jonathan M. Szanto" <JSZANTO@ADNC.COM>
>
>
> List (and apologies to MMM'ers who've seen this):
>
> While better photos will have to wait (these were shot in the
> storage/basement area of Copley Symphony Hall), and audio of the music (as
> well as - hopefully - video) are pending delivery of the recordings from
> the concert, I wanted to at least share some of the fun of designing,
> building, and performing on some new microtonal / found sound / instruments.
>
> Bogus, slapped-together page for your enjoyment (I hope), with more info:
>
> http://www.microtonal.org/depot.html

-- 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:
> Nice looking stuff and i hope you get steven to help you move it
> all!

Heh. Steve had a couple of nasty concerto movements to prepare, but
my colleagues were swell about helping out (not to mention a stellar
stage crew...).

> a couple of questions in one of the photo of the extended PVC
tubing it looks almost like it is corrugated.

Yeah, Home Depot has a new kind of tube that is a combination of sort-
of corrogated black tubing with a white plastic outer cover. Don't
know much about it, but it was light-weight and easy to cut
(therefore, to tune).

> You play them with ping pong pallets?

This one small percussion maker makes a few odd sticks, and one kind
is a 'paddle' of round foam (dense and soft) discs at the end, which
completely cover the open end of a tube with a slap. For other uses,
one of the easiest whackers is a pair of flip-flops, believe it or
not!

> And the oak bars have not arch cut out of them, did you cut them i
some systematic way or did you "eyeball" them (having all those years
consummating your relationship with wooden bars)

Bear in mind that one of the purposes was to show how easy it is to
use found or near-found materials; when scouting the store I found
some of the red oak cut-offs, and even short lengths had a nice,
bright klang. Not to mention that the development of
the 'instruments' took place over only a matter of days - I imagine I
can finesse stuff with time (especially adding resonators, which
won't be too tough).

Also, marimba bars, which not only emphasize the octave harmonic but
strive for longer ring times, utilize a deep arch, whereas xylophone
bars (thicker, very little arch) emphasize the next harmonic (a
fifth) and this is more in line of what I was shooting for (for all
the above reasons).

> BTW I am a big fan of Spring and the biggest spring factory in the
world, century spring in downtown here.

I *must* go there sometime! I am trying to clear the schedule to make
the shadow play on the 18th (still iffy) and if I can maybe I'll make
a dual-purpose trip...

> It was pictured in CONNOISSEUR MAGAZINE. Aug. 1983 I should put it
> up.

Would be cool.

> I mentioned it because you could put your stuff inside it and have
> another instrument as well :-)

Heh! What I really need is an intern, but they all want to go work in
Washington... :)

Cheers,
Jon