Always something new under the sun!?

[Dingo40]

 

[Ffingers]

Variation on an ancient theme and impressive too.

 

[Dingo40]

Not to mention the bandura and contraguitar!??

 

[Ffingers]

Not to mention the bandura and contraguitar!??

True!
A-a-a-h!
The delights of youtube presenting music which would otherwise be inaccessable to us bushies.

Reminder to self - I must get out of my music room occasionally to go to the chemist for more Vitamin D3 capsules ;-)

 

[Dingo40]

And...don't forget the zither!!!

 

[Glug]

"His zither will have you in a dither"

Just because I'm a huge fan of the film and some younger people may not be aware of it (it's black and white):

1951 Oscar for best cinematography

 

[Jim2010]

Here is an 11-string alto guitar.

And a 15-string guitar

 

[cat]

I (guitarist) was influenced by Michael Hedges back in the 80s. Seeing a photo of him with a Dyer harp guitar, I felt I had to get one. Well I never did, as I went on to become a harper instead - which assuaged "the sound."

This begins to explain it (the compulsion/obsession) -

 

[JIM D.]

I've always been fascinated & entertained by the sound of stringed instruments. The ones with a lesser number of strings
especially intrigue me such as a concert violinist, and another instrument with 4 strings such as ----

 

[Johnny]

Thanks for sharing these videos! I'll jump in: I recently learned of fretted microtonal guitars - even models made with Legos. Fascinating!

Any (intentionally ?) microtonal accordions out there? Or accordions with unique musical temperaments?

 

[Jim2010]

I've always been fascinated & entertained by the sound of stringed instruments. The ones with a lesser number of strings
especially intrigue me such as a concert violinist, and another instrument with 4 strings such as ----

Jim, here is The Washington Post played on ukulele.

 

[jozz]

also doubles as ironing board

 

[Dingo40]

Wot next???

 

[Pipemajor]

Variation on an ancient theme and impressive too.

Wouldn't like to take that on a plane!!

 

[Jim2010]

Wouldn't like to take that on a plane!!

For anyone hesitating to run out and get a theorbo because of the long length, a folding one is available.
Skip to the 4:45 minute mark to see the folding. Amazingly, it stays in tune.

 

[Dingo40]

Amazing!??

 

[Siegmund]

Thanks for sharing these videos! I'll jump in: I recently learned of fretted microtonal guitars - even models made with Legos. Fascinating!

Any (intentionally ?) microtonal accordions out there? Or accordions with unique musical temperaments?

A subject near and dear to my heart too. Being able to play in the temperament of one's choice without re-fretting is one of the advantages of the violin (and of computer-generated sound) that I wish was easier to apply to other instruments.

It seems to me that something like Eivind Groven's microtonal organ should be possible for the accordion. (12 keys per octave, connected to 36 pipes per octave, via a selector that, essentially, asks you what the current tonic is. We have the usual 12 equally tempered tonics to choose from. The tonic, major second, fourth, and fifth are left alone. The major third, sixth, and seventh are flattened 20 cents. The minor third, sixth, and seventh raised by 20 cents. I don't happen to recall what he does with the tritone and minor second - I would guess lowers the former and raises the latter so that D-F# is a purer major third and C-Db is wider than Db-D, when in C.) We already have LMMM accordions - "all" we need to do is add a new kind of register plate, that opens the appropriate combo of M holes.

But I've never seen one. (Nor have people built very many copies of Groven's original organ - all the modern replicas I know of use electronics to automatically apply the pitch bends, not mechanical linkages to sharpened and flattened pipes.)

And, for those of you unfamiliar - Groven is a much underrated 20th century composer. He collected Norwegian folk tunes, sort of the way Bartok did in eastern Europe, as well as writing pleasant tonal music in the standard tuning for full orchestra and brass band.

 

[Dingo40]

Sean,
Any (intentionally ?) microtonal accordions out there? Or accordions with unique musical temperaments?
I seem to remember a post about microtonally tuned accordion being the very thing amongst the Arab musicians.
Perhaps one or our Arab members can remind us of how that works??

 

[Dingo40]

Here's one!?:
A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, and have 24 different pitches. Wikipedia

 

[Johnny]

Here's one!?:
A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, and have 24 different pitches. Wikipedia

Thanks, Dingo! This is fascinating. As always, I learn so much on this forum.

Siegmund - I’ll listen to Groven’s work, thanks. I notice there are a few YouTube demonstrating his microtonal organ..