source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 09:25:37 -0700 Subject: Behind the bridge (was Re: HP's Composition Techniques) From: alves@osiris.ac.hmc.edu (Bill Alves) >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) ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 14 Aug 1996 01:20 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA03968; Wed, 14 Aug 1996 01:20:43 +0200 Received: from sun4nl.NL.net by ns (smtpxd); id XA03966 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by sun4nl.NL.net with SMTP id AA09404 (5.65b/CWI-3.3); Tue, 13 Aug 1996 17:59:21 +0200 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id IAA13373; Tue, 13 Aug 1996 08:58:00 -0700 Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 08:58:00 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu