source file: mills3.txt Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 10:40:26 +0100 Subject: Re: lap steel, bar slants and the surrogate kithara From: "Jonathan M. Szanto" I, too, have been a fan of pedal steel for a long time -- what a singing instrument. Bob Lee has been very helpful to the list with his recent postings, and it would be amazing to get more of the people here to take up that beast also! A minor point regarding his last post: >Partch's "surrogate kithara" is a steel guitar of sorts, but it is not >played well in any of Partch's music. If Patch had paid any attention to >standard steel guitar techniques of his time, his string sounds could have >been every bit as spactacular as his percussion. Instead, he ended up with >sound effects where there could have been legitimate string music (only my >opinion, of course). "of sorts" is quite true: the instrument originally begat itself for the sole purpose of performing some kithara parts that were too awkward to be played on the outer courses of strings on the kithara itself -- hence, "surrogate". The SK received perhaps some of the least acoustical attention of any of the instruments, and ended up having parts written for it that crossed the line between stringed (with the pitch-bending bars/rods) and percussive (played with felted sticks). No doubt with more resources the SK could have been more elegant; his writing for what I would consider "lap guitar" is much more subtle and reminiscent of pedal steel, and the "Eleven Intrusions" contain a good bit of this. One other item is to note that Newband commissioned a newer SK to be built (by an actual luthier, I believe) and though I haven't heard it in person it could hardly be worse then the old one. But Bob, answer me this: the SK was on a tripod stand with wheels, and when you sat to play you could scurry all across the stage while executing the part -- can this be done on any production model pedal steels? :) Best wishes to all for a happy solstice festivity of your choice! Cheers, Jon *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Jonathan M. Szanto : "Once upon a time there was a little boy... jszanto@adnc.com : ...and he went outside." Corporeal Meadows : http://www.adnc.com/web/jszanto/welcome.html *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: Johnny Reinhard Subject: Re: Misc. PostedDate: 24-12-97 15:42:01 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $MessageStorage: 0 $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 24-12-97 15:39:46-24-12-97 15:39:46,24-12-97 15:39:16-24-12-97 15:39:16 DeliveredDate: 24-12-97 15:39:16 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2 9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C1256577.00508A2D; Wed, 24 Dec 1997 15:41:38 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA25213; Wed, 24 Dec 1997 15:42:01 +0100 Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 15:42:01 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA25199 Received: (qmail 17437 invoked from network); 24 Dec 1997 06:41:59 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 24 Dec 1997 06:41:59 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu