source file: mills3.txt Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 18:09:17 +0100 Subject: Instruments From: Carl Lumma > All- > One of the impedimemts to the growth of microtonal music is the > lack of microtonal instruments. In the spirit of a new year, it would be > nice to hear from all of you what microtonal instruments you own and > play, and how you obtained/modified these instruments. ---------I've got two fixed pitch instruments----------- 1) 6 foot grand piano (will soon be tuned Justly, but is now in 12) 2) Cosmolyra (built from scratch for about $100 under the guidance of Denny Genovese at the Southeast Just Intonation Center)... a) Two-sided electric slide guitar after Ivor's Hobnailed Newell Post b) May be stood on end, on the floor, and played on either side c) May be put on side, on a table, and flipped to get at either side d) 33" of pine 2 x 6 (body) plus 1.5" (stands) is 34.5" total length e) String length 26", Harmonic 4 is the 12-tone F# below A=110 f) 13 strings on side one, tuned to harmonics 4-16 g) 15 strings on side two, tuned in three groups... 6 in a otonal hexad 6 in a utonal hexad 3 in unison on harmonic 16 (chorus effect for melody) h) Body is marked on each side with 2 octaves of each of the following... otonal: 1/1 9/8 5/4 11/8 3/2 13/8 7/4 15/8 2/1 utonal: 1/1 12/11 6/5 4/3 3/2 12/7 2/1 i) Use of piano tuning pins in red oak and custom steel tail (with holes to catch gromets on strings) allows high degree of tuning accuracy and stability. I built the Cosmolyra mainly for ear-training purposes. I have found that it can also be used with good effect as a solo instrument, as a great thing to sing along with, and even as a good instrument for ensemble work (a recent jam with 12-tone electric guitar shows promise). I may get around to publishing full specs and even music for it (maybe in 1/1)... ---------I have five free pitch instruments------------ 1) 1976 Bach Stradivarius Bb trumpet w/72 bell in silver 2) 1995 Yamaha Professional Heavy Wall Bb trumpet in silver 3) My voice 4) My whistling 5) Mollenhauer soprano recorder (wood) Carl SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: gbreed@cix.compulink.co.uk (Graham Breed) Subject: instruments PostedDate: 04-01-98 19:17:18 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: 04-01-98 19:14:45-04-01-98 19:14:46,04-01-98 19:14:04-04-01-98 19:14:04 DeliveredDate: 04-01-98 19:14:04 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 C1256582.006439BE; Sun, 4 Jan 1998 19:16:40 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA30707; Sun, 4 Jan 1998 19:17:18 +0100 Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 19:17:18 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA30678 Received: (qmail 10012 invoked from network); 4 Jan 1998 10:17:14 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 4 Jan 1998 10:17:14 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu