(From left to right: a shakuhachi, a ney, five "normal" bansuri
plus one bass bansuri, and a yard stick for scale.)| Christopher's Music Page | Back to Christopher's Home Page | 5 Feb. 2007 |
I was a member of Sangati, an informal group of musicians and poets dedicated to social justice and to eliminating prejudice based on gender, ethnicity, culture, and sexual orientation.
I have been playing various members of the extended lute family for some time now, but in summer of 2001 I finally started learning to play the Renaissance lute. I have a 10 course (19 string) lute which is both a challenge and a pleasure to play. If you are interested in learning more about the lute, I recommend that you start your online readings at Wayne Cripps' Lute Page.
Push the string(s) playing the major third of the chord lenthwise towards the bridge. This introduces slack into the vibrating length of the string, thus lowering the pitch. Ideally you want to lower the pitch by about 14 cents for a major third (a justly intoned third is about 14 cents lower in pitch than an equal tempered third).
For a minor third you would have to pull the string(s) playing the third lengthwise towards the nut to raise the pitch by about 16 cents.
Note: If you were *really* neurotic... er, serious... about playing a justly intoned chord, you could also pull the string(s) playing the fifth of the chord lengthwise towards the nut to raise the pitch by about 2 cents to play a justly intoned fifth. :-)
I studied Hindustani classical vocal and Hindustani classical bansuri for a few years, as well as western classical flute. I used to make bansuri and other bamboo flutes as a hobby and recommend the following two books (available from Tai Hei Shakuhachi) to anyone interested in flutemaking:
Another good book (available from amazon.com) on the physics and math of flute design is:
I have done some experimenting with bamboo flute making and have written a C language computer program to assist with tone hole placement based on equations given by Benade and Hopkin. You can get this program (including source, examples, and a Win32 console executable) in WinZip'd form from here.
If you decide to make a flute, be aware that flute tunings are compromise tunings -- you can not get the precise, consistent tuning across all the holes over all the octaves. So, don't expect to have precise pitches coming out of your flute and you won't be disappointed. :-)
Here's a picture of a few of the flutes that I've made:
click here for the full-sized flutes
picture (From left to right: a shakuhachi, a ney, five "normal" bansuri
plus one bass bansuri, and a yard stick for scale.)
x = closed hole, o = open hole, / = partially closed hole
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa = Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do ["moveable Do" solfege]
Underlined = flat, Accented = sharp, all others = natural
|
pa |
dha |
dha |
ni |
ni |
sa |
re |
re |
ga |
ga |
ma |
má |
|
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
/ |
o |
|
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
/ |
o |
o |
o |
|
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
/ |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
|
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
|
x |
x |
x |
/ |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
|
x |
/ |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
o |
I play a Gliga acoustic violin and a Yamaha electric violin, and I hope to someday play a Zeta or Jensen five-string electric violin. If you are interested in electric violins or other electric bowed stringed instruments, check out: Bowed Electricity
If you are interested in making fiddles, check out Pete Schug's Homemade Fiddle Page.
For those more interested in making a Persian fiddle, the Guild of American Luthiers has published plans for making a kamanche (aka "kemanche") in American Lutherie #4.
I have taken Persian sehtar lessons at the Iranian Association of Boston's Khaneh-ye Iran.
I have finally found an online store that sells sehtar fret gut and sehtar strings: Pooyesh Mall -- they also sell sehtar method books, as well as other Persian classical musical instruments, accessories, and books.
Shortly thereafter I found another online store that also sells Persian classical musical instruments, accessories, and books: Saz O Nava.
Another online store I recently discovered which sells both Persian classical music books and recordings is: IranMelody -- it seems that they may soon offer musical instruments as well (their musical instruments page is under construction).
Yet another online store I recently discovered which sells Persian classical music books, instruments, and recordings is: Darvish Khan -- note: these guys have the Seem Taab (Sym Tab) tool for winding the loop end for sehtar strings.
I have learned some Persian classical violin and sehtar music from Mohsen Jamal who plays a variety of musical styles. He has three CDs available, the first is called "Lost Persian Cat". I edited his two more recent CDs, called "Homage to Rumi" and "Mahur".
I have compiled some information about the intervals (tunings) used in Persian classical music in the following webpage: Christopher's Persian Classical Music Intervals Page
Center for Persian Classical Music
Instrument Maintenance with respect to Strings -- lots of useful information on many subjects including: replacing gut strings, replacing metal strings, tying frets, string groove shapes in the nut and bridge, and peg fitting
I think that "Ethnomusicology" should be called "Comparative Musicology", but setting aside my issues with nomenclature, here are some links on the subject: