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Music
I've had a pretty complex relationship with music over the years... ought to write about that sometime. Anyways: I listen to a lot of it, in genres like "rock" and "pop" and "folk", and play some of it, primarily in the genres "old-time" and "classical".
The tin-can cello had its first time up on stage last night, when I took it to Brooklyn Raga Massive's weekly concert and open jam at Jalopy in Red Hook.
The concert was an album release party for cellist George Crotty. Great, I'm looking forward to hearing more of his music. The open jam was all I'd been hoping for -- I've been meaning to get to this weekly happening for a long time. Definitely going back.
posted afternoon of January 18th, 2019: 1 response ➳ More posts about Projects
A dilruba could be built with a gourd body. (note Not nearly enough tension to support a washtub construction, though.) The neck might be cherry -- the shape of it seems pretty easy to build, much much simpler than a sitar neck. (I am thinking here that the neck is not hollow, I'll need to check that.) Friction pegs for the tarif strings could easily be let in to the side of the neck with the string winding on the outside. The bridge will be maple and the nut cocobolo. Or a cocobolo bridge even! That could be made pretty thin.
posted afternoon of December 16th, 2018: 1 response ➳ More posts about Luthery
I've nearly learned first position well enough to play the lead for "Drinkin Wine (spo-dee-oh-dee)"! Was able to make my way through it with a little confusion, it will sound great in the near future...
posted evening of November 8th, 2018: Respond ➳ More posts about The Blues
The unfamiliar world instruments story continues... For my birthday last week, Ellen and Sylvia gave me a dilruba, northern Indian fiddle with a neck similar to a sitar's neck (although the sound is pretty different from a sitar's).
An unusual thing about this instrument: Its bowl body is carved from a block of wood, not separate ribs bent and glued together. It is pretty heavy, but easy to hold since it rests on the floor. The bow ("gaz") is horsehair strung on bamboo, much tighter than the hair on a violin bow and without the mechanics -- the frog is just a piece of wood attached to the bow with twine, and does not tighten/loosen. The gaz is light as a feather and balanced perfectly. Bowing technique is very key; it is easy to just produce a dissonant scratching/buzzing tone if you are not holding the gaz just right. (Holding it right so the note rings, there is still a scratch/buzz element to the sound, but it does not overwhelm.)
The dilruba ("दिलरà¥à¤¬à¤¾â€¬" in Hindi means "heart-stealer") has in common with the erhu, that there is no fingerboard; strings are stopped with just the finger rather than pressed between the finger and something solid. Although the frets are exactly like a sitar's frets, you don't press the string against the fret. I've found the clearest and truest tone comes from fingering the side of the string -- this way you can touch the fret to keep your finger accurately positioned, and can stop the string without bending it.
