Theremin Player

Well, I haven’t had much to blog about for a while, so just to keep this thing alive, here’s a kitty playing a theremin. Enjoy.

Real blogging to return soon.

Ukeleles and Inversions

There was a cute article in last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle about an apparent new ukelele fad that’s sweeping the nation. It was interesting to me, because I’d been just starting to take notice of the instrument. It just seems to keep cropping up. I noticed only recently, for example, that it’s buried in the texture of a couple of Burt Bacharach songs, (albeit mostly bad ones).

The main reason the ukelele is on my mind at the moment is the now overexposed Israel Kamakawiwo’ole recording of his “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”/”What a Wonderful World” medley, which I listen to a lot with my son. His playing of the instrument is one of many beautiful things about that recording.

Sväng New Harmonica Quartet

Just found this while trying to find out more about the bass harmonica. Meet the Sväng New Harmonica Quartet of Finland, here offering a bit of that terrific Bulgarian rhythm I blogged about previously. I have trouble turning this off once it gets going. The second half of the video is more of a Ragtime number; also terrific.

As for the bass harmonica, I’d previously only heard it as part of the odd accompaniment in part of the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Boxer” (lai lai lai – thwack – lai lai lai lai lai… etc.). I finally got around to trying to figure out what on earth that instrument is!

Update on the “Hang” Percussion Instrument

Last year I posted a little item about my discovery of this wonderful instrument. Since then, that post has become increasingly popular, and so it seems appropriate to offer some updated information. The site of the people in Switzerland who make the hang is currently down, as is the site of the Canadian distributor whom I’d linked to in my previous post.

The long and the short of it is that hang drums will not be available again until next April, and then it can only be purchased in person, which means a trip to Bern, Switzerland. More details can be found among the more recent comments to this blog post. There is a comment at the bottom, dated today, from the creators of the Hang:

After a busy summer, with lots of visitors from all over the world, we are closing our doors for our yearly spell of Research and Development. During this time we will be looking at new ways of working with the metal and its music.

Hanghaus will remain closed to the public throughout the winter. During this period we will not be receiving visitors or selling instruments.

Please contact us in April of 2007, at which time we hope to be in a position to show you the results of our winter�s work.

Felix Rohner and Sabina Sch�rer

Hangbuilders

Also, I’ve been advised of a Yahoo group dedicated to the hang, and there is now an entry in Wikipedia. (Many thanks to Saggio for writing me with this updated information.)

Loituma: Things of Beauty

It was mentioned in my previous post that I’ve been spending a lot of time with folk music lately. Regarding that, I recently discovered something new, because someone sent me this. (There’s audio.) Don’t spend more than 20 seconds with it, because it’s just an endless loop.

This little cartoon is one of those goofy things that quickly propogate all over the world because people have too much free time. But fortunately, for me, it led to my discovery of the wonderful Finnish folk ensemble Loituma. My curiosity about the music on that silly animation quickly led me on a path through Google, Wikipedia and iTunes, resulting in a spontaneous purchase of their 1995 album Things of Beauty.

The Hang

NOTE: An update to this item was posted on September 12, 2006. You’ll find fresher information there.

One day last week while walking in Golden Gate Park, I heard an attractive percussion sound coming from near the fountain by the de Young. I went to investigate and discovered This Guy sitting on a bench and gently tapping what looked like a flying saucer or an inside-out steel drum. The sound was captivating; very similar to a steel drum, only the pitches were much more focused and rang for much longer. The guy playing it in the park was able to achieve counterpoint and harmony.

After listening for a while, I asked about the instrument, which I found out is called a “Hang” and made by a company in Switzerland. It looks like the Hang is in such high demand that you can’t even order one until March of next year.

Further research has revealed that… well, that there isn’t a lot of information on the internet about it, one exception being this very thorough site. The Hang is made to order, which means you choose the pitches (7 or 8 ), so virtually any scale can be achieved, including non-Western ones. The site referenced above also has a library of mp3 examples of various modes and scales.

It’s a beautiful sounding instrument, but I wonder how practical it would be to write for it as a classical composer. My first thought was how great it would be to have this in an orchestral percussion battery, but since it would require the orchestra to have access to a hang in the exact tuning your piece requires. (I think they cost in the neighborhood of $600) Maybe someone will get into the hang rental business.

The name “hang” is said to be from a Swiss German dialect’s word for “hand”. Hooray for David Kaetz (same site referenced above) for also knowing that “hang” is the Hungarian word for “sound”, “tone” and many related words. He has a very fun dictionary of Hungarian words based on the root “hang”.

The manDrum

My old friend Chris Mandra appeared out of nowhere this weekend, announcing that he was in San Francisco and on the way to Burning Man. When I say “old”… he was among my first friends when I arrived at the University of the Arts as a freshman, so we’re talking exactly twenty years now. Holy moly.

So, Chris is an interesting guy. He has gone from affable, endearingly pretentious, bearded composition student to shaved-headed Executive Producer of NPR Online to red-streaked, wild-haired electro-acoustic performance, uh, wizardy guy. (OK, not quite sure what’s up with my obsession with Chris’ hairstyle.)

Chris now goes by the name of “kataStatik” (and I relentlessly taunted him by calling him “katatastic”), and he performs on an instrument he invented called the “manDrum”. If I understand correctly, the manDrum consists of sensors he wears under his clothing that interact with software he wrote to control a synthesizer when struck. (Sorry, I’m not hip to all the real terminology.) So, basically, he beats himself silly, and music comes out.

There’s more to it than that. More details and video of the manDrum in action can be found on Chris’ web site. This is all quite removed from the musical world I live in, but it sure is interesting. Plus, I have to say: “manDrum” is a great name.