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Otherworld musical instruments
https://archive.holyworlds.org/viewtopic.php?f=244&t=3942		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ July 25th, 2011, 9:40 am ]
Post subject:  Otherworld musical instruments
I would like to start a thread discussing the types of music or musical instruments in Otherworlds.

Here are some links that will inspire you.

This is a massive organ played by waves.
http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om24550.html

This is called an array nail violin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBeyKi9dEKc

This is an array mbira.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r3rCUg3L98&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fAAGheYTFA&feature=related

This is a glass armonica (it really is spelled and pronounced armonica) invented by Benjamin Franklin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armonica


What about the idea of firing blasters in salute, as people do with guns and cannons?

I made up an instrument called an Alba Gorem, which has keys like a vast organ, but works by forcing together different length bars of substances which repel each other, and make sounds when forced close together. There are other Gorems which work different ways, called El Gorems.

Choirs with click consonants would be interesting. And whistling choirs. Whistling rarely seems to be connected with serious matters of song, and it would be interesting to have a culture which incorporates whistling, or snapping the fingers, into more solemn music.


Please post your ideas!
Author:  Aeleknight [ July 25th, 2011, 11:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
That's really cool, Tsahraf! I know I've heard something in the back of my head when I read your posts, now I know what it is: A glass armonica! :dieshappy:
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ July 26th, 2011, 11:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Thank you! That is funny.

Here are some more links:

The Ancestor of the Oboe. I am very interested in the Oboe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egifq8lEEu0&feature=related

This is called the Ocarina.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UxUbB1NgZE&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nad5AJaIcBI&feature=related
Author:  Laura Elizabeth [ August 17th, 2011, 9:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
I didn't really like the nail violin, but the rest were awesome. There's something 'ethereal' and 'disorienting' about the armonica, as the Wiki page said, but it's really pretty. I liked that ocean organ. I have heard the ocarina, it's really pretty as well.
I don't know a whole lot about music, so I don't feel competent to really make up my own instruments at the moment. I am only just learning how to play the violin. Basically, I have instruments that I call lutes, harps, trumpets, and horns, etc. They may not be exactly like the ones in our world, but they are similar enough to warrant the names, and it helps people to picture the instrument without having to describe them.
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ August 18th, 2011, 1:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Me and my ten year old brother have made up some instruments, both involving balloons.

I cut a hole in the bottom of a plastic bottle, connected the hole with a balloon, and filled the balloon with water. Then I would blow across the top, squeezing water into the bottle, and letting it drain back out, to change the pitch.

Nathaniel (my brother) put a balloon on the end of a PVC pipe, blew up the balloon, and pulled it down so that part of the balloon was stretched over the mouth of the pipe so the air would stay in the balloon. Then he would let some of the air out and the balloon would make horn like noises.

He also taped a pen cap to the end of a narrow tube, and by blowing harder or softer in the other end, you could make different pitched, quiet, whistling sounds.


Does anyone know why two black keys are missing from every octave of piano keys? I am not very good at music either.
Author:  kingjon [ August 18th, 2011, 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Tsahraf wrote:
Does anyone know why two black keys are missing from every octave of piano keys?

Because (in the human, Western rationalization of music) there aren't any notes between B and C and between E and F; the distance from E to F is the same as the distance from F to F#, not F to G.
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ August 19th, 2011, 4:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Thank you! That makes more sense, but do you also know what the difference between the black and white keys is? Why are they separated? Is it just so there is a pattern so that people can distinguish different keys?

Also, a related question, are there any other kinds of key boards that use different patterns of keys?

And who chose and named the different notes? Are there fractional notes, such as C 1/2 or C 1/3?
Author:  kingjon [ August 19th, 2011, 10:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Tsahraf wrote:
Thank you! That makes more sense, but do you also know what the difference between the black and white keys is? Why are they separated? Is it just so there is a pattern so that people can distinguish different keys?

In the key of C major, the white keys are the notes that are in the scale, and the black keys are the notes (that the Western, human, system can account for) between the notes that are in the scale. A major scale consists of the tonic note (in C, that's C) and the notes a major second (D), a major third (E), a perfect fourth (F), a perfect fifth (G), a major sixth (A), and a major seventh (B) above it. There are notes not in the scale in between C and D, D and E, F and G, G and A, and A and B, but not between E and F and B and C. All this goes back to the Ancient Greeks ... but I don't know the story of that beyond a few fragmentary half-recollected ideas.

Having a repeating pattern so you always know what a note is based on its surroundings in the pattern is a definite side benefit, though.

Tsahraf wrote:
Also, a related question, are there any other kinds of key boards that use different patterns of keys?

I don't think so---but there are other related instruments that do things differently. For example, my dad plays the hammered dulcimer, which has a "stacked diatonic" arrangement, with (on the main bridge) the notes arranged something like this:
Code:
C |  F
B  | E
A  | D
G  | C
F# | B
E  | A
D  | G
C# | F#
B  | E
A  | D


Tsahraf wrote:
And who chose and named the different notes?

That, I don't know; it goes back to medieval plain-chants at least, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes back to the ancient Greeks (where it would be "alpha", "beta", and so on instead). After all, in the West using something other than letters to represent numbers is a comparatively recent development.

Tsahraf wrote:
Are there fractional notes, such as C 1/2 or C 1/3?

"C 1/2" would be the same thing as C# ("C sharp"), which is approximately the same thing as Db ("D flat"). Something like "C 1/3" isn't possible in Western music (except as a C or C# that's out of tune), but some non-Western music contains notes that are impossible in Western music.

(I really didn't pay enough attention in my music theory class in college, and it's been far too long ...)
Author:  Roundelais [ August 21st, 2011, 11:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
I half-remembered something, and instead of reinventing the wheel I found an article:

http://www.standingstones.com/modeharm.html

The part I found most pertinent was this:

Quote:
Another very ancient feature of the scales used in some Irish music is the inclusion of 'half-sharp' notes—quarter tones mid-way between natural and sharp.


So yes, there are traditions that make use of tonal variations smaller than half-steps.

My sister, the music teacher, could explain things better than I do.
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 21st, 2011, 7:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
I have an instrument (it's not very creative, but it works - I have one :dieshappy:) which the Wood People (name STILL :roll: unofficial) use. It's a hollow tube that they whistle over, that makes their whistling sound strange - almost like some sort of Celtic instrument or something. :) I call it the Tvit'tuait.
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 22nd, 2011, 6:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
That sounds fascinating, Milly :D How do they make different notes? Is it sort of like a recorder or something?

eru
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 22nd, 2011, 4:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
eruheran wrote:
That sounds fascinating, Milly :D How do they make different notes? Is it sort of like a recorder or something?

Sorry, I should have explained better. You whistle over the top of the Tvit'tuait, not put the end of it in your mouth. It's just a simple tube, and you can whistle any tune you want (as far as I know ;)) over it. It just changes the sound of your whistling.
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 23rd, 2011, 9:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Awesome. :cool: I love whistling, so this is right up me alley :D

eru
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ August 23rd, 2011, 12:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Is the tube closed at the other end? How wide is it? How long is it? Did you make up the name? I love the name Tvit'tuait. How do you pronounce it?
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 23rd, 2011, 12:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
eruheran wrote:
Awesome. :cool: I love whistling, so this is right up me alley :D

Hehe, I love whistling too. :dieshappy:

Tsahraf wrote:
Is the tube closed at the other end? How wide is it? How long is it? Did you make up the name? I love the name Tvit'tuait. How do you pronounce it?

No, the tube is open at both ends. :) It's actually not a round tube, it's flattened. The narrow sides are about 1/4" wide, and the wider sides are about 3/4" wide. It's 7 3/4" long. I pronounce it TVIT-too-ate. :)
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 23rd, 2011, 1:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
That name is more epic now that I know how to pronounce it *mumbles tvit'tuait to self repeatedly* :D

eru
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 23rd, 2011, 2:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
eruheran wrote:
That name is more epic now that I know how to pronounce it *mumbles tvit'tuait to self repeatedly* :D

*Sniggers* I didn't know people would take to the name so quickly. :dieshappy:
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 23rd, 2011, 3:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
And you were going to change it :evil: ;)

eru
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 23rd, 2011, 3:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
eruheran wrote:
And you were going to change it :evil: ;)

Huh? Who, me? *Innocent halo* :dieshappy:
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 23rd, 2011, 3:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
*hands Milly a Philly-cupcake* Good, good. :D

eru
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 23rd, 2011, 4:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
eruheran wrote:
*hands Milly a Philly-cupcake* Good, good. :D

:dieshappy: Ooh, cupcake!

So ya'll know, I'll be recording different styles of Eshtekan music eventually, and one of the featured instruments will be the tvit-tuait! :dieshappy: So nobody forget to visit my subforum soon!
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 24th, 2011, 9:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Ooh! Will do so :D

eru
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 27th, 2011, 11:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
eruheran wrote:
Ooh! Will do so :D

eru

...Which means I really ought to start recording... :roll:
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 31st, 2011, 6:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
I'll hold you to that :D

eru
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ August 31st, 2011, 11:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
eruheran wrote:
I'll hold you to that :D

eru

Haha, uh, yeah. It could be a bit before I collect enough information to make one of my megaposts...
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ August 31st, 2011, 11:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
*waits for megapost *

eru
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ September 2nd, 2011, 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Okay, Eru! :dieshappy: It's not a megapost, but it has music here! :dieshappy:
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ September 3rd, 2011, 7:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Awesome! :dieshappy: *goes to listen*

eru
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ October 6th, 2011, 9:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Have you ever tried to hum and whistle at the same time?

It can sound like this:
Attachment:
hum whistle.WAV [620.12 KiB]
Downloaded 40 times
Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ October 6th, 2011, 10:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
When I do it, it doesn't sound near as consistent. :D
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ October 13th, 2011, 8:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Otherworld musical instruments
Sometimes my whistle dies when I try to change pitch. It was funny, when I was recording the hum whistle, I had to hold the recorder more than a foot to the left of my head, or the little thing would resonate.

Here are some links that I can not believe I have not posted already:

One of my favorite instruments, the regal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdJBHvweizQ&feature=related

Here is a whole list of instruments to find out about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C6l3YjR6NY&feature=related

Here is the bullroarer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcvpJoNukq8&feature=related

And some variations of the bullroarer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnVUlx_NegY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUO6ulYS-XM&feature=related

Here is the khaen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jpqx4gR6p4&feature=related
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