Re: question on bowing

[lance glover <baumhaus@earthlink.net>]

Paul Reisler wrote:

> ...Something very satisfying about getting new sounds from acoustic 
>sources.

i agree. over at the chain-tape collective, we just finished a compilation 
of
all acoustically-sourced material. this was a very refreshing change from 
the
more typical *throw-every-piece-of-electronics-into-the-signal-path* 
approach,
and i think a few new sounds were created in the process...

> One of my neighbors is the new conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
> another neighbor who is also a composer was going on and on to Maazel 
>about
> how he could make all these sounds on his computer  indicating he could
> make sounds the orchestra  couldn't. Maazel looked right at the guy and
> said "Give me a great orchestra and I can make any sound. period.  That
> stuck with me.
>
> I have also fooled with the bowed psaltery that Rick mentioned.  I made
> some of them in the early 80's for a woman in my band, trapezoid, who
> played it.  it's on a number of our albums from the 80's.  very haunting
> and somewhat irritating.  used to call it the "bowed assaultry."
>
> all of these sounds are great with looping, creating interesting textures
> without having to resort to the easy way--the dreaded synth.
>

very cool thread. i'll have to try this on the zither i've got sitting at
home...final thought: every *instrument* has latent creative potential 
(even
synthesizers:-); it's up to the musician to realize them, imo.

lance g.