Figure 10 Here is another image of this problem (Figure 10):
Related Figures (51)
Figure 1: Various Shapes of the Trombita Here is an example of a few shepherds’ trumpets (below). These trumpets are all shaped from tree branches or the trunks of saplings (often resulting in a shape similar to the large Swiss alphorn with a thick, upturned “bell”; this large, curved bell often results from a branch or trunk curving up sharply from the bank of a steep hill). I have found that trunks of trees do not produce a marked flare near the bell area, while branches do. This strongly influences the volume and intonation of the resulting pitches. Here is an example of four trombitas, Figure 1, below: The internet has many deleterious characteristics, but one positive one is that it has the ability to link formerly separated communities through the display of visual and audio examples of remote and marginalized societies. The necessity of shepherds to play wooden trumpets to collect their flocks, send an alarm, and to communicate to other communities that are geographically separated still exists in many Eastern European communities. Photographs similar to the one displayed above in Figure 2 are everywhere. Y ou just have to look for them. For example, a recent interview of a trombita maker and player (the episode “Predchodcovia telefonov? Trombity”: http://tv.sme.sk/v/23365/predchodcovia- telefonov-trombity.html, on the show “Nehafite ’ud m6j”). Here is an example of a photograph from that interview (Figure 3): Figure 3: Trombita Players. Photograph: Martin Kleibl Figure 4: Author Debarking a Tree with a Drawknife The tree chosen was cut into two lengths. The upper half will be made into the 7’ trumpet, the lower half into the 8’ trumpet. Here is an image of the two sections with the bark removed by a drawknife (): Here is an image of the instruments prior to splitting (Figure 6): large knife and/or an axe). I then sanded the outside and applied a few coats of tung oil to protect the wood before splitting it. I may rip-saw the instruments, but have not decided whether to follow traditional techniques here or not. The wood did not dry as slowly and for as long a period as it should have; therefore, it has begun to check (another reason for the tung oil). This is a serious problem since the sympathetic harmonic motion of the wood around the split will create noise (the split wood will buzz). As this is just a trial, experimental run, I will simply fill any checking with wood glue or wood filler. They were ripped (lengthwise cutting) instead of split since a router will be used to remove material along the length of the instruments. This is not a traditional method. I simply do not have the time at present to experiment by gouging out the inside by hand (using hand gouges). I will do this in the future and note the change in the intonation of the harmonic series. I also noticed a problem with checking. The wood was not seasoned for a long time, and the wood checked (see Figure 8, below): Figure 9: Twisted Wood After Being Ripped After the wood was ripped using a bandsaw (to minimize the kerf), the internal tensions of the wood caused the wood to twist/warp. This can be seen in the figure below (Figure 9). The wood is actually touching and is quite tightly pressed together. The space was caused by the twisting of the wood after it was ripped. Figure 11: Digitally Re-Touched Image of the Billingsgate Trumpet; 14 Century. British Museum, London There is a strong connection between wooden shepherds’ trumpets and metal natural trumpets of the 14- 18" centuries. This has not been explored in musical research to my knowledge, but the connections are rather clear. The osier rings shown in the above figures of wooden shepherds’ trumpets seem to match not only thousands of images in iconography from the Middle Ages, but also of extant instruments. Fo1 example, consider components shown on a 5’ (1.61 m.) 14" century metal trumpet found at Billingsgate, London during an excavation in 1984. The Billingsgate trumpet is shown below in Figure 11: Figure 13: Natural Scale: Notes Available vs. Frequency (Cycles per Second) So, if available notes are plotted against those notes’ frequencies, the following results (see Figure 13. below): Figure 14: The Natural Scale as it is Often Presented Here is the natural scale written in diatonic music notation for a natural instrument approximately 8’ (2.4 m.) long. This is familiar to diatonically-trained musicians as a D natural trumpet as used by Bach, Telleman, Torelli, Fasch, Zelenka, etc. in the “Choral Key” but with a C crook added.” See Figure 14, below: I believe that this confusion occurred because of the rise of cities/civilization and the diminution of pastoral society. If you were to imagine a pictogram of the presence of the two scales and theit importance over the centuries, you might see something as displayed in Figure 16, below: Most folk music research has been done to the far right of the time-line displayed above, when the natural scale was scarce and of little concern to trained art musicians. In large cities, natural trumpets began to be superseded by slide, keyed, and valved trumpets by the late 18” century. This was hastened by the decline of the courts and the subsequent dearth of paid positions for natural trumpet players and Because of the way it is presented, it looks as though the transcriber placed the notes on the staff as i sounded on a piano with A,=440 Hz. The B4; with the preceding hash mark would tend to suggest tha that pitch is the 11” partial. So the first step is to try to transpose the music down as low as possible whil keeping the notes within those delineated in Figure 15. Since the lower end of the Natural Sale become increasingly gapped compared to the diatonic scale, it becomes more difficult to fit the natural scale o: the musical staff at lower pitches. Therefore, since lower pitches are easier to play, the basic procedure i to lower the melody until just before the trumpeter cannot play the notes. In the case with the abov figure, that transposition is down a perfect fourth. Because of the way it is presented, it looks as though the transcriber placed the notes on the staff as if mark before the B4;, indicates that the sounded pitch is approximately a % tone below the annotated note. Figure 20: “Det gjallar og det laet“ Transposed to See the Natural Scale Figure 21: “Det gjallar og det laet“ 11" Partial Adjustment Figure 22: “Det gjallar og det laet* 7" and 11" Partial Adjustment A trained musician would also declare that the above tune is hexatonic since it lacks B4,. Since there is no doubt that the instrument that played this tune was a natural instrument and natural instruments do not possess octave-equivalency and cannot play the diatonic scale, labelling this tune as hexatonic would be an error. A trained musician would also declare that the above tune is hexatonic since it lacks B44. Since there is nc Therefore, one can expect the overwhelming majority of trained musicians to transcribe Figure 21 when write an Fos, Figure 23: “Mo nighean donn bhdidheach” from The Celtic Lyre c. 1885 The next step is to remove the accidentals by transposing the key into C major (actually, the key is no important; you just have to remove the accidentals while keeping the tune’s melody unchanged-this i: important if the tune is displayed as heptatonic mixolydian, dorian, phrygian, lydian, etc.-the ending pitcl might be G, D, etc. with no accidentals; this is fine). Changing the key to C major takes approximately 3( seconds and is the fastest way of removing the accidentals from the key signature. This step is importan because it removes a great deal of initial confusion. Figure 15 displays a certain series of notes. If you cannot place the tune into a form that matches Figure 15, it will be difficult to see the natural scale, if i exists. It is also important to move accidentals in the corpus of the tune to the key signature befor transposing. Often transcribers will leave accidentals on the staff so that the tune will have a final note which is in synchronous with the key signature. Transcribers will also add accidentals to the key signature even though those notes do not appear in the tune; for example, transcribers may add F¢# to the key signature although F# does not appear in the tune. They do this often when the tune ends on G; this force: the tune to appear to be ionian/major instead of mixolydian. This was a common practice. in the example before us, once the tune is transposed to C major, the following results (Figure 25): Voila. There is the natural scale. The third note, circled in blue, is not in the natural scale, but is a passing note; it is the only note in the entire tune that is not in the harmonic series. Transcribers often write a note in between two stressed notes that is in the diatonic scale, but not in the natural scale when transcribing tunes. They subconsciously hear it, yet the performers never knew that such a note was in existence. The singers were merely sliding a bit to the next pitch and did not realize that a listener possessed knowledge of another note in between the two stressed pitches. The onus is on the transcriber to understand how the The tune sits slightly high in the natural scale (it possibly originated an octave lower: the G3- Cy, interval is very distinctive of natural instruments), so the F;/F# (you can use the half-sharp symbol F#; here if you wish) 11" partial sounds very odd when heard. Transcribers, when hearing this pitch, heard the odd nature of it (with respect to the diatonic tuning system and made notes conceming this’). If the tune ended on Cy or Cs, then transcribers annotated the 11" partial as F4; since F# was not in the key of C major. Occasionally, they annotated it as F# if it ended in Cs, and then stated that the tune was mixolydian. Significantly, transcribers annotated it as F# if the final pitch was G, or Gs. In such a case, it would be very flat compared to equal temperament’s F#s or certainly Pythagorean tuning’s F#s. Figure 26: “Mo nighean donn bhdidheach” Notation for a Natural Instrument Figure 29: “Fear a’ bhata” from The Celtic Lyre c. 1885 Notice the range of the tune is very similar to “Mo nighean donn bhoidheach,” ranging from G, to Gs. Placing this in A Minor (again, the keys/modes are not important, only modulating the tune so that the accidentals disappear while keeping the melody intact) results in the following (see Figure 31, below): Figure 31: “Fear a’ bhata” in A Minor (No Sharps or Flats in the Tune or the Key Signature) If the two stressed notes and two passing notes that fall outside the natural scale are adjusted to fall within the scale, the following results (Figure 33): For those accustomed to the equally tempered diatonic scale, this tune is somewhat difficult to listen to as the root/final of the song is on the very pitch which is so much out-of-tune with respect to the diatonic scale. If played on a piano, it would be immediately recognised. Figure 35: “Eilean an Fhraoich” from The Celtic Lyre c. 1885 in Sibelius® Information of this tune and copious quantities of material can now be found at a site called “Hirtenmusik Notice that the pitches are not at deviance with the natural scale. However, German transcribers oftet Figure 37: Original “Am fleasgach donn” I should note that I changed the rhythm. This has no bearing on this exercise; it simply did not fit the stresses as it is normally sung. The tune above is in F major. I transposed it up to C major with the following result (Figure 39): As before, the first step is to place the tune into a computer application program (see Figure 38, below): Figure 39: “Am fleasgach donn” Adjusted to C Major There is the natural scale again. It does not quite look like it, but it’s present. This is difficult to see because, firstly, transcribers often become confused when they hear pitches on unstressed beats (sung on unstressed syllables) and don’t know exactly where to place them. So the transcriber will put most of the So I then transposed the music down by an octave and see if the natural scale fits. This has been done in Figure 41, below: Figure 42: “Am fleasgach donn” Natural Scale stressed Beats Highlighted Figure 43: “Am fleasgach donn” Natural Stressed Notes in Red, Diatonic in Blue Secondly, I had the benefit of hearing this song sung in the Gaelic community. I knew that the note of the 12" measure was incorrect (F,). Additionally, the F, pitches beginning measures 19 and 21 are normally sung as E, and Gy, respectively. One might speculate that the original musical editor was deliberately trying to give the song a bit more diatonic complexity, but that cannot be proven. However, the pitches are clearly wrong in the original version of The Celtic Lyre. If I write the song as it is normally sung, and highlight the stressed beats that include the natural scale (stressed natural scale in red, stressed diatonic scale in blue), the following results (Figure 43, below): Figure 44: “Am fleasgach donn” Corrected to the Natural Scale If I adjust the pitches of the unstressed beats and the last two phrasal endings, the following results (Figure 44): It may appear that I radically changed the music to force it to match the natural scale. This is not true at all. Only two stressed notes were changed. Those two notes fit a pattern of falling to the tonic that the original musical editor followed with several sequential tunes in the original publication. The unstressed notes that were not in the natural scale in Figure 43 all fell between two stressed notes of the natural scale; for example, the first three notes’ original pitches are Ey, F,, and G4 with E, and Gy, being the pitches on stressed beats. It is quite common for a diatonically-trained musician to transcribe an unstressed note with a pitch between the two stressed pitches; this occurs even though the performer did not perform it that way.” In essence, since diatonically-trained musicians are accustomed to seven notes per octave, they use those notes even if the music that they hear does not have them. This is particularly true with pitches that fall on unstressed beats (or unstressed syllables). As above in “Am fleasgach donn,” the low G and preceding/following C is indicative of the natural scale with a trumpet’s G3 to Cy. To see this, here is the above example transposed down an octave with unstressed notes adjusted to match the natural scale (see Figure 47, below): Figure 47: "Frere Jacques" Transposed Down an Octave for Shepherds’ Trumpet °3 Capelle, Pierre Adolphe 1811 La Clé Du Caveau, A L'usage De Tous Les Chansonniers Francais, Des Amateurs, Auteurs, Acteurs Du Vaudeville & De Tous Les Amis De La Chanson, Paris: Capelle et Renard, de l'Impr. de Richomme , 309. If the pitches of notes that fall on unstressed pitches are adjusted as was done above, the following results (Figure 50): Transcribers often adjusted the key signatures to apparently confuse the reader (adding accidentals to the music but keeping the key signature “correct”) by making the music appear to be more complex than it was. For example: The Bird Song B” (Figure 51, below): Figure 48: "Had Mea Cat" Transcribed by Cecil Sharp This process can be applied to folk song that was transported from Europe to the Appalachians. Although many of the tunes as captured by Campbell and Sharp a hundred years ago which had many variations (“Barbara Allen’: "O Teannaibh dluth is togaibh fonn”), many, such as songs describing animals (such as “The Old Grey Mare” and “The Bird Song, A”), had not. Here is an example from Campbell and Sharp’s English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians™ (below, Figure 48): If this is transposed into C major, the following results (Figure 49): Figure 51: "The Bird Song B" As Transcribed by Cecil Sharp Notice that the E natural is in the music, but the key is deliberately not reflective of it. This makes the music appear (as it is placed on the staff) to be in the locrian mode. Here is the same music with the superfluous note removed from the key signature (Figure 52): In this configuration, it appears to be simply aeolian. Why Sharp wished to manoeuvre this is an anathema. Since it is hexatonic, there is only one half step (pentatonic tunes with no half step intervals) make it very easy to manoeuvre on the notational staff. Notice that E (only one instance) and A are both missing? So the first step is to try to move the “missing” note(s) to either F or B. Transposing down a minor 3” results in a tune ending on B natural with one C# It does not particularly reveal anything. However, if the tune is transposed so that the missing A is in the missing B position (up a major second), the natural scale is revealed (Figure 53): Figure 53: "The Bird Song B" Transposed to C Major Figure 54: The Natural Key Tuning for Harp This results in the creation of the following diatonic scale on a harp of thirty strings (Figure 55): This results in the following scale (Figure 57, below), which appears to be C major, but is actually G- mixolydian: lighland Bagpipe chanters (the part of the instrument that creates the melody) are tuned to the drones. here are two drones that are an octave lower than the low A on the chanter. Another drone is set at an ctave lower than that. The pitch of each individual pitch that the chanter produces is altered by carving ut the drilled hole of the chanter if it needs to be altered. In the past, sap or pitch was added to the top or ottom of the hole oppose to the carving. Today, often a piece of strong tape is used. The determination of xactly where each hole should be placed on the chanter is made according to its relationship to the rones. The pitch is adjusted up or down until the chanter’s pitch “locks in” to the pitches of the drones. n essence, the wavelength of each pitch of the chanter is lengthened or shortened to match the nodal oints of the overtones of one of the two drones (A or A;).” A nodal point is the starting point and the nding point of each wave. A pictograph might be useful here (Figure 58, below): ° When tuning to fifths or fourths (say, on a violin or guitar), the tension of one string is increased or decreased so that beating stops. It is not widely known that the beating is not caused by the interference between the principal frequency of one wave to the other; beating is caused by the interference between an overtone of the lower pitch with the second string. Figure 71: Bagpipe Reeds for “Concert A” Bagpipe (A=440 Hz.)
