Re: communication via drums, gongs, bells (was Re: FYI re: Greenberg's Universals

On Sat, 7 Oct 2000, Jonathan Chang wrote:

> In a message dated 2000:10:07 2:30:35 PM, yl112@CORNELL.EDU writes:
>
> >Hmm.  Would drums be used for communications rather than bells because
> >drums are (more) portable?  <pondering>  How portable are gongs?  And
> >would it matter for a fixed drum/gong/bell-outpost?
>
>     Well, from Chinese history... bells were not terribly portable and some
> very huge drums were used as military "issue". The big war drums were used to
> rally the troops and intimidate the enemy and were drawn on huge horse-drawn
> carts (practically juggernauts - especially on inclines, hehe).
!

And Ziszka's troops thought their war-wagons were clumsy.  <G>  (Well,
relative to other artillery on the field they weren't, but....)

>     Bells and gongs tend to have a long decay time compared to drums. Bells
> tend to have sounds that _CAN_ travel miles (there is/was one bell in China
> that supposedly could be heard 3-5 miles away - depending on the weather
> conditions!). Depending on gong-type and size, sound can travel a decent
> distance but not to the extent of bells (i.e. large knobbed gongs - like
> those seen and heard in SouthEast Asia - are quite LOUD... afterall they are
> almost the perfect loudspeaker/amplifier cone shape).
<wincing in memory>  Yup, I've heard gongs fairly close-up and it
*hurts.*  (I'm cursed with somewhat sensitive hearing.  I console myself
by thinking of how people I know will be deaf 20 years from now and I
won't, but it's not much of a consolation.)  I might keep gongs around
for local alarms, then--when you *don't* want to alert everyone within a
5-mile radius.  <G>

>     IMHO drums are more suitable for actual communications as opposed to
> simply signals. (IIRC communication drums were used along the Great Wall
> besides fire signals).
Thanks for the info!
Since Chevraqis is pitch-accented I might have them using rhythmic codes
with a high and low pitch for a little more variety; I think it's an idea
that would occur fairly naturally to them.

YHL