Re: OT: Chinese zither

> > It's a question of
> > whether they could keep
> > enough donkeys around to form a large enough
> > breeding population for it to work.
>
>Um. It's not like you kill the donkeys to harvest
>the hair!!
No, no!  It's a question of whether they have enough donkeys around to form
a sustainable breeding population.  If a village has only two or three
donkeys, that isn't a large enough genetic pool to produce healthy donkeys,
and they wouldn't be able to sustain them.  You also have to stable them
and feed them in the winter.  Donkeys may turn out to be impractical for them.

> > >, gut, tendons,
> >
> > I thought that these would work.
>
>They sound pleasant, too. Warm and buzzy.
That's good to know.  They'd have a plentiful supply of it, too.

>I think bamboo can grow just about anywhere - but
>it might have to be imported. It is not native to
>Maryland (USA), for example, but it does grow
>wild here now.
I'll have to give some thought to where the bamboo grew originally and if
they might not have brought it with them when they migrated into their
previous homes.

> > butchering should be accomplished before the
> > meal is served, not during the
> > meal, in their opinion.
>
>Sounds reminiscent of many Daine, who prefer to
>cut up meat before cooking it. This is not to say
>they don't enjoy roasted joints, mind!
Oh, Cwendaso would never touch a roasted joint (just one of those little
cultural things) and so they never cook it that way.

>End blown, side blown, with or without a block?
What's a block?  Side blown.

>How many holes, if any? Or do they make
>overblowing flutes?
Overblowing sounds familiar, but I can't recall the meaning of the term.

I don't know how many holes.  I haven't given it a lot of specific thought
till now.

>Bird's wing bones, being hollow, are good
>material. I've got one in the works.
>
>Mm. Any long bone will work (femur, tibia - hence
>the Roman flute and organ stop of the same name).
>Of course, metal flutes from the Southrons. Clay
>and glass (perhaps from the south as well) are
>also used.
Yes, the southerners are also good glassblowers.  (But not good enough to
make any sort of optics.)

> > >  Drums?
> >
> > Wood body, skin head.  They hunt just about
> > anything that moves, so they
> > have no lack of skins.
>
>Turtle shell drums. Drums can also be made of
>skulls.
There's another good idea.

> > (I've actually been
> > wondering what they *do* with
> > all that leather.
>
>Make clothes, drums, fiddles, houses,
Tent's at least, if not houses.

>  travoises,
>books (I know - they probably don't write!),
They don't write yet, but they will.  And it will make the most sense for
them to write on parchment, since they have so much leather available.  The
Trehelish (southerners), on the other hand, don't have such a surplus of
leather, and have learned to make paper.

>Most talking drums are actually fairly narrow,
>because the player supports it in the crook of
>his elbow so he can squeeze on the tuning ropes
>to make it sing different tones. Of couse, your
>people may have opted for the large and
>thunderous strategy!
I'll have to consider which strategy they have opted for.  Right now,
though, I am beginning to become too tired to think.

>And free reed, to round out the basic types -
>single reeds are divided into free and beating:
>the former vibrates freely in a frame; the latter
>slaps up against the frame.
What's an example of a free reed?  A beating reed?

>OK - how about the brass family!? You don't even
>need brass for them. Of course, horns can be made
>from horn or wood; as well as ivory, clay and
>bone.
I would think that they would have something in this category.

> > These people have access to bison and aurochs
> > horns.  What can be done with
> > these musically?
>
>I'm not sure, specifically. If the horns are
>hollow, or can be hollowed, then naturally, they
>can be used individually or connected end to end
>to make cornet-like horns. Also, small bits of
>hollowed out horn can be used as resonators and
>endcaps - check out the Welsh pibcorn for an
>example.
I know that the horns either are hollow or can be hollowed.

> > I know that you ought to be
> > able to turn them into war
> > horns (as well as drinking vessels), but how
> > musical can you get with
> > something like this.
>
>Making it longer will increase the available
>tones. They can also be made into digeridus, and
>thus a more magical instrument. Certainly horns
>can be made into gemshorns as I mentioned
>earlier.
Bison horns are fairly short, I think, but I have read of aurochs horns
being up to 6 feet in length.  (It's not actually an animal that you want
to mess with.)

>But of course! The Daine naturally consider
>themselves far more cultured than their Mannish
>neighbours. And in many respects, they are
>correct.
Are the Daine not human then?  I would have to say that my Cwendaso are
fairly correct in their opinion of themselves as being more civilized than
the Trehelish.

>Yep. A small section of thin walled brass pipe
>glued to one piece of pvc could be used as a
>tuning section.
I hadn't thought of that.  I was thiking more of getting the holes drilled
in the right places so that you get a scale when you play it.

>You could also do it the old fashioned way and
>create a unique "matched set" of such flutes. All
>would play in tune with each other, because they
>were made by the same craftsman to the same specs
>- but may or may not play in tune with anyone
>else's instruments.
That's exactly the idea behind Cwendaso making flutes in pairs and
trios.  They are tuned to each other, but not necessarily to anything else.

>Any ideas on what arrangement of holes they use?
>Scales, tunings? Standard pitch? Has it varied
>over time?
No ideas.  I don't have a good idea of what their music sounds like.  I
expect that the tunings have changed over time, since they have a 1500-3000
year history.

Isidora

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