By What is a monochord used for?
The monochord is an ancient scientific and musical instrument, invented in Greece in c. 500 BC, used for the investigation and demonstration of musical phenomena.
What is a Pythagorean monochord?
Pythagorean monochord is basically just a stretched string, often used to demonstrate stand- ing-wave phenomena such as nodes and the overtone series. Old barbell weights supple- mented by smaller laboratory masses are fine, and several monochords can share the same set of weights.
How many fixed bridges did a monochord have?
An ancient instrument used for performing and teaching as well as tuning and experimentation. The monochord is said to have been invented by Pythagoras. It consists of a single string stretched between two fixed bridges.
How do you play a monochord?
There are a variety of ways that you can play the monochord. The simplest thing to do is simply pull your pointer finger toward you across the strings. Do this with the pointer fingers on both hands and alternate hands. With practice you can be quite smooth and create a sound that seems to have no beginning or end.
How does an Omnichord work?
The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. The most basic method of playing the instrument is to press the chord buttons and swipe the SonicStrings with a finger in imitation of strumming a stringed instrument.
How does a fortepiano work?
The fortepiano mechanism hits the string(s) with a leather-covered hammer, which produces a louder or softer sound depending on the force with which the player depresses the key. This was a distinct advantage for more expressive playing than is possible on the harpsichord.
Is Omnichord easy?
OMNICHORD is completely portable and has a simple, straightforward design so that even young children can easily play it the very first time. With a minimum of care, OMNICHORD will perform flawlessly to give you years of musical instrument enjoyment.
Is there a modern Omnichord?
Favored for its “8-bit” sound and intuitive design, the Omnichord is all over the modern landscape. A quick search for “Omnichord” on YouTube reveals the instrument’s popularity amongst bedroom singer-songwriters and producers.
Why is it called a fortepiano?
The name fortepiano derives from the Italian words forte (strong or loud) and piano (soft or level), an indication of the range of sound that could be provided. The terms fortepiano and pianoforte were used interchangeably in the 18th century, although in time the shortened name piano became common.
Did Beethoven play harpsichord?
Beethoven’s early life was one of significant change in the technology of keyboard instruments: namely the gradual transition from the use of the harpsichord to the piano (significantly, his earliest keyboard works were composed to be played on either instrument).
Who was Robert Fludd and what did he do?
Robert Fludd was a respected English physician (of Welsh origins) employed at the court of King James I of England.
What kind of cosmology did Robert Fludd write?
Historia, concerning the Macrocosm (1617), during his undergraduate days at Oxford. In this work Fludd devised a lavishly illustrated cosmology, based on the chemical theory of Paracelsus, in which the materials of the universe were separated out of chaos by God who acted in the manner of a laboratory alchemist.
How is the monochord related to sacred music?
Monochords are related to other in- struments such as the Japanese koto, the hurdy-gurdy, and the Scandinavian psalmodikon this last used as an accompaniment to voice in sacred music. In medicine the sonometer, a variation of the monochord, continues to be used to diagnose hearing loss and bone density for those who may be at risk for osteoporosis.
Who was the first person to use the monochord?
Though it was first mentioned in Sumerian clay tablets, many attribute it’s invention to Pythagoras around 6 BCE. These ancients saw within the monochord a mystic holism in which notes, numbers, ratios and intervals combined with the sense of hearing and mathematical reason.