The Alan Sondheim Mail Archive

OldNew Hegelung

Finally have the hegelung down right, I think, although there are only
seven frets (1st for nut, then six above in a pentatonic scale). The two
strings are in unison; one is played against a drone (although I fret the
drone on a couple of occasions). Everything depends on ornament, hammering
on / pulling off / bending the string / harmonics. I'm still amazed at the
resonance of the hegelung. (The hegelung normally has nine frets, but two
would cover and ruin the glass-bead ornament; from what I can gather, this
one has always had only seven, although Hans Brandeis feels differently.)
There are a few videos of traditional hegelung playing online, which were
helpful; my own playing however is improvisatory.

http://www.alansondheim.org/hegelungoldnew.mp3

Joke.

With new glasses I know that the world is full of sharp edges. I am think,
what are sharp edges but everything in the world that fog is enemy of. I
fight fog with sharp edges. I use knife and it cuts fog through easy too.
But never enough is knife. Fog love knife I think. I can cut many fog with
knife and blade happy and never "dull" moment of blade. See I make fog
blade joke.