Message-ID: <alpine.NEB.2.21.1804222027570.14832@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.wvu.edu>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: two strings three instruments one recording
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2018 20:29:17 -0400 (EDT)
two strings three instruments one recording http://www.alansondheim.org/songsparrow.jpg http://www.alansondheim.org/236.mp3 dutar (tuned in unison), qifteli (octave), small dutar (unison) on these instruments, the strings are widely separated; the dutar has silk strings, qifteli metal, small dutar, nylon. the fretting on the dutars is similar, the qifteli is unique. the right-hand articulation and rhythm is similar on all three; the left-hand is very different. the small dutar allows for moving fourths and even fifths for example; the larger dutar has more sustain and allows for moving thirds. the qifteli with its octave strings allows for dual lines. on the dutars are strings are fairly loose and on the qifteli, the lower octave, a saz string, is very loose. the music is a problem: how to create solo improvisations that break rhythms and avoid dulcimer style. i'm fascinated when the instruments themselves seem to take over and my fingering has to follow suit, as if my hands had a life of their own. oddly, this is physically exhausting and my fingers have some pain after play. the recording was created, one instrument after another, with perhaps four or five seconds between them; i edited the intervals down to one or two seconds to preserve a sense of continuity.