billkilpatrick - 1-29-2007 at 11:01 AM
found the following on this wonderful site:
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Main_Page
"...Of course we do not mean that it has all the intervals necessary to form scales in all those keys, but that we find it playing tunes that are in
one or other of them." 4 Mr Ellis considers that the natural scale of the chaunter of the bag-pipe corresponds most nearly with the Arab scale of
Zalzal, a celebrated lutist who died C. A.D. Boo."
would just love to know what calendar corresponds to "C. A.D. Boo" - maybe time will tell.
here's what they had on musical instruments in 1911:
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Category:Musical_instruments
David Parfitt - 1-29-2007 at 12:45 PM
Bill,
Perhaps they used some OCR software to scan the print version of the encylopaedia and it misread "C. A.D. 800" as "C. A.D. Boo"? Or perhaps his death
came as something of a surprise? 
David
billkilpatrick - 1-29-2007 at 02:18 PM
... "boo" as in "hoo-hoo."
i found this under "lute" in the category of musical instruments:
"...The modern Egyptian 'ad is the direct descendant of the Arabic lute, and, according to Lane, is strung with seven pairs of catgut strings played
by a plectrum. A specimen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, given by the khedive, has four pairs only, which appears to have been the old stringing
of the instrument. When frets (crosslines dividing the neck or finger-board to show the fingering) are employed they are of catgut disposed according
to the Arabic scale of seventeen intervals in the octave, consisting of twelve limmas, an interval rather less than our equal semitone, and five
commas, which are very small but quite recognizable differences of pitch."
... 'ad? were the edwardians engaging in "vowelism? ... you honky, edwardian vowelist?
the lute article also mentions gourd as being the original bowl shaped body, strung with silk strings.
the pipe article is a treasure as well.
David Parfitt - 1-29-2007 at 03:01 PM
Perhaps an 'ad is an 'ud that you no longer own?
I'm a bit suspicious of these changing vowels. What next - bogpipes? Might be a bit reluctant to put a set of those to my lips.
David