Edit: This got put on a new page, so make sure you read sasasha's post on the bottom of page 2.
Awesome stuff. I like the way you tease out details from the scant linguistic evidence. I actually do that sort of thing a lot in creating cultures/languages: find some pattern that may have been accidental, but can be turned into something interesting.
I would love to see a video demonstrating some of these sounds. I'm not very good at imagining the differences in technique. (What does transverse mean here?)
Some linguistic corrections. The Cuezi term is vionnas, not viannas.
The normal word for "beating" is baďi. However, I don't object to baďul 'beaten' as a name for a technique.
For "beating with the tip" I'd suggest baďi ab fintan or baďul ab fintan This could be abbreviated ab fintan.
Music of Verduria
Re: Music of Verduria
As usual, I have some comments:
This sounds somewhat unlikely to me… even aeolian harps are pretty quiet, and those have the full force of the wind exciting them!
Another alternative: it’s possible to make a bow out of a single rosined stick of wood, without any hair (attested with the yazheng and ajaeng). The hurdy-gurdy uses a similar technique. So the hair may not be needed at all: you might be able to get away with bowing with just a stick.As to how hair came to be added... Possibly there was already a tradition of transverse, haired lyre-bowing in Ereláe, but also a tradition (perhaps more widespread, given how easy a stick is to come across or make compared to a haired bow) of using beaters. Practically, the transverse haired technique became standard by (maybe) renaissance times due to its much greater capacity for resonance in melodic playing, but linguistically the beaten technique won out as a way to describe both, probably because it was more deeply embedded in folk tradition.
Indeed what developed into the modern endi bow may have been seen as a way to achieve both techniques, given that the reverse and tip of a haired bow need be no different from parts of a stick. Beaten (baďul ?) playing may still form a key part of endivyón playing, particularly in folk contexts; bowing with the hair might be referred to as something to do with nüle… (‘curl, lock of hair’), or lir referring to its more melodic character — lirtene? Baďul playing may also be particularly associated with accompanying the voice.
Unless I’m missing something, this sounds pretty much exactly like a hammered dulcimer (complete with bulbous ending). As it happens, this is also the same technique used by pianos, so if you add a sufficiently good soundbox to the instrument it could carry very well indeed!This would have ramifications for the design of the modern endi bow, given its more central dual purpose. Its tip might have a slightly bulbous ending for baďul finta (?) ’tip-beating’ … a technique without European equivalent that I can find — would potentially carry quite well, if my experiments are anything to go by
One clarification: what’s an ‘n-frame’?[The vyon] was originally an n-frame instrument with no fingerboard.
Hmm, so like an autoharp? You might consider making two descendants of this: the violin-like vyon, and a more autoharp-like one for harmonic accompaniment.The strings were plucked with the fingers of the right hand or possibly a plectrum. The fingers of the left hand were used to mute certain strings to produce chords and harmonics; multiple tunings existed, though commonly strings were tuned to the tonic, supertonic and dominant to allow easy production of chords I and V. Pressure could be applied with the flat of the left thumbnail to the side of the outer string, or less effectively the undersides of the others, to allow a skilled player to produce a melody on a single string with a chordal accompaniment.
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Software: See http://bradrn.com/projects.html
Other: Ergativity for Novices
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Re: Music of Verduria
Thanks. I think this process is somehow fundamental to conworlding (in fact, maybe to all art...). Jennifer Walshe, who created this alternate history for Irish avant garde music, describes this kind of process as 'growing imaginary plants out of real gaps in concrete'. I really like this. You look at the data and notice that in the gaps between it would fit other data. Then you have both the original data and the carefully shaped new imaginary data, pretend it's all as real as it was to begin with, and repeat. It reminds me of emergence theory, too.
Great idea. I'll have a go, at some point. I used transverse to indicate that the bow is drawn across the string. Doing a bit more research, in terms of terminology it seems best to use the concept of 'friction' to set bowed chordophones apart from the others.I would love to see a video demonstrating some of these sounds. I'm not very good at imagining the differences in technique. (What does transverse mean here?)
Thank you! Very useful (and I will update the post shortly). I used a past participle simply by analogy with European musical terminology (e.g. 'plucked', 'pizzicato') but if you think it's more Verdurian to use baďi rather than baďul, let's go with that!Some linguistic corrections. The Cuezi term is vionnas, not viannas.
The normal word for "beating" is baďi. However, I don't object to baďul 'beaten' as a name for a technique.
For "beating with the tip" I'd suggest baďi ab fintan or baďul ab fintan This could be abbreviated ab fintan.
Last edited by sasasha on Sat Nov 14, 2020 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Music of Verduria
Thanks for all these comments bradrn!
(Others still think that bowing of any sort didn't develop until the 10th century; but I'm a bit suspicious of that.)
Also that the modern endivyón, if it is enough of an analogue of the violin to be translatable as 'violin', doesn't produce notes with a particularly long decay, so being beaten doesn't have the same effect as for a dulcimer. It's not just the soundbox that contributes to this but also the tension and material of the strings, as they are now optimised for the kind of resonance you get from friction from a haired bow, not from beating. Dulcimer strings are played unstopped, too, of course, which means they enjoy their full resonance.
The picture I was trying to paint was basically this: the older vyons generally had longer, less tense, less dense strings, giving them a long decay (though not a great deal of volume); they were thus more suited to being beaten with sticks - and often were, without needing to be called anything other than 'vyon', as this was just one of several ways of playing them. The newer endivyón is still often beaten because that technique (and 'soundworld') is still culturally important, but the modern instrument is less resonant than the older one when so played. This seems a bit paradoxical - the instrument that gets called the 'stick-lyre' is the one that's less resonant when beaten with a stick - until you factor in that during this transition the way the stick was generally being used (and optimised in design) is simultaneously transitioning from beating to bowing. The two parts of the modern endivyón (bow and fiddle) are thus a bit like the rare specialised hummingbird and its rare specialised flower, optimised for each other. I hope this makes a bit more sense.
For the benefit of anyone who doesn't know this already, there's evidence of the ancient Greek lyres and the Welsh crwth being played in a similar way as I described and it was probably a very common way of playing lyres in the ancient world - you just gently touch the strings that you don't want to sound in the chord (being careful not to touch a harmonic node, I suppose, or press too hard) and they are effectively muted. If your instrument is tuned cleverly enough you can get a bunch of useful chords from omitting notes this way.
*There are a few nice details in Almeopedia etc about instrument making, including the entry about Kainan, surcont of Solhai in the 3480s, who tinkers with complex mechanics and makes presumably sophisticated musical instruments chiefly out of wood due to a paucity of metals in Solhai. You bringing up the hurdy-gurdy and the autoharp made me think of this.
I mean the physical body of the flute.bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Nov 14, 2020 7:45 pm As usual, I have some comments:
This sounds somewhat unlikely to me… even aeolian harps are pretty quiet, and those have the full force of the wind exciting them!
Yes. Bowing with a stick was implied (in my head at least) as a transitional step. Whilst there are conflicting theories I've come across some reading tonight that argues that this was in fact the case on Earth anyway. Assyrian illustrations show rods being used with lyres; some think that this was a bowing technique from the off, others that bowing developed from inaccurate beating. When hitting a string with a rod, it will be quickly noticed if it slips at all that friction can produce a sound too.Another alternative: it’s possible to make a bow out of a single rosined stick of wood, without any hair (attested with the yazheng and ajaeng). The hurdy-gurdy uses a similar technique. So the hair may not be needed at all: you might be able to get away with bowing with just a stick.As to how hair came to be added... Possibly there was already a tradition of transverse, haired lyre-bowing in Ereláe, but also a tradition (perhaps more widespread, given how easy a stick is to come across or make compared to a haired bow) of using beaters. Practically, the transverse haired technique became standard by (maybe) renaissance times due to its much greater capacity for resonance in melodic playing, but linguistically the beaten technique won out as a way to describe both, probably because it was more deeply embedded in folk tradition.
Indeed what developed into the modern endi bow may have been seen as a way to achieve both techniques, given that the reverse and tip of a haired bow need be no different from parts of a stick. Beaten (baďul ?) playing may still form a key part of endivyón playing, particularly in folk contexts; bowing with the hair might be referred to as something to do with nüle… (‘curl, lock of hair’), or lir referring to its more melodic character — lirtene? Baďul playing may also be particularly associated with accompanying the voice.
(Others still think that bowing of any sort didn't develop until the 10th century; but I'm a bit suspicious of that.)
I think what you're missing is that the other side of this tool is a haired bow! The endi bow is a composite tool, with three methods of exciting the string built into one. When I say baďul ab fintan is a technique without European equivalent, I mean that within the violin/viol family, or any instrument with a fingerboard, there is no tradition (known to me) of hitting the strings with the end of anything. This actually can produce quite a good sound even in terrestrial instruments that are in no way optimised for it (to experiment I'm using a dried stick I found in the forest, and a 2/4 size battered up old violin that I got for £5 from a charity shop... not instruments created by a master luthier specifically for this purpose!).Unless I’m missing something, this sounds pretty much exactly like a hammered dulcimer (complete with bulbous ending). As it happens, this is also the same technique used by pianos, so if you add a sufficiently good soundbox to the instrument it could carry very well indeed!This would have ramifications for the design of the modern endi bow, given its more central dual purpose. Its tip might have a slightly bulbous ending for baďul finta (?) ’tip-beating’ … a technique without European equivalent that I can find — would potentially carry quite well, if my experiments are anything to go by
Also that the modern endivyón, if it is enough of an analogue of the violin to be translatable as 'violin', doesn't produce notes with a particularly long decay, so being beaten doesn't have the same effect as for a dulcimer. It's not just the soundbox that contributes to this but also the tension and material of the strings, as they are now optimised for the kind of resonance you get from friction from a haired bow, not from beating. Dulcimer strings are played unstopped, too, of course, which means they enjoy their full resonance.
The picture I was trying to paint was basically this: the older vyons generally had longer, less tense, less dense strings, giving them a long decay (though not a great deal of volume); they were thus more suited to being beaten with sticks - and often were, without needing to be called anything other than 'vyon', as this was just one of several ways of playing them. The newer endivyón is still often beaten because that technique (and 'soundworld') is still culturally important, but the modern instrument is less resonant than the older one when so played. This seems a bit paradoxical - the instrument that gets called the 'stick-lyre' is the one that's less resonant when beaten with a stick - until you factor in that during this transition the way the stick was generally being used (and optimised in design) is simultaneously transitioning from beating to bowing. The two parts of the modern endivyón (bow and fiddle) are thus a bit like the rare specialised hummingbird and its rare specialised flower, optimised for each other. I hope this makes a bit more sense.
Just a frame that looks like a letter 'n'! I wanted to say π-frame. I also wanted to say dolmen-frame. And doorframe(-frame...). What is the right way to refer to this shape?? ΠOne clarification: what’s an ‘n-frame’?[The vyon] was originally an n-frame instrument with no fingerboard.
Yes, like that in that you're muting strings to get the chords you want. Not really like that, though, in any other way (i.e. the mechanical aspect or shape or technique or whatever). But of course, something like the autoharp might also have developed.*Hmm, so like an autoharp? You might consider making two descendants of this: the violin-like vyon, and a more autoharp-like one for harmonic accompaniment.The strings were plucked with the fingers of the right hand or possibly a plectrum. The fingers of the left hand were used to mute certain strings to produce chords and harmonics; multiple tunings existed, though commonly strings were tuned to the tonic, supertonic and dominant to allow easy production of chords I and V. Pressure could be applied with the flat of the left thumbnail to the side of the outer string, or less effectively the undersides of the others, to allow a skilled player to produce a melody on a single string with a chordal accompaniment.
For the benefit of anyone who doesn't know this already, there's evidence of the ancient Greek lyres and the Welsh crwth being played in a similar way as I described and it was probably a very common way of playing lyres in the ancient world - you just gently touch the strings that you don't want to sound in the chord (being careful not to touch a harmonic node, I suppose, or press too hard) and they are effectively muted. If your instrument is tuned cleverly enough you can get a bunch of useful chords from omitting notes this way.
*There are a few nice details in Almeopedia etc about instrument making, including the entry about Kainan, surcont of Solhai in the 3480s, who tinkers with complex mechanics and makes presumably sophisticated musical instruments chiefly out of wood due to a paucity of metals in Solhai. You bringing up the hurdy-gurdy and the autoharp made me think of this.
Re: Music of Verduria
Quickish update:
Haired bows have been in use in the steppe for a good while (at least 800 years by the 3480s); they became widespread in Eretald with the Gelyet, though they were associated with other steppe groups, too. Curiyans and the Somoyi-Meťalyi were also particularly associated with them, before the rest of Eretald caught on.
They are made of horse-hair, after all.
In Eretald (and possibly elsewhere) this innovation from the steppe interacted with the preexisting stick beater / bow tradition as detailed in a previous post.
Not only Eretald but also Xengiman was affected, with the modern Xurnese violin (an instrument with a dizzying array of sympathetic strings, redolent of the north Indian sarangi - Xurnese term requested, possibly something borrowed from Gelyet?) taking a crucial part in the musical culture of north Xengiman.
(I'm thinking that Xurnese music is broadly classified into two schools, north and south. The northern school links more strongly to the steppe and Eretald; the southern is essentially more conservative, closer to the ancient Wede:i traditions and has a stronger Skourene influence. The geographic classification is mere nomenclature by the 4th millennium - the two schools are certainly acknowledged by the Salon of Music, but the Salon exists to classify, teach and exhaustively study all music, so it's somewhat academic; in earlier times there was more of a meaningful distinction. The Lenan area has historically acted as a bridge between these three musical cultures, absorbing and transmitting musical ideas and traditions of Northern Xengiman, Southern Xengiman, and the Littoral.)
N.B. This follows one terrestrial theory of the innovation of bowed string instruments in horse-rearing nomads of the Central Asian steppe. In particular, rosin - which is absolutely fundamental to the function of haired bows, since the hair is too smooth to generate much friction without it - is apparently used by "traditional archers" (to quote one wikipedia article...) to treat their bowstrings, and the crucial interaction of rosin, horsehair and string instruments can be easily imagined to occur among horse-riding nomads.
2nd N.B. This update does seem to contain lots of terrestrial analogy, particularly drawing various similarities, musically speaking, between Xengiman and India. The observation of northern and southern schools, where the northern is more influenced by the cultures further west, and the southern is more conservative, mirrors the situation of the Northern Indian / Karnatic schools. This is honestly a bit accidental; it just makes sense to me that it would be this way. There are plenty of things about Xurnese music I plan to make not 'Indian', too.
As always, I'm just spouting my ideas as they occur to me, so please chime in!
Haired bows have been in use in the steppe for a good while (at least 800 years by the 3480s); they became widespread in Eretald with the Gelyet, though they were associated with other steppe groups, too. Curiyans and the Somoyi-Meťalyi were also particularly associated with them, before the rest of Eretald caught on.
They are made of horse-hair, after all.
In Eretald (and possibly elsewhere) this innovation from the steppe interacted with the preexisting stick beater / bow tradition as detailed in a previous post.
Not only Eretald but also Xengiman was affected, with the modern Xurnese violin (an instrument with a dizzying array of sympathetic strings, redolent of the north Indian sarangi - Xurnese term requested, possibly something borrowed from Gelyet?) taking a crucial part in the musical culture of north Xengiman.
(I'm thinking that Xurnese music is broadly classified into two schools, north and south. The northern school links more strongly to the steppe and Eretald; the southern is essentially more conservative, closer to the ancient Wede:i traditions and has a stronger Skourene influence. The geographic classification is mere nomenclature by the 4th millennium - the two schools are certainly acknowledged by the Salon of Music, but the Salon exists to classify, teach and exhaustively study all music, so it's somewhat academic; in earlier times there was more of a meaningful distinction. The Lenan area has historically acted as a bridge between these three musical cultures, absorbing and transmitting musical ideas and traditions of Northern Xengiman, Southern Xengiman, and the Littoral.)
N.B. This follows one terrestrial theory of the innovation of bowed string instruments in horse-rearing nomads of the Central Asian steppe. In particular, rosin - which is absolutely fundamental to the function of haired bows, since the hair is too smooth to generate much friction without it - is apparently used by "traditional archers" (to quote one wikipedia article...) to treat their bowstrings, and the crucial interaction of rosin, horsehair and string instruments can be easily imagined to occur among horse-riding nomads.
2nd N.B. This update does seem to contain lots of terrestrial analogy, particularly drawing various similarities, musically speaking, between Xengiman and India. The observation of northern and southern schools, where the northern is more influenced by the cultures further west, and the southern is more conservative, mirrors the situation of the Northern Indian / Karnatic schools. This is honestly a bit accidental; it just makes sense to me that it would be this way. There are plenty of things about Xurnese music I plan to make not 'Indian', too.
As always, I'm just spouting my ideas as they occur to me, so please chime in!
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zompist
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Re: Music of Verduria
I'll get back to you on the Xurnese... this will require cleaning up Obenzayet a bit.
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Re: Music of Verduria
OK, this sent me into a rabbit hole. I decided to finally finish the Obenzayet grammar, which I started, oh, 23 years ago. It's not quite done, but I do have a couple of words for you. 
Xurnese violin = nwarta, bow (for violin) = baga.
These are kind of fun in Obenzayet. Nuarta means ‘curled up’; that became the name of the armadillo, whose shell was used for early lyres. Bägaz is literally ‘horsetail’ and is also used for a bowstring.
I like the north/south division for Xurnese music, but I'd suggest a subdivision in the south: coastal vs. interior. The coast would be visited by ships from all over— Skouras/Šura, Gurdago, Jeor, and later Eretald. So they'd likely have sophisticated tastes. The interior is harder to get to and would prefer its native traditions more. At the same time, the interior might be influenced by whatever they're playing in Cuoli.
Xurnese violin = nwarta, bow (for violin) = baga.
These are kind of fun in Obenzayet. Nuarta means ‘curled up’; that became the name of the armadillo, whose shell was used for early lyres. Bägaz is literally ‘horsetail’ and is also used for a bowstring.
I like the north/south division for Xurnese music, but I'd suggest a subdivision in the south: coastal vs. interior. The coast would be visited by ships from all over— Skouras/Šura, Gurdago, Jeor, and later Eretald. So they'd likely have sophisticated tastes. The interior is harder to get to and would prefer its native traditions more. At the same time, the interior might be influenced by whatever they're playing in Cuoli.
Re: Music of Verduria
How exciting! Hope to see Obenzayet up one day!
Ah, wonderful, I love it. Thank you! The armadillo shell could absolutely remain in traditional use in constructing the nwarta - modern high-quality builds of the qanun, for instance, still require fish skin, specifically, to give a particular resonance. Or this could be as archaic to the modern Xurnese as the idea of using a turtle shell to make a violin today. I'm not sure - maybe a regional / folk tradition may still use them, if the armadillos themselves are still in plentiful supply?Xurnese violin = nwarta, bow (for violin) = baga.
These are kind of fun in Obenzayet. Nuarta means ‘curled up’; that became the name of the armadillo, whose shell was used for early lyres. Bägaz is literally ‘horsetail’ and is also used for a bowstring.
Excellent, that works. And good pointer; I need to consider Cuoli and Pronel in general a little more.I like the north/south division for Xurnese music, but I'd suggest a subdivision in the south: coastal vs. interior. The coast would be visited by ships from all over— Skouras/Šura, Gurdago, Jeor, and later Eretald. So they'd likely have sophisticated tastes. The interior is harder to get to and would prefer its native traditions more. At the same time, the interior might be influenced by whatever they're playing in Cuoli.
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zompist
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Re: Music of Verduria
They are, but only on the steppe. I wouldn't expect the Xurnese to require actual armadillo shells; they would be happy to adapt the idea using local materials. But if you have a charango at hand, now's your chance to use it.sasasha wrote: ↑Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:58 pm Ah, wonderful, I love it. Thank you! The armadillo shell could absolutely remain in traditional use in constructing the nwarta - modern high-quality builds of the qanun, for instance, still require fish skin, specifically, to give a particular resonance. Or this could be as archaic to the modern Xurnese as the idea of using a turtle shell to make a violin today. I'm not sure - maybe a regional / folk tradition may still use them, if the armadillos themselves are still in plentiful supply?
Re: Music of Verduria
If only!zompist wrote: ↑Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:11 pmThey are, but only on the steppe. I wouldn't expect the Xurnese to require actual armadillo shells; they would be happy to adapt the idea using local materials. But if you have a charango at hand, now's your chance to use it.sasasha wrote: ↑Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:58 pm Ah, wonderful, I love it. Thank you! The armadillo shell could absolutely remain in traditional use in constructing the nwarta - modern high-quality builds of the qanun, for instance, still require fish skin, specifically, to give a particular resonance. Or this could be as archaic to the modern Xurnese as the idea of using a turtle shell to make a violin today. I'm not sure - maybe a regional / folk tradition may still use them, if the armadillos themselves are still in plentiful supply?
And yes, makes sense.Re: Music of Verduria
Very quick question about Verdurian printing in the 35th century: can they do underlining?
How about complex underlining? (Double, dotted/dashed, wavy?)
And would Verdurian printers have Barakhinei type, at all?
Spoilers: this would be helpful for endivyón tablature notation... (forthcoming, sometime this century!)
How about complex underlining? (Double, dotted/dashed, wavy?)
And would Verdurian printers have Barakhinei type, at all?
Spoilers: this would be helpful for endivyón tablature notation... (forthcoming, sometime this century!)
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zompist
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Re: Music of Verduria
Sure. The fancy stuff will probably cost you extra. It'll be separate bits of type and it's more skilled work, as opposed to the main typography which can be handled by apprentices.
In Verduria city, sure, some would. Printers near the university would be most likely to have a font on hand. There are also a few firms that print for clients in Barakhun.And would Verdurian printers have Barakhinei type, at all?
I had to look up how musical scores are printed! I think it'd work on Almea much as on Earth. That is:
-- At first, raised metal type. Multiple impressions to get the notes, the scored lines, etc. This sounds extremely fiddly to do.
-- Then, engraving, which Europe had by 1581. Special tools were invented to score the lines, and punches were used for the notes.
-- Finally (by the 3600s) photographic techniques.
The nice thing about engraving is that you can print anything you can draw. But a period of raised-metal printing might have an effect on what notations were used.
All this is skilled work, though also quite common. In the 3500s you'd also have the equivalent of autography, a technique which allows an artist to draw on specially prepared paper, with the image transfered to a plate for lithographic printing. It was used for early comics (an example is here), but it would also work for popular music, especially for unusual notations.
Re: Music of Verduria
Great, thank you! Very helpful. So I take it Verdurian printers generally do engraving by the late c34/early c35?
The notation I'm working on isn't (I don't imagine) the principal notation system used for Verdurian music -- I know next to nothing about that yet! (Please shout if I'm missing anything, but I don't think this exists yet.) This is instead an endivyón-specific tablature for a folky style, associated in the c35 with Lácatur, Barakhûn... backwardsy places. It's the sort of music that many 'serious' musicians in c35 Verduria think is out of tune and probably godawful -- think maybe the way Hungarian folk music might have been seen in western Europe in the 18th century.
Thing is like a lot of folk music it's actually sophisticated and fascinating in its own way, hence one Poncör Žambey*, a disgruntled unsuccessful temple-musician turned musicologist, whose mother was a Lácaturian singer, decides to start documenting it as a way to distract himself from his failing career. He accidentally ends up producing an enduring classic of Eretaldan musicology -- kickstarting academic interest in folk and world music for the first time -- and (only slightly) less accidentally, spawning a formidable musical dynasty.
I'm really wanting Poncör to hit upon the idea of using the Old Barakhinei carved letter forms in his tablature to represent the string instructions (quite a complex part of the bad'ul style). See image for how this would work. He's been to the University of Verduria, he's been to Barakhinei speaking areas, and he really likes books, so I can imagine that him coming across them isn't too unlikely -- like knowledge of runes in c18/19 Europe. But is it realistic that he can have books printed using them with no trouble?
If not, perhaps an obscure press familiar with old stuff at the University can publish his book first -- and then when his tablature notation becomes unexpectedly popular, the Old Barakhinei letters could become more widespread and used in popular and folk music dronul books?
*Anyone following this thread will one day soonish know a little more about him, I hope!
The notation I'm working on isn't (I don't imagine) the principal notation system used for Verdurian music -- I know next to nothing about that yet! (Please shout if I'm missing anything, but I don't think this exists yet.) This is instead an endivyón-specific tablature for a folky style, associated in the c35 with Lácatur, Barakhûn... backwardsy places. It's the sort of music that many 'serious' musicians in c35 Verduria think is out of tune and probably godawful -- think maybe the way Hungarian folk music might have been seen in western Europe in the 18th century.
Thing is like a lot of folk music it's actually sophisticated and fascinating in its own way, hence one Poncör Žambey*, a disgruntled unsuccessful temple-musician turned musicologist, whose mother was a Lácaturian singer, decides to start documenting it as a way to distract himself from his failing career. He accidentally ends up producing an enduring classic of Eretaldan musicology -- kickstarting academic interest in folk and world music for the first time -- and (only slightly) less accidentally, spawning a formidable musical dynasty.
I'm really wanting Poncör to hit upon the idea of using the Old Barakhinei carved letter forms in his tablature to represent the string instructions (quite a complex part of the bad'ul style). See image for how this would work. He's been to the University of Verduria, he's been to Barakhinei speaking areas, and he really likes books, so I can imagine that him coming across them isn't too unlikely -- like knowledge of runes in c18/19 Europe. But is it realistic that he can have books printed using them with no trouble?
If not, perhaps an obscure press familiar with old stuff at the University can publish his book first -- and then when his tablature notation becomes unexpectedly popular, the Old Barakhinei letters could become more widespread and used in popular and folk music dronul books?
More: show
*Anyone following this thread will one day soonish know a little more about him, I hope!
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zompist
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Re: Music of Verduria
Raised-type printing dates to 3184 (but to 3242 in Verduria), and engraving is actually older.
Ah, Old Barakhinei? That'll cost you more...I'm really wanting Poncör to hit upon the idea of using the Old Barakhinei carved letter forms in his tablature to represent the string instructions (quite a complex part of the bad'ul style). See image for how this would work. He's been to the University of Verduria, he's been to Barakhinei speaking areas, and he really likes books, so I can imagine that him coming across them isn't too unlikely -- like knowledge of runes in c18/19 Europe. But is it realistic that he can have books printed using them with no trouble?
But not much more. Even if a printer didn't have the font, the characters are simple and it wouldn't be hard to make one. Metal type had to be made in large quantities, especially since if a printer thought a book would be popular, the plates would be retained with all their type.
And again, engraving would allow just about anything to be printed, as each plate is separately engraved. If anything, the Old Barakhinei letters would save time as they have no curves.
Re: Music of Verduria
I can instantly test this. I present the zbb:Another alternative: it’s possible to make a bow out of a single rosined stick of wood, without any hair (attested with the yazheng and ajaeng). The hurdy-gurdy uses a similar technique. So the hair may not be needed at all: you might be able to get away with bowing with just a stick.
a cello played with a normal bow, except the stick is contacting the string and not the hair
https://voca.ro/1cwHDtYVqXLo
instead of a bow, a pen. i had to wrap it in paper cause the smooth lacquer didn't take to the rosin.
https://voca.ro/1mgNzvM4120X
the longest piece of rough wood in my flat is a fork with a wood handle: the lenght of the piece obligates staccato, but a longer stick could be contrived to produce long notes too.
https://voca.ro/1cGS9Spql3wG
felt doesn't work. it's far too soft to impart any energy to the vibration (though the lighter strings do take better to it, you could wrap something in a thin veneer of felt and I bet you would get the ghostly tone with a decent volume.
https://voca.ro/1hsiwSNonwEY
this is an old and extremely cheap viola with only two strings played with the stick of a bow (I payed like 40 euros for it). pardon the intonation but it still shows the difference a smaller resonating body makes: apparently a smaller thing is easier to make vibrate.
https://voca.ro/1m673fqVFNeb
I'm convinced, you can bow with anything that can a) hold on to some decent amount of rosin and b) is stiff enough.