November-December 2007

The Evolution of the Harp

By Roger Goodman

A Simple Instrument

As instruments go, the idea of a harp seems pretty simple.  There are separate strings for each note in the scale so there’s no need for frets or string-adjusters, just tuning pegs.  With the strings tuned to the notes of a scale the harp itself is tuned to a particular key.  While this is, indeed, simple it is also very limiting. For instance, if you want to play in a different key you will need a different harp.  But even with harps of different keys, the question is:  how can you play accidentals or sharped or flatted notes that are not part of that key’s scale?  This is the chromatic problem and the evolution of the harp is the story of how this problem has been addressed.

September-October 2007

SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR OR WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT B FLAT?

By ROGER GOODMAN

What do alligators know about B flat? Why do some musical instruments play in the key of B flat even though their music is written in the key of C? Does the universe play music in the key of B flat? If you find these questions intriguing then please continue reading and I will do my best to supply the answers.

July-August 2007

A Most Bizarre Part of Music History - The Castrati

By ROGER GOODMAN

The Dark Past

Figure 1 – Castrato Vocal Range

It is the 17th Century and you are the choirmaster of a Roman Catholic Church somewhere in Italy. The Church, citing the words of Saint Paul, does not allow women to participate in the choir so young boys must sing the higher parts. In some ways, this is better, because a young voice offers an unmatchable innocence and purity. The problem for you as choirmaster is that the investment of your time and energy shaping these young vocal instruments will be lost when puberty "breaks" their voices. If only there was some way to keep these voices from being stolen away at puberty. What if they never went through puberty? But how could that happen? There was only one way-castration. Castration was already a well accepted and understood practice, al least for livestock. Why would anyone let their young son be so mutilated and robbed of such a great aspect of life? Surely no one would ever agree to such an evil thing, would they? Was it worth the cost for the sake of art and music? This was the enigma of the castrato who dominated the musical stage for almost 230 years.

May-June 2007

The Pedal Steel Guitar

By Roger Goodman

I can usually sit down with an unfamiliar musical instrument and quickly figure out enough about it to play some tunes. An exception to that happened on the one-and-only time I had access to a pedal steel guitar. For me, it was far from obvious how it worked or what nefarious devices were hidden inside. My frustration was amplified because of my fascination with the sound of this instrument since I first heard it. In the early days of television in Los Angeles there were two popular country and western band shows featuring the steel guitar: the Spade Cooley Show that ended when he went to prison for killing his wife and the Doy O'Dell show (not to be confused with the Dell O'Dell TV show of the same era, hosted by a popular Los Angeles lady magician). One of those two shows always featured a song played on the "Talking Steel Guitar."

Why this fascination with the sound of the pedal steel? In part it may be due to the intricate sequential structure that I can only compare to the vocal harmonies as heard in bluegrass-gospel and barber-shop-quartet. The pedal steel lends itself to chord progressions where only one note at a time might change until the sound finally comes to rest on the next chord. What could be more pleasant in music then to have such excruciating anticipation sweetly followed by a comforting resolution? That very stress and release may, in fact, be the essence of music itself. But then I digress.