Maya Angelou has a lovely aphorism she learned from one of husbands, who was African. "It is easy to steal the king's trumpet. What is difficult is finding a place to play it."
I think I remember hearing on Jonathan Pageau's podcast - The Symbolic World - that ancient hebrew/Greek etymology for Horn (as in a one note trumpet), Horn (like animal horn) and Crown all share a common root word. Many translations of biblical and babylonian texts confused these terms, to the point where Images of Moses with animal horns on his head have been found. Bells, Horns and Crowns are all so interlinked in the symbolism of the heralding of royalty that all 3 are often found hanging from Christmas trees to celebrate the nativity.
the picture at the bottom, those are absolutely NOT shofars, which are made from the horn of a ram.
they're also supposed to be only good for one note, the variation is in the duration only. Tekiah, shevarim, teruah. One long note, three shorter ones, or nine even shorter ones. The sounds blown on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. Apparently they were fond of triplets.
I found the one note thing to be nonsense. You can blow a whole range of notes depending on how one positions the instrument in your mouth, and the angle you blow into it. The problem is you don't really have control over which notes might emerge. It's not like a modern trumpet with valves, a flute with holes, a guitar with frets (which strictly aren't necessary anyways). I'm not even a horn player, but a friend gifted me a valuable shofar thinking I could do something special with it, he's heard me play a bunch of piano, guitar, and drums. Steep learning curve initially, I thought the damn thing was plugged when I couldn't even get a damn sound out of it. Once you figure out the technique, rapid progress happens. I wonder what a real horn player could accomplish.
Methinks the ancients had no use for improvisation, just blowing and reacting to what sounds emerge. They wanted precisely that "one note" reproducible every time. It wasn't "music" it was something more like communication.
Truly interesting. Evokes these phrases repeated and elaborated on in Handel's Messiah: "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed."
Ted - FYI someone cloned your account and is asking people to contact "you" by text message. Just check the last open mic thread and yoy will see. Regards,
The trumpet tradition carried on in the Celtic tribes across Europe through the Bronze and Iron ages. They were highly decorated and often came in two parts which when connected created an instrument which sometimes was almost 8 feet long.
I had an odd reaction to that recording, probably because I'm a trumpet player myself.
The first trumpet played, the notes sounded are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th harmonics. Absolutely bog standard for a brass instrument, this is the first register you learn to play in. Of course, you have valves, but understanding the harmonics and how to play them is critical. These harmonics, if you didn't know, are the 1st, fifth, and 8th degree of a major (or minor) scale.
And it's clear that the highest note is not that easy to play on that instrument.
But the second horn played, the notes sounded are the 3rd, fifth, and eighth(octave) degree of a major scale. WTH? That's the 5th, 6th and 8th harmonic. To be fair, we almost never use the 7th harmonic, since it doesn't really fit with the system of intonation that is normally used, but still, why are these notes being played instead of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th? This appears to be a choice made by Mr. Tappern. Honestly, the bronze instrument looked a bit smaller, so those harmonics should correspond to higher pitches, but that's not really what I'm hearing.
Maybe he's playing 4th, 6th, and 8th on the first instrument, but thought the 4th didn't sound good on the second? I'm want to know more about this, but I doubt that I will. (If he was playing the 8th harmonic, it would account for the trouble he has locking it in. That's hard.)
You are definitely a renaissance person. You last article I read was an analysis of the record business. I do have some questions about that subject if you have some time.
Maya Angelou has a lovely aphorism she learned from one of husbands, who was African. "It is easy to steal the king's trumpet. What is difficult is finding a place to play it."
I think I remember hearing on Jonathan Pageau's podcast - The Symbolic World - that ancient hebrew/Greek etymology for Horn (as in a one note trumpet), Horn (like animal horn) and Crown all share a common root word. Many translations of biblical and babylonian texts confused these terms, to the point where Images of Moses with animal horns on his head have been found. Bells, Horns and Crowns are all so interlinked in the symbolism of the heralding of royalty that all 3 are often found hanging from Christmas trees to celebrate the nativity.
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottcampbell/p/christmas-canoe?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
now wondering: Was Pharoah Sanders Buried with a Sax?
the picture at the bottom, those are absolutely NOT shofars, which are made from the horn of a ram.
they're also supposed to be only good for one note, the variation is in the duration only. Tekiah, shevarim, teruah. One long note, three shorter ones, or nine even shorter ones. The sounds blown on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. Apparently they were fond of triplets.
I found the one note thing to be nonsense. You can blow a whole range of notes depending on how one positions the instrument in your mouth, and the angle you blow into it. The problem is you don't really have control over which notes might emerge. It's not like a modern trumpet with valves, a flute with holes, a guitar with frets (which strictly aren't necessary anyways). I'm not even a horn player, but a friend gifted me a valuable shofar thinking I could do something special with it, he's heard me play a bunch of piano, guitar, and drums. Steep learning curve initially, I thought the damn thing was plugged when I couldn't even get a damn sound out of it. Once you figure out the technique, rapid progress happens. I wonder what a real horn player could accomplish.
Methinks the ancients had no use for improvisation, just blowing and reacting to what sounds emerge. They wanted precisely that "one note" reproducible every time. It wasn't "music" it was something more like communication.
I have it on good authority that the end of the world is indefinitely postponed due to a lack of qualified trumpet players.
Truly interesting. Evokes these phrases repeated and elaborated on in Handel's Messiah: "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed."
my kind of click bait...
Ted - FYI someone cloned your account and is asking people to contact "you" by text message. Just check the last open mic thread and yoy will see. Regards,
Philipe
Another mind blowing fact was that his mummy had an erected genital organ.
National Geographic reference for the speculative part of it .
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/140110-king-tut-mummy-penis-osiris-archaeology-science
Maybe he liked being blowed ? Or blow himself? The trumpet just makes the plot to thicken . Unintentional pun.
The trumpet tradition carried on in the Celtic tribes across Europe through the Bronze and Iron ages. They were highly decorated and often came in two parts which when connected created an instrument which sometimes was almost 8 feet long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnyx
https://www.libraryireland.com/SocialHistoryAncientIreland/II-XIII-4.php
I think the trumpet was there to announce the king was here and ready to enter the afterlife.
I had an odd reaction to that recording, probably because I'm a trumpet player myself.
The first trumpet played, the notes sounded are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th harmonics. Absolutely bog standard for a brass instrument, this is the first register you learn to play in. Of course, you have valves, but understanding the harmonics and how to play them is critical. These harmonics, if you didn't know, are the 1st, fifth, and 8th degree of a major (or minor) scale.
And it's clear that the highest note is not that easy to play on that instrument.
But the second horn played, the notes sounded are the 3rd, fifth, and eighth(octave) degree of a major scale. WTH? That's the 5th, 6th and 8th harmonic. To be fair, we almost never use the 7th harmonic, since it doesn't really fit with the system of intonation that is normally used, but still, why are these notes being played instead of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th? This appears to be a choice made by Mr. Tappern. Honestly, the bronze instrument looked a bit smaller, so those harmonics should correspond to higher pitches, but that's not really what I'm hearing.
Maybe he's playing 4th, 6th, and 8th on the first instrument, but thought the 4th didn't sound good on the second? I'm want to know more about this, but I doubt that I will. (If he was playing the 8th harmonic, it would account for the trouble he has locking it in. That's hard.)
Thank you for all your interesting articles! Jan Larney
Very interesting read. Thank you for sharing your insights about King Tut’s trumpets.
Somehow reminds me of the story of Buddy Bolden and Dan Pritzker…and Wynton Marsalis
You are definitely a renaissance person. You last article I read was an analysis of the record business. I do have some questions about that subject if you have some time.