SOHL.COM

A Glass Bead Game

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 04:44:55 +0000

An app for visualizing consonance and dissonance

Download: iPad and Mac app via the Apple Store

The main screen of “A Glass Bead Game”

The graph
Each axis of the graph above represents the frequency of a musical tone across the span of two and a half octaves. The tick-marks along these axes represent one semitone of pitch change, and note names representing a diatonic scale in C is added for reference.

The horizontal and vertical lines of the graph represent intervals of a “just intoned” musical scale where the moving tone forms a consonance compared to a static drone tone, as is described in the page An Atlas of Consonance. The diamonds are points in the graph where the two moving tones and the drone all form consonances with each other. Every possible arrangement of 3 notes (a chord) is represented as a point on this graph.

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Sun, 15 Sep 2024 04:57:33 +0000

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Court Musette, late 17th Century

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Chanter, Stocks, Small chanter

I had a chance to briefly study this instrument in 1999 when it was in the possession of a friend. I don’t know its current whereabouts. It is made of Ivory, well turned as you would expect from an instrument made for a wealthy client. and probably dates to the late 1600s. I was able to make several x-rays of the instrument with the help of a friendly local chiropractor, and these are included below. These x-rays showed several interesting things about this instrument is that visual inspection did not:

Renaissance 3-Hole Pipes

Sat, 26 Mar 2016 12:00:00 +0000

The three hole pipe is an ancient instrument, dating back to bone flutes found in the Neolithic. It has been popular throughout Europe and parts of the Americas as a dance instrument since it can be played with just one hand, leaving the other hand free to play a percussion instrument – a drum, a string drone, a triangle. On this page I’ve collected notes and sources I’ve used to make reconstructions of 3 hole pipes from renaissance Europe. We are particularly fortunate in that there are written sources, iconographical sources, and surviving instruments from this period – meaning that very little guesswork is needed to create working modern instruments.

Momma told me there’d be days like this

Sat, 05 Mar 2016 03:21:33 +0000

A great piece of stained glass from St. Marks in Venice. The flaming chariot?

An Atlas of Consonance

Sat, 05 Mar 2016 00:20:28 +0000

What makes two or more musical notes sound good (or bad) when sounded together? A music teacher can tell you how notes can be combined to sound good; that is what music theory is all about. It is harder to talk about why we perceive those combinations to be satisfying, but that discussion can lead to new and innovative methods for composition and performance.

Background

This paper was first published in 1986 in the journal 1/1. I have revised it several times, added more graphics, and have written a couple of interactive programs to let you hear the intervals and chords discussed here. I’ve added some introductory material as well–many musicians have not had the time to study musical acoustics, and the same can be said for many acousticians and the study of music. For further reading there is a considerable library of good reference works on musical acoustics, especially “Horns, Strings, and Harmony” and “Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics“, both by Benade.

Sohl Family History and Genealogy

Thu, 03 Mar 2016 11:24:08 +0000

There’s not a lot of action on these links these days, but the links are kept here for reference. And who knows, things might change.

Sohl family mail list

Join the Sohl family mail list. This mail list is intended to let any and all branches of the far-flung Sohl family communicate and work together to discover our family history. It is a free list, open to anyone interested in the history of the Sohl family. Use this link to request to join.

About

Thu, 03 Mar 2016 00:55:44 +0000

Sohl.com has been online since 1993 – Inspired by a comment in the first issue of Wired magizine, we purchased the domain for our surname and set up this site. That was a while ago, which means that among other things, it was getting a little long in the tooth. Hand coding web sites might have been interesting back then, but times have changed. Who even remembers the Mosaic browser?

The Quills: the forgotten American folk woodwind.

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The Quills are a early American folk woodwind, first recorded in the early part of the 19th century among Afro-Americans in the south. There are at least two kinds of woodwinds called the quills: a cane fife with several holes, and a panpipe with several separate cane pipes. They are assumed to be of African origin, since similar instruments are found in various parts of Africa, and they were most common among 1st and 2nd generation Africans in America.

Reconstructing the quills

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

See the post The Quills: the forgotten American folk woodwind for general information about the American instruments known as the quills.

African players make their own instruments, and I imagine that Henry Thomas did as well. Recent players of the cane fife in America do so as well. So, what do you need to know in order to make a historically accurate instrument?

First off, you need to understand the difference between the cane fife (quills) and the panpipe form of the instrument, and decide which one you want to pursue. There are modern players and makers of the cane fife form of the instrument, so for the moment I’m going to concentrate on the panpipe version made famous by Henry Thomas.

Practical Acoustics of pan Pipes

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

As of this writing, there is no good source of practical information available regarding the construction of pan pipes, so I did a couple of tests to establish some general principles for pan-pipe scaling. The question I was trying to answer was:

Given a pitch, what is the ideal internal length and diameter of the pipe?

Since cane is a natural material, it will not conform to the precise dimensions defined here, however these numbers should provide a reasonable starting point for experimentation.

Break cane for fun and profit

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Arundinaria Gigantea Known as:

Cane
Southern Cane
Cane Reed
Switchcane
Canebrake Bamboo
Macon Rivercane (a specific variety available as an ornamental plant)

I’ve collected this information from many sources on the web, while I searched for a source of cane for my Quills project. I put it here for the benefit of those who don’t want to spend the time searching.

The plant is native to the southern U.S. Although cleared to near extinction, it still can be found in wetlands and well drained floodplain forests. It is found in canebrakes, thick clusters of plants that grow up to 25 feet high and up to a diameter of 1 and even two inches.

Liberia RPCVs

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Maintained by Judy Sohl

How de body? I not see you for long time, now! What happen, you can’t write? You fini forgetting about me here suffering?

Here’s how it works: you send me your info. If you have an e-mail address, you’ll get a hyperlink so folks can e-mail you directly. If you know anybody’s correct address send it to me so we can build the mailing list.. If you want the snail mail list, e-mail me and I’ll send you what we have so far.

A French grand cornemuse, 18th c, private collection

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:00:00 +0000

The instrument is incomplete, with some parts modern. The chanter is known to be original, and the top joint of the bass drone known to be a reproduction. These images are based on full-size xerox originals, which are (unfortunately) the best quality images I have at hand. The pewter inlay is particularly spectacular on this instrument.

The images have been scaled to fit on the page, but the files are actually at much higher resolution. They can be downloaded and viewed in any image editing program. These images are not displayed to scale on this page, but the source images should scale correctly.

3d renderings of renaissance recorders

Fri, 02 Feb 1996 07:42:00 +0000

Renaissance recorders were popular throughout Europe from about 1500 to 1650. They were among the most popular “consort” instruments, meaning that they were played in groups (or consorts). A typical consort for renaissance recorders would be made up of one alto, two tenors, and a bass instrument. Michael Praetorius, writing in 1618, expressed a preference for a consort made up of a tenor, two bass recorders, and a great bass. Praetorius also mentions an “ideal” consort made up of 21 instruments, made in 7 different sizes. He illustrated these instruments in his encyclopedic Syntagma Musicum.