A standard hand saw can be used to play music! By tweaking/bending the blade in an “S” shape, one can hit the “sweet spot” with a mallet or use a cello bow to make the saw “sing.” The sound produced is very ethereal sounding -like a woman’s high singing voice or a theramin. The tonal range depends on the length and width of the saw blade. The “sweet spot” can be bent up and down the length of the blade while the note depends on the width at that point.
The musical saw is beautiful in it’s simplicity. The video above is of Sione Aleki playing Amazing Grace on the musical saw.
The annual “Saw Player’s Picnic and Music Festival” is held every August in Felton, California by the Musical Saw Players Association (IMSA). LINK, Via: Youtube
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Musical wood saws
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You are so knowledgable about the saw!
ReplyDeleteOn the news (MTV station in Finland) they showed some clips from the New York City musical saw festival (held every year in July) a while back.
I looked for it on line and I found
http://www.sawlady.com/musicalsawfestival.htm