Odd Lots
- It’s a little late but there’s still time to see it: Tonight will be the full Moon, and also a partial lunar eclipse. 7:45 PM makes it about ideal for the Pacific and Arizona time zone, with all the usual adjustments for Mountain, Central and Eastern.
- Scott Pinsker posted an article on PJMedia back on September 9th, about dogs allowing humans to out-compete Neanderthals. I wrote about that back in 2010: Dogs were alarm systems that made dawn raids ineffective. Lacking dogs, Neanderthals may have simply dawn-raided themselves into extinction.
- I’m looking for a book that defines terms and instruments used in classical music. Andante, allegro non troppo, adagio, the viola, the celesta, and that instrument consisting of a series of pieces of metal tubing hung from strings under a bar, whose name I just cannot recall. A lot of that stuff can be found online, but, well, I’m just partial to books. If you have one that you like, please mention it in a comment.
- The blinking cursor on our computer screens is now 54 years old. Here’s a short history of how it came about.
- It’s been a pretty sparse hurricane season, with the single exception of Beryl. Right now on NOAA’s hurricane map there is a dying hurricane in Arkansas, one named tropical storm, Gordon, and two disturbances with less than 40% chance of becoming cyclonic. We’re halfway through hurricane season, and not much has been happening. My take: predicting a hurricane season’s severity is a fool’s model. Too much chaos and butterfly effect. It could get worse any time. Or it might not. We won’t know until we get there.
- Who had this on their 2024 bingo cards? Good ‘ol Yellow #5 dye, in large quantities, makes living tissue temporarily transparent. Scientists have created temporarily transparent mice. No human trials have happened as yet. So go easy on those Cheetos, ok?
- This is boggling but perhaps inevitable, assuming it’s true—and I’m skeptical: A chemhacker group is creating software and desktop labware allowing people to synthesize expensive prescription medications at home. An $800 pill becomes a $1 pill. Yes, there are risks, but if you’re dying for lack of an expensive drug, well…
- Over on City Journal Michael Totten has a long-form meditation on Liu Cixin’s SF trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past that bears on the Fermi Paradox and the question of whether we should actively seek out alien life–or hide from it. A little outside what I see in City Journal, but well-worth reading.
Posted in: Odd Lots.
Tagged: astronomy · dogs · hardware · health · music · weather
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> that instrument consisting of a series of pieces of metal tubing
> hung from strings under a bar, whose name I just cannot recall
I think these are called “tubular bells”.
There is a wonderful album by Mike Oldfield (and backstory to it) of the same name.
I remember one of the pieces that was in (I think; it was a long time ago) The Exorcist, by Mike Oldfield.
But the instrument I’m picturing uses smaller tubing bells, and you play it by running a drumstick along the line of bells. I thought it was a “celesta” but I was wrong.
I know exactly what you’re talking about, Jeff — Dave Ciccone, the drummer for the Ghost Riders Square Dance Band 20 years ago used to play it, especially on “Silver Wings.” But I don’t know what it’s called, their current drummer doesn’t use it, and Dave passed away last year so I can’t ask him.
Might it be the Mark Tree?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_tree
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6P3bEu84EQ
Well, that’s as close as I’ve heard, though the term “marktree” stirs no memories whatsoever. So for now I’ll keep that in the corner of my mind, and if/when I hear the sound I’m remembering (on the Grand Canyon Suite or elsewhere) I’ll know what to call it.
The instrument in question is played in Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite, IIRC before and after the storm. Always wondered what it was.
I watched some Youtube videos of guys playing tubular bells, but they are much deeper in tone than the ones I’m thinking of, which were much higher and almost a sort of twinkling sound. Will look at performances of Grand Canyon Suite and see if I can spot something in the orchestra.
I just watched portions of several performances on YouTube, and what I remember being played on that “mystery instrument” was in fact played on the highest keys on a grand piano. However, what I remember was not from a piano. We had a piano when I was a kid and I had lessons. It was definitely something else. Will keep researching as time permits.
Pick one?
https://www.google.com/search?q=music+dictionary+book
Well sure, did that (Amazon also) looked at a lot of them, and if no one with musical education pops up to point out their favorite, I’ll do my best and choose one as best I can. One of the problems is that some hardcopy examples are physically quite small, and my eyes don’t do fine print like they used to. (I still have a hundred or more MMPBs in SFF that I keep for the cover art since the print is now too small for me to read.) My hope is that there’s an ebook edition with photos and sample scores. We’ll see.
Hi Jeff,
What about this book?:
Musical Instruments of the World, available for a perusal on Archive.org’s open library to see if it meets your needs:
https://archive.org/details/musicalinstrumen00diag/page/90/mode/2up
As for the instrument, if it’s what I think you are referring to, is it a bar chime?
https://www.amazon.com/MUSCELL-36-Bar-Percussion-Instruments-Mounting/dp/B09F5SQY2D
There is a really good music theory book on Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19499
Then, about instruments:
The orchestra and its instruments
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73991