Taxi and Harp

[Alan Sondheim]

Taxi and Harp


1 http://www.asondheim.org/taxi2.mp3

Modified taxi communication system way out of normal bands, on 11755 Khz.
What on earth is it doing there? It's local, but not _that_ local.
Modification: extreme hiss filter elimination, saving hiss.

2 http://www.asondheim.org/harp2.mp3

This is a long (17+ minutes) Alpine zither (guitar zither, concert zither)
improvisation, unmodified. At times there are errors. I'm still exploring
the sonic 'territory' of the zither, playing in non-traditional ways. It's
a difficult instrument, often needing tuning or retuning. Both left-hand
and right-hand techniques are odd; the left stops strings on a fretboard
with both fingers and the side of the thumb, and the right (I think!)
generally uses the thumb with a pick for the fretboard strings, the other
fingers working the 27 or so open (harp) strings. I've changed the
technique, using the thumb and three fingers of the right hand anywhere -
i.e. on the open or fretted strings, and occasionally plucking with the
left hand fingers as well.

3 http://www.asondheim.org/harp1b.mp3

A short modified (with high hiss removal) zither piece, reasonably sparse.
(The zither music I've heard is all relatively slow, but I assume this is
just happenstance, what I've come across.) In any case, more exploration
of sonic territory, complete with errors and folk patterning.