110-471: The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines , melody lines, chords , or textures . Designed as a fully polyphonic chordal instrument, it can also cover several of these musical parts simultaneously. The Stick
220-492: A bone flute to signal the start of a hunt does so without thought of the modern notion of "making music". Musical instruments are constructed in a broad array of styles and shapes, using many different materials. Early musical instruments were made from "found objects" such as shells and plant parts. As instruments evolved, so did the selection and quality of materials. Virtually every material in nature has been used by at least one culture to make musical instruments. One plays
330-436: A keyboard instrument than to other stringed instruments. This arrangement lends itself to playing many lines at once, and many Stick players have mastered performing bass, chords, and melody lines simultaneously. Typically, the Chapman Stick is held via a belt-hook and a shoulder strap. The player hooks the instrument onto the belt and places the head and dominant arm through the shoulder strap. The instrument then settles into
440-486: A whole-tone scale . These excavations, carried out by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s, uncovered non-degradable fragments of instruments and the voids left by the degraded segments that, together, have been used to reconstruct them. The graves these instruments were buried in have been carbon dated to between 2600 and 2500 BC, providing evidence that these instruments were used in Sumeria by this time. Archaeologists in
550-638: A "whole new musical experiment". Liquid Tension Experiment released a multi-disc boxed set of tour highlights from their 2008 tour, including complete shows from New York and Los Angeles on DVD and CD (the L.A. show also on Blu-ray), the Liquid Trio Experiment 2 recording from Chicago (q.v. below), and a disc of improvisations from other shows on the tour. The New York and Los Angeles shows were also released separately on CD or DVD, all through Dream Theater's official bootlegs website, YtseJam Records' subsidiary, Lazy Tomato Entertainment. During
660-489: A Stick solo (played by Andy Widders-Ellis). The Stick made a disguised appearance in David Lynch 's film Dune as Gurney Halleck 's baliset , although the scene where Halleck (played by Patrick Stewart ) plays the instrument was removed from the theatrical version and can only be seen in the extended versions. The piece being played in the scene is from Emmett Chapman's recording of his original song "Back Yard" from
770-423: A better historical picture. Until the 19th century AD, European-written music histories began with mythological accounts mingled with scripture of how musical instruments were invented. Such accounts included Jubal , descendant of Cain and "father of all such as handle the harp and the organ" ( Genesis 4:21) Pan , inventor of the pan pipes , and Mercury , who is said to have made a dried tortoise shell into
880-544: A cassette recording. Wayne Lytle, creator of Animusic , commented that on his piece "Stick Figures", his inspiration for the semi- anthropomorphic bass guitar was the Chapman Stick. Chapman Sticks have been made from many materials. The first were made from hardwoods, most from ironwood , but some from ebony and other exotic woods, until the early 1980s. The next group was made from an injection-molded polycarbonate resin through 1989. These were followed by one-piece hardwood structures with an adjustable truss rod, and for
990-451: A challenge. Despite even the efforts of two organized international summits attended by noted composers like Hector Berlioz , no standard could be agreed upon. The evolution of traditional musical instruments slowed beginning in the 20th century. Instruments such as the violin, flute, french horn, and harp are largely the same as those manufactured throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Gradual iterations do emerge; for example,
1100-516: A design trademark of the Stick). The original (now called "Classic") tuning consists of five bass strings (six on the Grand Sticks), tuned upwards in all-fifths tuning , with the low string in the middle of the fretboard, and five melody strings (6 on Grand Stick), tuned upwards (this means from lowest-pitched string to highest-pitched string) in all-fourths tuning , again with the low string in
1210-435: A drastic increase in the number and variety of musical instruments. However, identifying and classifying the instruments remains a challenge due to the lack of artistic interpretations. For example, stringed instruments of uncertain design called nevals and asors existed, but neither archaeology nor etymology can clearly define them. In her book A Survey of Musical Instruments , American musicologist Sibyl Marcuse proposes that
SECTION 10
#17327871162681320-552: A few live shows in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and London. Mike Portnoy had stated in numerous interviews (and on his web site FAQ ) that there would not be a third LTE album, as three of the four band members were also part of Dream Theater and the material would be too similar. In 2007 however, he said that a third release is possible, but that his problems with the Magna Carta label are more of an obstacle than getting
1430-823: A fiddle would; both were prominent folk instruments in the Middle Ages. Southern Europeans played short and long lutes whose pegs extended to the sides, unlike the rear-facing pegs of Central and Northern European instruments. Idiophones such as bells and clappers served various practical purposes, such as warning of the approach of a leper . The ninth century revealed the first bagpipes , which spread throughout Europe and had many uses from folk instruments to military instruments. The construction of pneumatic organs evolved in Europe starting in fifth-century Spain , spreading to England in about 700. The resulting instruments varied in size and use from portable organs worn around
1540-555: A great relief of Amenhotep III , and are of particular interest because similar designs have been found in far-reaching places such as Tbilisi , Georgia and among the Native American Yaqui tribe. The people of Mesopotamia preferred stringed instruments , as evidenced by their proliferation in Mesopotamian figurines, plaques, and seals. Innumerable varieties of harps are depicted, as well as lyres and lutes,
1650-434: A key. At the end of playing "Universal Mind", he went off stage to talk to the tech crew to see if it could be fixed. In the meantime, the other three musicians on stage continued to play, improvising for what turned out to be the rest of the concert. Rudess was on the phone with Roland for most of the time, and finally realized the keyboard was unfixable in that time, so he came onstage and took Petrucci's guitar to jam with
1760-765: A long violent period of war and destruction. This period saw the Kassites destroy the Babylonian empire in Mesopotamia and the Hyksos destroy the Middle Kingdom of Egypt . When the Pharaohs of Egypt conquered Southwest Asia in around 1500 BC, the cultural ties to Mesopotamia were renewed and Egypt's musical instruments also reflected heavy influence from Asiatic cultures. Under their new cultural influences,
1870-467: A melody. In contrast, pre-Columbian South American civilizations in areas such as modern-day Peru , Colombia , Ecuador , Bolivia , and Chile were less advanced culturally but more advanced musically. South American cultures of the time used pan-pipes as well as varieties of flutes, idiophones, drums, and shell or wood trumpets. An instrument that can be attested to the Iron Age Celts
1980-578: A member of King Crimson from 1981 onwards. He would also use it with Liquid Tension Experiment and in sessions for bands including Pink Floyd and Yes . Levin formed the band Stick Men , consisting of one drummer and two Stick players. Recordings that have been influential on Stick players, because of the prominent role the Stick plays, include the 1981 King Crimson album Discipline (played by Tony Levin ) and Emmett Chapman's own album Parallel Galaxy . Amy Grant 's hit single "Angels" also featured
2090-466: A mixture of timbres, a development needed for the complexity of music of the time. Trumpets evolved into their modern form to improve portability, and players used mutes to properly blend into chamber music . Beginning in the seventeenth century, composers began writing works to a higher emotional degree. They felt that polyphony better suited the emotional style they were aiming for and began writing musical parts for instruments that would complement
2200-638: A musical instrument by interacting with it in some way — for example, by plucking the strings on a string instrument , striking the surface of a drum , or blowing into an animal horn. Researchers have discovered archaeological evidence of musical instruments in many parts of the world. One disputed artifact (the Divje Babe flute ) has been dated to 67,000 years old, but consensus solidifies around artifacts dated back to around 37,000 years old and later. Artifacts made from durable materials, or constructed using durable methods, have been found to survive. As such,
2310-415: A new Liquid Tension Experiment reunion is possible, once all involved musicians find time for that. In May 2020, Jordan Rudess posted a video to the website Cameo stating, in response to a fan's question, that the prospect of Liquid Tension Experiment reuniting "looks very good", with the only barrier being the band members' schedules. On December 14, 2020, Levin, Portnoy, Rudess and Petrucci released
SECTION 20
#17327871162682420-420: A particular fingering, the Stick tuning results in up to four or even five octaves of note choices under each hand's fretting position. The classic tuning shows another advantage as well: The regular tunings in fourths and fifths remain consistent in each of the two parts of the instrument; regular tunings facilitate learning by beginners, as well as transposition and improvisation by advanced players. Also,
2530-414: A position approximately 30 to 40 degrees from vertical, which allows both of the player's hands to naturally and comfortably address the fretboard. The player then hammers onto the strings with the fingertips in the same way that one would strike a piano key. The technique is very similar to that of the piano inasmuch as the player covers both bass and melody notes together with both hands, and each note
2640-453: A series of live shows. A live album with the absence of Jordan Rudess (mostly) was released in 2009 under the name "Liquid Trio Experiment 2", as were three live albums and two videos featuring the complete band. They regrouped once again in 2020 to record a third studio album featuring all band members, which was released on April 16, 2021. Liquid Tension Experiment was formed by Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy after Magna Carta gave him
2750-436: A series of posts on social media (pictures of themselves wearing surgical masks spelling out "LTE 3") teasing a third Liquid Tension Experiment album; a picture of the four of them together with the same masks was posted the following day. On December 17, 2020, it was formally announced that Liquid Tension Experiment 3 would be released by Inside Out Music on March 26, 2021. The album was ultimately released April 16, 2021;
2860-400: A time from 2001 to the mid-to-late 2000s (although not currently available), the "Stick XG" (Extended Graphite) was made of structural graphite, continuous strand carbon fiber. Today, they are made from laminated hardwoods (including padauk , Indian rosewood , tarara, maple , wenge , and mahogany ), and laminated bamboo , as well as graphite . In contrast to the guitar or bass, the Stick
2970-476: A tuning to make navigation of the instrument amazingly simple, and streamline the look and feel for optimal accessibility. This instrument already exists as the Chapman Stick. Steve Adelson describing the Chapman Stick in Guitar Player magazine A Stick physically resembles the fretboard of an electric guitar—it is, however, considerably longer and wider and is strung with 8, 10, or 12 strings. Unlike
3080-624: A unique system of classifying their musical instruments according to their material makeup. In Vietnam, an archaeological discovery of a 2,000-year old stringed instrument gives important insights on early chordophones in Southeast Asia. Idiophones were extremely important in Chinese music, hence the majority of early instruments were idiophones. Poetry of the Shang dynasty mentions bells, chimes, drums, and globular flutes carved from bone,
3190-666: A wider variety of expression. Large orchestras rose in popularity and, in parallel, the composers determined to produce entire orchestral scores that made use of the expressive abilities of modern instruments. Since instruments were involved in collaborations of a much larger scale, their designs had to evolve to accommodate the demands of the orchestra. Some instruments also had to become louder to fill larger halls and be heard over sizable orchestras. Flutes and bowed instruments underwent many modifications and design changes—most of them unsuccessful—in efforts to increase volume. Other instruments were changed just so they could play their parts in
3300-565: Is also not reliable, as it cannot always be determined when and how cultures contacted one another and shared knowledge. Sachs proposed that a geographical chronology until approximately 1400 is preferable, however, due to its limited subjectivity. Beyond 1400, one can follow the overall development of musical instruments over time. The science of marking the order of musical instrument development relies on archaeological artifacts, artistic depictions, and literary references. Since data in one research path can be inconclusive, all three paths provide
3410-650: Is among many indications that the Indus Valley and Sumerian cultures maintained cultural contact. Subsequent developments in musical instruments in India occurred with the Rigveda , or hymns. These songs used various drums, shell trumpets, harps, and flutes. Other prominent instruments in use during the early centuries AD were the snake charmer's double clarinet , bagpipes , barrel drums, cross flutes, and short lutes. In all, India had no unique musical instruments until
Chapman Stick - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-407: Is an American instrumental progressive metal supergroup founded by Mike Portnoy in 1997. The band initially released two albums, between 1998 and 1999. An extension of their second regular album, with the absence of John Petrucci was released in 2007 under the name "Liquid Trio Experiment". Active up until 1999, when Jordan Rudess formally joined Dream Theater, the band reunited in 2008 for
3630-476: Is available with passive or active pickup modules that are plugged into a separate instrument amplifier . With a special synthesizer pickup, it can be used to trigger synthesizers and send MIDI messages to electronic instruments. Imagine creating music on a stringed instrument that is simultaneously a guitar , a bass , a piano , and percussion . Add unlimited electronic capabilities and forward-thinking playing techniques for ultimate expression. Now, design
3740-435: Is misleading to arrange the development of musical instruments by workmanship, since cultures advance at different rates and have access to different raw materials. For example, contemporary anthropologists comparing musical instruments from two cultures that existed at the same time but differed in organization, culture, and handicraft cannot determine which instruments are more "primitive" . Ordering instruments by geography
3850-401: Is misleading, since advancements in musical instruments have sometimes reduced complexity. For example, construction of early slit drums involved felling and hollowing out large trees; later slit drums were made by opening bamboo stalks, a much simpler task. German musicologist Curt Sachs , one of the most prominent musicologists and musical ethnologists in modern times, argues that it
3960-399: Is set up with very little relief in the fretboard. It is very flat compared to a guitar, which has a slight bow. Combined with a long scale length, stainless steel pyramidal fret rails, very low string action, and very sensitive pickups, this setup is advantageous to the tapping style of play. The rear surface of the instrument is not curved like a guitar neck, but has deep-beveled edges (also
4070-463: Is struck with one finger of one hand. Typically, one hand plays the melody on the treble strings and the other plays rhythm on the bass strings. A seated playing position (which keeps the Stick in a similar playing position relative to the player as the standing position) is also popular, wherein a cross-member is laid upon the knees of the seated player and the stick's belthook rests upon the crossmember. In 1969, jazz guitarist Emmett Chapman developed
4180-424: Is the carnyx , which is dated to c. 300 BC. The end of the bell, which was crafted from bronze, was into the shape of a screaming animal head which was held high above their heads. When blown into, the carnyx would emit a deep, harsh sound; the head also had a tongue which clicked when vibrated. It is believed the intention of the instrument was to use it on the battleground to intimidate their opponents. During
4290-475: Is used to make musical sounds . Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies — for example, by clapping—to using objects to create music from sounds, musical instruments were born. Primitive instruments were probably designed to emulate natural sounds , and their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment. The concept of melody and the artistic pursuit of musical composition were probably unknown to early players of musical instruments. A person sounding
4400-558: The Alboka (from Arab, al-buq or "horn") nowadays only alive in Basque Country . It must be played using the technique of the circular breathing. Southeast Asian musical innovations include those during a period of Indian influence that ended around 920 AD. Balinese and Javanese music made use of xylophones and metallophones , bronze versions of the former. The most prominent and important musical instrument of Southeast Asia
4510-584: The Bible and the Talmud . The Hebrew texts mention two prominent instruments associated with Jubal : the ugab (pipes) and kinnor (lyre). Other instruments of the period included the tof ( frame drum ), pa'amon (small bells or jingles), shofar , and the trumpet-like hasosra . The introduction of a monarchy in Israel during the 11th century BC produced the first professional musicians and with them
Chapman Stick - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-588: The Chukchi people of the Russian Far East , the indigenous people of Melanesia , and many cultures of Africa . In fact, drums were pervasive throughout every African culture. One East African tribe, the Wahinda , believed it was so holy that seeing a drum would be fatal to any person other than the sultan. Humans eventually developed the concept of using musical instruments to produce melody , which
4730-534: The Han dynasty . Although civilizations in Central America attained a relatively high level of sophistication by the eleventh century AD, they lagged behind other civilizations in the development of musical instruments. For example, they had no stringed instruments; all of their instruments were idiophones, drums, and wind instruments such as flutes and trumpets. Of these, only the flute was capable of producing
4840-491: The Jiahu site of central Henan province of China have found flutes made of bones that date back 7,000 to 9,000 years, representing some of the "earliest complete, playable, tightly-dated, multinote musical instruments" ever found. Scholars agree that there are no completely reliable methods of determining the exact chronology of musical instruments across cultures. Comparing and organizing instruments based on their complexity
4950-634: The Royal Cemetery in the Sumerian city of Ur . These instruments, one of the first ensembles of instruments yet discovered, include nine lyres (the Lyres of Ur ), two harps , a silver double flute , a sistrum and cymbals . A set of reed-sounded silver pipes discovered in Ur was the likely predecessor of modern bagpipes . The cylindrical pipes feature three side holes that allowed players to produce
5060-480: The ground harp , ground zither , musical bow , and jaw harp . Recent research into usage wear and acoustics of stone artefacts has revealed a possible new class of prehistoric musical instrument, known as lithophones . Images of musical instruments begin to appear in Mesopotamian artifacts in 2800 BC or earlier. Beginning around 2000 BC, Sumerian and Babylonian cultures began delineating two distinct classes of musical instruments due to division of labor and
5170-553: The post-classical era . Musical instruments such as zithers appeared in Chinese writings around 12th century BC and earlier. Early Chinese philosophers such as Confucius (551–479 BC), Mencius (372–289 BC), and Laozi shaped the development of musical instruments in China, adopting an attitude toward music similar to that of the Greeks. The Chinese believed that music was an essential part of character and community, and developed
5280-441: The theremin . Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, and many systems of classification have been used over the years. Instruments can be classified by their effective range, material composition, size, role, etc. However, the most common academic method, Hornbostel–Sachs , uses the means by which they produce sound. The academic study of musical instruments is called organology . A musical instrument
5390-468: The urghun ( organ ), shilyani (probably a type of harp or lyre ), salandj (probably a bagpipe ) and the lyra . The Byzantine lyra, a bowed string instrument, is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin . The monochord served as a precise measure of the notes of a musical scale, allowing more accurate musical arrangements. Mechanical hurdy-gurdies allowed single musicians to play more complicated arrangements than
5500-549: The "New Violin Family" began in 1964 to provide differently sized violins to expand the range of available sounds. The slowdown in development was a practical response to the concurrent slowdown in orchestra and venue size. Despite this trend in traditional instruments, the development of new musical instruments exploded in the twentieth century, and the variety of instruments developed overshadows any prior period. Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment ( LTE )
5610-624: The "father" was the bigger or more energetic instrument, while the "mother" was the smaller or duller instrument. Musical instruments existed in this form for thousands of years before patterns of three or more tones would evolve in the form of the earliest xylophone . Xylophones originated in the mainland and archipelago of Southeast Asia , eventually spreading to Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Along with xylophones, which ranged from simple sets of three "leg bars" to carefully tuned sets of parallel bars, various cultures developed instruments such as
SECTION 50
#17327871162685720-571: The Middles Ages came from Asia. The lyre is the only musical instrument that may have been invented in Europe until this period. Stringed instruments were prominent in Middle Age Europe. The central and northern regions used mainly lutes, stringed instruments with necks , while the southern region used lyres, which featured a two-armed body and a crossbar. Various harps served Central and Northern Europe as far north as Ireland, where
5830-495: The Stick was launched in 1974. On October 10 of the same year, Chapman brought his instrument to public attention by demonstrating it on the game show What's My Line? Former Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson was among the first musicians to introduce the Chapman Stick to the public. Session player Tony Levin was also an early user and was playing the instrument from the mid-1970s: he would bring it to sessions and tours with Peter Gabriel , and featured it in his work as
5940-409: The Stick, Grand Stick, and Stick Bass are 36"-scale, but the older production models were 34" scale. Stick Enterprises has also manufactured some custom and limited-run instruments: Musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds . In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that
6050-639: The area. Rather, the history of musical instruments in the area begins with the Indus Valley civilization that emerged around 3000 BC. Various rattles and whistles found among excavated artifacts are the only physical evidence of musical instruments. A clay statuette indicates the use of drums, and examination of the Indus script has also revealed representations of vertical arched harps identical in design to those depicted in Sumerian artifacts. This discovery
6160-477: The band members together to record. A situation that had to do with the company that released the Liquid Drum Theater VHS tape using video footage of Liquid Tension Experiment in the studio without getting the required permission of Magna Carta. Mike Portnoy came back to Magna Carta in 2007 to release Liquid Trio Experiment's "Spontaneous Combustion" Sessions. Several songs and riffs from
6270-579: The band. Petrucci took Levin's bass, and Levin joined in on Chapman Stick . Toward the end of the show, Charlie Benante from the band Anthrax came and played drums while Portnoy played bass. This entire improvised concert was released in 2009 as When the Keyboard Breaks: Live in Chicago . On July 19, 2012, at Dream Theater's second show on Huntington NY, Tony Levin joined Petrucci, Rudess and Mike Mangini (Dream Theater's drummer at
6380-538: The bass/melody division allows microtonal tunings. The manufacturer's website has more detailed information on tunings. The Stick is available with passive or active pickup modules . Customized Roland GK-3 pickups are available for the treble or bass side of the instrument, allowing the instrument to trigger or control one or two guitar synthesizers such as the Roland GR-20 or Axon AX-100 , and also to drive other MIDI instruments or sequencers chained to
6490-505: The changes to timbre and volume was a shift in the typical pitch used to tune instruments. Instruments meant to play together, as in an orchestra, must be tuned to the same standard lest they produce audibly different sounds while playing the same notes. Beginning in 1762, the average concert pitch began rising from a low of 377 vibrations to a high of 457 in 1880 Vienna. Different regions, countries, and even instrument manufacturers preferred different standards, making orchestral collaboration
6600-568: The cultural contacts seem to have dissipated; the lyre, a prominent ceremonial instrument in Sumer, did not appear in Egypt for another 800 years. Clappers and concussion sticks appear on Egyptian vases as early as 3000 BC. The civilization also made use of sistra, vertical flutes , double clarinets , arched and angular harps, and various drums. Little history is available in the period between 2700 BC and 1500 BC, as Egypt (and indeed, Babylon) entered
6710-485: The delay was due to printing errors by the manufacturer. A video for the song "The Passage of Time" was released on January 22, 2021. This was followed up by a video for the song "Beating the Odds" on February 26, 2021, and then by a video for the song "Hypersonic" on March 24, 2021. In an interview for Revolver magazine , Portnoy revealed the group had signed a two-album deal with InsideOut, and humorously added that
SECTION 60
#17327871162686820-496: The electric guitar, it is usually played by tapping or fretting the strings, rather than plucking them. Instead of one hand fretting and the other hand plucking, both hands sound notes by striking the strings against the fingerboard "behind" (in guitar parlance, this means a short distance towards the tuning machines) or on the appropriate frets for the desired notes. For this reason, it can sound many more notes at once than some other stringed instruments, making it more comparable to
6930-502: The evolving class system. Popular instruments, simple and playable by anyone, evolved differently from professional instruments whose development focused on effectiveness and skill. Despite this development, very few musical instruments have been recovered in Mesopotamia . Scholars must rely on artifacts and cuneiform texts written in Sumerian or Akkadian to reconstruct the early history of musical instruments in Mesopotamia. Even
7040-484: The first bowed zithers appeared in China in the 9th or 10th century, influenced by Mongolian culture. India experienced similar development to China in the post-classical era; however, stringed instruments developed differently as they accommodated different styles of music. While stringed instruments of China were designed to produce precise tones capable of matching the tones of chimes, stringed instruments of India were considerably more flexible. This flexibility suited
7150-464: The first lyre . Modern histories have replaced such mythology with anthropological speculation, occasionally informed by archeological evidence. Scholars agree that there was no definitive "invention" of the musical instrument since the term "musical instrument" is subjective and hard to define. Among the first devices external to the human body that are considered instruments are rattles , stampers, and various drums . These instruments evolved due to
7260-804: The first device considered a musical instrument, is widely disputed. The oldest object identified by scholars as a musical instrument, is a simple flute , dated back 50,000–60,000 years. Many scholars date early flutes to about 40,000 years ago. Many historians believe that determining the specific date of musical instrument invention is impossible, as the majority of early musical instruments were constructed of animal skins, bone, wood, and other non-durable, bio-degradable materials. Additionally, some have proposed that lithophones , or stones used to make musical sounds—like those found at Sankarjang in India—are examples of prehistoric musical instruments. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of
7370-454: The first such book was Sebastian Virdung 's 1511 treatise Musica getuscht und ausgezogen ('Music Germanized and Abstracted'). Virdung's work is noted as being particularly thorough for including descriptions of "irregular" instruments such as hunters' horns and cow bells, though Virdung is critical of the same. Other books followed, including Arnolt Schlick 's Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten ('Mirror of Organ Makers and Organ Players')
7480-537: The following year, a treatise on organ building and organ playing. Of the instructional books and references published in the Renaissance era, one is noted for its detailed description and depiction of all wind and stringed instruments, including their relative sizes. This book, the Syntagma musicum by Michael Praetorius , is now considered an authoritative reference of sixteenth-century musical instruments. In
7590-462: The forerunner of modern stringed instruments such as the violin . Musical instruments used by the Egyptian culture before 2700 BC bore striking similarity to those of Mesopotamia, leading historians to conclude that the civilizations must have been in contact with one another. Sachs notes that Egypt did not possess any instruments that the Sumerian culture did not also possess. However, by 2700 BC
7700-402: The gods. Greeks played a variety of wind instruments they classified as aulos (reeds) or syrinx (flutes); Greek writing from that time reflects a serious study of reed production and playing technique. Romans played reed instruments named tibia , featuring side-holes that could be opened or closed, allowing for greater flexibility in playing modes. Other instruments in common use in
7810-410: The green light for "whatever he wanted to do". Portnoy first invited keyboardist Jordan Rudess and progressive rock icon Tony Levin (bass, Chapman Stick ) of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel 's band to join him. Portnoy also had bassist Billy Sheehan and keyboardist Jens Johansson on his shortlist. In his second instructional video "Liquid Drum Theater", Portnoy said that his first choice for
7920-498: The guitar synthesizer. The hammer-on style of playing produces a rising waveform transient that is easily tracked by this type of device. Standard output is two-channel, through a TRS 1/4" phone connector , with bass and melody courses output separately. There are separate volume controls for bass and melody. The ACTV-2 and PASV-4 pickup modules also have mono operation modes. The Stick can be plugged into any standard guitar amp or bass amplifier , to good effect. However, because of
8030-452: The guitar was Dimebag Darrell , but he was unable to join because of conflicting schedules. Two other primary choices, Steve Morse (formerly of Dixie Dregs and Kansas , at that time of Deep Purple ) and Jim Matheos ( Fates Warning ) were also unavailable. Portnoy then turned to fellow Dream Theater member John Petrucci to fill the position (despite initially wanting to keep the project completely separate from Dream Theater ). The combo
8140-488: The harp eventually became a national symbol. Lyres propagated through the same areas, as far east as Estonia . European music between 800 and 1100 became more sophisticated, more frequently requiring instruments capable of polyphony . The 9th-century Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh mentioned in his lexicographical discussion of music instruments that, in the Byzantine Empire , typical instruments included
8250-630: The human motor impulse to add sound to emotional movements such as dancing. Eventually, some cultures assigned ritual functions to their musical instruments, using them for hunting and various ceremonies. Those cultures developed more complex percussion instruments and other instruments such as ribbon reeds, flutes, and trumpets. Some of these labels carry far different connotations from those used in modern day; early flutes and trumpets are so-labeled for their basic operation and function rather than resemblance to modern instruments. Among early cultures for whom drums developed ritual, even sacred importance are
8360-574: The latter half of the sixteenth century, orchestration came into common practice as a method of writing music for a variety of instruments. Composers now specified orchestration where individual performers once applied their own discretion. The polyphonic style dominated popular music, and the instrument makers responded accordingly. Beginning in about 1400, the rate of development of musical instruments increased in earnest as compositions demanded more dynamic sounds. People also began writing books about creating, playing, and cataloging musical instruments;
8470-443: The latter of which has been excavated and preserved by archaeologists. The Zhou dynasty saw percussion instruments such as clappers , troughs, wooden fish , and yǔ (wooden tiger). Wind instruments such as flute, pan-pipes , pitch-pipes , and mouth organs also appeared in this time period. The xiao (an end-blown flute ) and various other instruments that spread through many cultures, came into use in China during and after
8580-436: The middle of the fretboard. The hardware is fully adjustable to accommodate any gauge string at any position. On the 36"-scale instrument, notes can range from low C (above B on a 5-string bass) to high D (a whole step below the high E string on guitar). On the two guitar-scale models (Alto Stick and Stick Guitar), the notes range from F below guitar low E to F# above guitar high E. Tuning configurations may change depending on
8690-488: The modern horn or, more colloquially, French horn, had emerged by 1725. The slide trumpet appeared, a variation that includes a long-throated mouthpiece that slid in and out, allowing the player infinite adjustments in pitch . This variation on the trumpet was unpopular due to the difficulty involved in playing it. Organs underwent tonal changes in the Baroque period, as manufacturers such as Abraham Jordan of London made
8800-464: The most profound changes occurred during the Renaissance period. Instruments took on other purposes than accompanying singing or dance, and performers used them as solo instruments. Keyboards and lutes developed as polyphonic instruments, and composers arranged increasingly complex pieces using more advanced tablature . Composers also began designing pieces of music for specific instruments. In
8910-400: The music that accompanied wedding and circumcision ceremonies. Persian miniatures provide information on the development of kettle drums in Mesopotamia that spread as far as Java. Various lutes, zithers, dulcimers , and harps spread as far as Madagascar to the south and modern-day Sulawesi to the east. Despite the influences of Greece and Rome, most musical instruments in Europe during
9020-530: The neck to large pipe organs. Literary accounts of organs being played in English Benedictine abbeys toward the end of the tenth century are the first references to organs being connected to churches. Reed players of the Middle Ages were limited to oboes ; no evidence of clarinets exists during this period. Musical instrument development was dominated by the Occident from 1400 on, indeed,
9130-510: The nevel must be similar to vertical harp due to its relation to nabla , the Phoenician term for "harp". In Greece , Rome , and Etruria , the use and development of musical instruments stood in stark contrast to those cultures' achievements in architecture and sculpture. The instruments of the time were simple and virtually all of them were imported from other cultures. Lyres were the principal instrument, as musicians used them to honor
9240-548: The object becomes a musical instrument. A person who plays a musical instrument is known as an instrumentalist . The history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have been used for rituals, such as a horn to signal success on the hunt, or a drum in a religious ceremony. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment. Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications and technologies. The exact date and specific origin of
9350-552: The oldest known musical instrument and the only Neanderthal musical instrument. Mammoth bone and swan bone flutes have been found dating back to 30,000 to 37,000 years old in the Swabian Alps of Germany. The flutes were made in the Upper Paleolithic age, and are more commonly accepted as being the oldest known musical instruments. Archaeological evidence of musical instruments was discovered in excavations at
9460-543: The people of the New Kingdom began using oboes , trumpets, lyres , lutes , castanets , and cymbals . Unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt, professional musicians did not exist in Israel between 2000 and 1000 BC. While the history of musical instruments in Mesopotamia and Egypt relies on artistic representations, the culture in Israel produced few such representations. Scholars must therefore rely on information gleaned from
9570-777: The period of time loosely referred to as the post-classical era and Europe in particular as the Middle Ages , China developed a tradition of integrating musical influence from other regions. The first record of this type of influence is in 384 AD, when China established an orchestra in its imperial court after a conquest in Turkestan . Influences from Middle East, Persia, India, Mongolia, and other countries followed. In fact, Chinese tradition attributes many musical instruments from this period to those regions and countries. Cymbals gained popularity, along with more advanced trumpets, clarinets, pianos, oboes, flutes, drums, and lutes. Some of
9680-422: The player's style: a player playing as a lead instrument will choose an overall higher pitch tuning, with more separation or overlap between the melody and bass courses. The stringing/tuning configuration of the Chapman Stick is advantageous to the player who wishes to play large, fully voiced chords with close inner-note relationships. In contrast to a standard guitar, where one tends to "run out of options" within
9790-426: The process of assigning names to these instruments is challenging since there is no clear distinction among various instruments and the words used to describe them. Although Sumerian and Babylonian artists mainly depicted ceremonial instruments, historians have distinguished six idiophones used in early Mesopotamia: concussion clubs, clappers, sistra , bells, cymbals, and rattles. Sistra are depicted prominently in
9900-489: The project have been incorporated into Dream Theater's live performances, such as " Instrumedley " from Live at Budokan , which includes excerpts of the songs "Paradigm Shift" and "Universal Mind." On October 4, 2007, it was announced that LTE would headline NEARfest 2008 in June. On March 29, 2008, six Liquid Tension Experiment tour dates in June 2008 were announced to celebrate the bands 10 year anniversary as well to create
10010-400: The recording sessions for their second album, John Petrucci had to leave when his wife went into premature labor. During that period, the remaining members, who still had studio time booked, continued to write music in improvisation. On October 23, 2007, a compilation of jams from those sessions was released under the name of Liquid Trio Experiment . The album, called Spontaneous Combustion ,
10120-515: The region included vertical harps derived from those of the Orient , lutes of Egyptian design, various pipes and organs, and clappers, which were played primarily by women. Evidence of musical instruments in use by early civilizations of India is almost completely lacking, making it impossible to reliably attribute instruments to the Munda and Dravidian language-speaking cultures that first settled
10230-468: The rising popularity of the guitar. As the prevalence of string orchestras rose, wind instruments such as the flute, oboe, and bassoon were readmitted to counteract the monotony of hearing only strings. In the mid-seventeenth century, what was known as a hunter's horn underwent a transformation into an "art instrument" consisting of a lengthened tube, a narrower bore, a wider bell, and a much wider range. The details of this transformation are unclear, but
10340-405: The scores. Trumpets traditionally had a "defective" range—they were incapable of producing certain notes with precision. New instruments such as the clarinet , saxophone , and tuba became fixtures in orchestras. Instruments such as the clarinet also grew into entire "families" of instruments capable of different ranges: small clarinets, normal clarinets, bass clarinets, and so on. Accompanying
10450-399: The singing human voice. As a result, many instruments that were incapable of larger ranges and dynamics, and therefore were seen as unemotional, fell out of favor. One such instrument was the shawm. Bowed instruments such as the violin , viola , baryton , and various lutes dominated popular music. Beginning in around 1750, however, the lute disappeared from musical compositions in favor of
10560-421: The sixteenth century, musical instrument builders gave most instruments – such as the violin – the "classical shapes" they retain today. An emphasis on aesthetic beauty also developed; listeners were as pleased with the physical appearance of an instrument as they were with its sound. Therefore, builders paid special attention to materials and workmanship, and instruments became collectibles in homes and museums. It
10670-700: The slides and tremolos of Hindu music. Rhythm was of paramount importance in Indian music of the time, as evidenced by the frequent depiction of drums in reliefs dating to the post-classical era. The emphasis on rhythm is an aspect native to Indian music. Historians divide the development of musical instruments in medieval India between pre-Islamic and Islamic periods due to the different influence each period provided. In pre-Islamic times, idiophones such as handbells , cymbals, and peculiar instruments resembling gongs came into wide use in Hindu music. The gong-like instrument
10780-465: The specimens found cannot be irrefutably placed as the earliest musical instruments. The Divje Babe Flute is a perforated bone discovered in 1995, in the northwest region of Slovenia by archaeologist Ivan Turk. Its origin is disputed, with many arguing that it is most likely the product of carnivores chewing the bone, but Turk and others argue that it is a Neanderthal -made flute. With its age estimated between 43,400 and 67,000 years old, it would be
10890-506: The stops more expressive and added devices such as expressive pedals. Sachs viewed this trend as a "degeneration" of the general organ sound. During the Classical and Romantic periods of music, lasting from roughly 1750 to 1900, many musical instruments capable of producing new timbres and higher volume were developed and introduced into popular music. The design changes that broadened the quality of timbres allowed instruments to produce
11000-630: The time) onstage to perform "Paradigm Shift." Later in 2012, Portnoy performed "Acid Rain" live with PSMS, his band with Derek Sherinian , Tony MacAlpine and Billy Sheehan . They recorded a live DVD in Tokyo including the song. On February 10, 2017, Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin reunited on stage in Tampa, FL to perform Paradigm Shift, Acid Rain and Universal Mind. They were accompanied by members of progressive metal group Haken . In April 2019, both John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess announced that
11110-422: The two-handed tapping technique (in which both hands play parallel to the frets) and applied it to his playing. At the time, Chapman was playing a 9-string long-scale guitar, but decided to develop a new instrument for use with " free hands " to use the method's full potential. The Chapman Stick took five years to develop, during which Chapman also opted to set up a business to sell it. The first production model of
11220-562: The very high impedance of the passive pickups, an instrument preamp is often employed, especially for full-range amplification systems ( PA system , keyboard amps , etc.). British musician Nick Beggs uses a Grand Stick, fully MIDI-capable of triggering from both bass and melody strings. He has named this modified instrument the "Virtual Stick". Currently, there are eight models of the Chapman Stick. Some string configurations are mentioned below, but current production models offer any tuning within physical limitations of stringing: Currently,
11330-502: The world. However, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. By the post-classical era , instruments from Mesopotamia were in maritime Southeast Asia , and Europeans played instruments originating from North Africa . Development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North , Central , and South America shared musical instruments. By 1400, musical instrument development slowed in many areas and
11440-546: Was a bronze disk that was struck with a hammer instead of a mallet. Tubular drums, stick zithers ( veena ), short fiddles, double and triple flutes, coiled trumpets, and curved India horns emerged in this time period. Islamic influences brought new types of drum, perfectly circular or octagonal as opposed to the irregular pre-Islamic drums. Persian influence brought oboes and sitars , although Persian sitars had three strings and Indian version had from four to seven. The Islamic culture also introduced double- clarinet instruments as
11550-409: Was dominated by the Occident . During the Classical and Romantic periods of music, lasting from roughly 1750 to 1900, many new musical instruments were developed. While the evolution of traditional musical instruments slowed beginning in the 20th century, the proliferation of electricity led to the invention of new electric and electronic instruments, such as electric guitars , synthesizers , and
11660-455: Was during this period that makers began constructing instruments of the same type in various sizes to meet the demand of consorts , or ensembles playing works written for these groups of instruments. Instrument builders developed other features that endure today. For example, while organs with multiple keyboards and pedals already existed, the first organs with solo stops emerged in the early fifteenth century. These stops were meant to produce
11770-748: Was formed as a side project to Dream Theater in 1997. Both Mike and John confirmed on the 5 Years in a Livetime DVD commentary, that Rudess was asked to join Dream Theater largely because of the success of Liquid Tension Experiment, and the chemistry of the three working together. Rudess had previously declined to join Dream Theater in 1994 and instead became a member of the Dixie Dregs , known for complex, "Southern fusion" instrumental music. Liquid Tension Experiment released two albums, Liquid Tension Experiment (1998) and Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (1999) on Magna Carta Records . They also played
11880-513: Was previously common only in singing. Similar to the process of reduplication in language, instrument players first developed repetition and then arrangement. An early form of melody was produced by pounding two stamping tubes of slightly different sizes—one tube would produce a "clear" sound and the other would answer with a "darker" sound. Such instrument pairs also included bullroarers , slit drums, shell trumpets , and skin drums. Cultures who used these instrument pairs associated them with gender;
11990-558: Was recorded from Mike Portnoy's DATs of the sessions because the original master tapes disappeared before the mixing stage. A few songs from Liquid Tension Experiment 2 were spawned from these jam sessions, including "914", "Chewbacca", and "Liquid Dreams". The second incarnation of Liquid Trio Experiment happened unexpectedly while playing a concert in Chicago, IL on June 25, 2008. In the beginning of their set, Jordan Rudess' keyboard started playing two adjacent notes on every press of
12100-579: Was the gong. While the gong likely originated in the geographical area between Tibet and Burma , it was part of every category of human activity in maritime Southeast Asia including Java . The areas of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula experiences rapid growth and sharing of musical instruments once they were united by Islamic culture in the seventh century. Frame drums and cylindrical drums of various depths were immensely important in all genres of music. Conical oboes were involved in
#267732