Practice Notes 2014-09-25

By chance, I have access to a piano in my apartment for the first time… ever, actually. Trying to work through sight-reading some of J.S. Bach’s two-part inventions (score, warning: PDF). Inventio 4 in D minor is a favourite, and I can get through either part on its own without too much trouble, or both together VERY slowly.

Also put simple chords to De Montford and played along with a rather excellent video by Starymonetti, who I met half of in Vienna this summer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVXgsgGT0gI

Also: explained the inner workings of the hurdy gurdies’ mysterious buzzing sound to my roommate. It’s not actually effectively explained anywhere on the web as far as I can tell, so if you’re curious:

One (or more) of the strings rest on bridges which are not adhered to the instrument but rather sit in a slot and can pivot. A string (the “tirant” en Français) applies force to the non-vibrating part of the string, pulling the pivoting bridge down firmly against the soundboard. The amount of tension on the tirant sets the threshold of energy with which the string must be vibrating in order to pivot the bridge, at which point a slip-stick cycle starts to happen, repeatedly pivoting the bridge before it slips back, hammering against the soundboard.