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In a message dated 11/25/04 5:37:55 AM, oakley@techrepairs.freeserve.co.uk writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE"></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">> Also reportedly Laurie Anderson used a violin with a tape head near<BR>
the<BR>
> bridge and a bow strung up with mag tape instead of horsehair.<BR>
<BR>
There was an article on Laurie Anderson in E&MM in the early 1980s and<BR>
she mentions the use of this. I know I wasn't the only one who then<BR>
tried it out...<BR>
<BR>
I used a piece of cassette tape stuck to a 12" ruler. The tape head and<BR>
amp came from an old shoe box cassette recorder. I recorded several<BR>
peices of material for the short bit of tape. the most success I had was<BR>
with a 440Hz square wave.<BR>
<BR>
The results were ... shall we say, of scientific interest only. I stuck<BR>
to building keyboards after that.<BR>
<BR>
Regards,<BR>
<BR>
Tony Allgood www.oakleysound.com<BR>
<BR>
Oakley Modular Synthesisers Penrith, Cumbria, England<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
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<BR>
If I recall correctly from the film I saw 2 decades ago, Laurie Anderson's tape bows were loaded with recordings of short pithy phrases like "Hi, how are you?". I don't even recall any randomness/extreme changes in the speed or start point of her playback. Kinda like a loaded deck--her intended phasing, tone and emphasis were in her initial reading of the line (very, um, performance-like) as recorded and not in her playback. Tho' could've been a bit of both.<BR>
<BR>
Also, if I remember correctly (corrections/amplifications welcomed), the phrases were almost violin-like to begin with (think Chuck Berry "saying" thank you on guitar--that sort of mimicry reversed). And LA was milking the audiovisual pun. If so, her tape violin was less of a free-form sound exploration device (like the tape head collages) where whatever comes up comes out and more of a premeditated performance prop/conceptual gambit.<BR>
<BR>
Fun, in any case . . .<BR>
<BR>
Back to lurking,<BR>
Kevin Seward</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"></FONT></HTML>