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Harmonic/Melodic Canon
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Photo by Will Gullette |
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1.
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I am the poet of the Body
Poem by Walt Whitman
Music by Cris Forster |
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Cris Forster, Harmonic/Melodic Canon
and voice
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2.
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The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me
Poem by Walt Whitman
Music by Cris Forster |
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Cris Forster,
Harmonic/Melodic Canon and voice |
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Built: |
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1976, San Francisco, California. |
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Rebuilt: |
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1981, San Diego, California. |
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Rebuilt: |
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1987, San Francisco, California. |
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Dimensions: |
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Total number of strings: 48. |
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String length:
1000.0 mm. |
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Canon length:
41½ in. |
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Canon height: 5½ in. |
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Canon width: 40½ in. |
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Height on upper side: 51½ in. |
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Height on lower side: 31¾ in. |
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Materials: |
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Sitka spruce, Honduras rosewood, birch, teak, |
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delrin, kydex, aluminum, brass, and steel. |
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Range: |
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Open strings: G below middle C. |
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Tuning: |
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Just Intonation. |
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In ancient Greece, Pythagoras, Euclid, and Ptolemy used an instrument called the
kanon to analyze and play many different
kinds of intervals and scales. In
Greek, the word kanon means (1) a
straight rule or rod, as in measuring instrument; and (2) a general rule or principle, as in code of law.
On the Harmonic/Melodic Canon, all 48 strings are one meter long and are tuned to
the same frequency, thereby giving an aural and mathematical constant. Moveable bridges then divide the strings
into many different and exact frequency ratios.
Since the tuning possibilities on a canon seem endless, I refer to it as a
“limited form of infinity.”
(See also: M.M. Pages >
Al-Jurjani’s Canon,
> Forster’s Canon.) |
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