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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:
41 ½ in. |
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Canon height: 5
½ in. |
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Canon width: 40 ½ in. |
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Height on upper side: 51 ½ in. |
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Height on lower side: 31 ¾ 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. |
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.) |
