Lyre

Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt-7n6z9lQ8

The doctrine you desire,
absolute, perfect,
dogma that alone provides wisdom,
does not exist.

Nor should you long
for a perfect doctrine....

Rather, you should long
for the perfection
of yourself.

Truth reveals itself
in enigma;
let us approach it
with wonder and awe
as diviners of its mystery.

(text adapted in part from Hermann Hesse's "Glass Bead Game" and Gene Roddenberry)

P EOPLE have been badgering me for years to explain 1s and Os. Let's be honest, there isn't a good jargonbuster anywhere, in print or on screen. Why not? Currently, only a handful of scholars have 'got it'. Their risky mountain-top work, mostly published in the last decade, is slow to trickle into mainstream musical thought. The inertia to overcome is significant because 1s and Os concern a way of thinking that is remote from our own. They belong to a musical system sustained through long apprenticeships with master musicians in the Middle Ages; the craft of erudite virtuosi who were well acquainted, 500 years ago, with the models of the past.

Prehistorical musical instruments have been explored in archaeology more systematically since the 1970s when music archaeology was established as a field of study. The new awareness initially led to studies centred on retrieving musical instruments that had been missed and were now lost in archives. New discoveries, too, are very object-oriented. This master’s thesis ties together individual finds of the Germanic round-lyre to create a comparative study, in which the main focus is set on their context. Instead of focusing solely on the object, the instrument will be used to get a glimpse of the person behind it, i.e. to face questions of identity. 26 finds dating to A.D. 500-1200 have been included from graves and cultural layers, stretching over central and northern Europe. They have been compared in terms of find context, state of the find, construction of the lyre, materials used, position in the grave, other grave goods and burial structure, considering also similarities and differences in space and time. This has resulted in a division between five possible types of owners/users of the lyre: The professional scop/skáld, the continental elite, the Anglo-Saxon elite, the clergyman and the individual from a lower social standing.

The aim of this paper is to explore a possible correlation between the dramatic destructions at the LH IIIB2/IIIC Early transition and the early development of oral heroic song in Greece. To this end, a non-linguistic, contextual perspective on the Greek epic as a set of performative practices is advanced. In contrast to older and more recent philological assumptions, which at present seem to be regaining ground among archaeologists, new arguments are presented that show how little in common the literary world of the Iliad and the Odyssey has with Mycenaean palatial culture, as suggested by M. Finley in 1954. The currently available archaeological, archaeozoological, visual and epigraphic evidence for cult, feasting, sung performance, lyre-playing and related practices largely contradicts the notion of Homeric-style bardic performances for the wanaktas. Instead, the recently established picture of LH IIIC (Middle) as the period of relative prosperity rather supports a suggestion made by G. Kirk (1962) that the period after the destructions could have been the setting from which the oral epic tradition arose. Thus, an important creative aspect is added to our understanding of the destruction phenomenon, one that couples with what has recently emerged as the survival or revival of maritime contacts, political structures, figural art and craft production in parts of the Greek world during the twelfth century BC.

This paper is based on a hypothesis that explores the ancient archetype of the Perfect Fifth, a sonic interval, and its potential importance in the applications of sound healing in modern stress science. An interval in sound is a precise space between two tones. The Perfect Fifth is a precise tonal relationship defined by a 2/3 ratio that was believed in ancient cultures to have profound healing qualities. The Perfect Fifth is also an archetype that repeats itself over and over to create a vibrational field that gives rise to everything we know. Its healing qualities, well known in the ancient times, will be presented in case histories and in a review of research in modern biochemistry and neuroscience that makes the case for the healing power of sound, strongly suggesting the need for more research. The purpose of this paper is to learn from and be inspired by the great teachers of the past and to better understand their way of conceptualizing the universe and healing in the light of modern science. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part presents an understanding of interval of a Perfect Fifth and ancient sound healing principles. The second part presents " the Alchemy of The Perfect Fifth. " Part three presents " The Perfect Fifth and Sound Healing " and introduces case histories and scientific insights on the mechanisms by which these ancient sound healing practices work. The intention is to show similarities between the teachings of the past and the present-day practices based on modern research. Résumé Cet article est basé sur une hypothèse qui explore l'archétype antique de l'intervalle sonore de la Quinte parfaite et son importance vis à vis de la guérison par les sons dans la branche de la science moderne liée à l'état de stress. Un intervalle sonore est un espace précis entre deux tonalités ; la Quinte parfaite, quant à elle, est la relation tonale exacte définie par un rapport de deux à trois. Chez les cultures anciennes, elle était censée posséder des pouvoirs de guérison importants. La Quinte parfaite est également un archétype qui se répète continuellement afin de créer un champ vibratoire qui donne naissance à tout ce que nous connaissons. Ses propriétés curatives, bien connues dans l'antiquité, seront ici présentées dans des antécédents médicaux et

Despite the large number of ancient Egyptian musical instruments which have been found, pharaonic music remains a poorly studied area of academic interest. The few research has mostly been conducted by musicologists, and particularly by Hans Hickmann on the iconographic record. Useful Egyptological work has, on the other hand, been conducted on the textual material. Despite these efforts, limited research has been administered on the archaeological sources, consisting of the extant instruments and their context, itself. Nonetheless, by looking at the extant instruments and their associated objects, much information can be gained.
This paper evaluates the interpretative possibilities the material, more specifically ancient Egyptian stringed musical instruments or ‘chordophones’, has to offer. It presents the original excavation contexts of the objects under study and places them in their chronological and geographical framework. Thereafter, the functionality of objects is derived from remaining string traces and evidence of repairs and adjustments. On the other hand, ‘Model instruments’ are identified by their morphological properties and decoration. Two inscribed musical instruments are used to place both the functional and model instrument category into perspective. Afterwards, the paper offers an overview of all extant ancient Egyptian chordophones and places them in a typological framework. The morphological capabilities and limitations of every instrument are used to ascertain the position of the type or subtype within the musical ensemble. Finally, all previous elements are combined in a preliminary overview of the evolution of the use of stringed musical instruments in the ancient Egyptian funerary culture.
At the end of the paper, a list with the basic measurements and associated burial goods of the musical instruments is added. The study is supplemented further with a photographic overview of the objects under study.

- For those who are intrested in the subject, do not hesitate to ask me for the full version.

This paper puts forward a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the iconography of chelys-lyres and barbitoi associated with satyrs and Dionysos in late 5th and early 4th century Attic vase-painting, in an attempt to confront independent visual evidence with the textually-driven narratives on musical hierarchies and polemics in Classical Athens. The author identifies a coherent lineage of vase-painters which introduce the lyre in the semantics of Dionysiac iconography in the late 5th and early 4th century BC, escaping the musical polarizations associated with the critics of New Music – thus illuminating a largely invisible segment within the Athenian society in a time of political and socio-cultural turmoil.

N ell'affresco del Parnaso che orna la Stanza della Segnatura in Vaticano sono dipinti cinque strumenti, alcuni antichi, altri moderni, ma tutti sembrano affiitti da incongruenze, insoliti sia nelle rappresentazioni di strumenti antichi che in quelli in uso ai tempi di Raffaello.

Tekst dotyczy grafiki na okładkach nut w XIX i pierwszej połowie XX wieku związanej z instrumentami muzycznymi. Jednym z najczęściej pojawiających się instrumentów na okładkach nut jest antyczna lira, najważniejszy instrument starożytnej Grecji. Mimo że nie jest używana w praktyce muzycznej Zachodu od setek lat, wciąż utrzymuje się jej znaczenie jako symbolu muzyki, zwłaszcza wokalno-instrumentalnej. Na okładkach nut występuje w różnych funkcjach, od (często mało zauważalnych) znaków graficznych (sygnetów) wydawnictw muzycznych, przez małe elementy zdobnicze po ilustracje całej okładki. Zgodnie z konwencją lira jest przedstawiana samodzielnie lub w rękach muz, niekiedy wizualnie uwspółcześnionych, a nawet symbolizujących sztukę ludową. Choć najbardziej popularnym instrumentem w praktyce muzycznej XIX i XX wieku był fortepian, nierzadko obecny w ilustracjach nut, w plastyce nie osiągnął znaczenia podobnego do liry. Tymczasem antyczna lira wciąż jest uniwersalnym symbolem sztuk muzycznych. Wydaje się, że współcześnie zanika rozpoznawalność zarówno instrumentu, jak i treści symbolicznych oraz odniesień mitologicznych i religijnych, które niesie.
Słowa-klucze: instrumenty muzyczne, nuty, okładki nut, ilustracje okładek, lira, antyczna lira, symbolika liry, Apollo, muzy, fortepian, znak graficzny wydawnictwa (sygnet), ikonografia muzyczna

The Artist on Saturday was inspired by a unique and devastating rhyming couplet I heard in Crete a few years back. Crete is famous for its tradition of rhyming couplets, called Mandinades. Cretan rhyming couplet competitions resemble today’s rap contests. In this story the protagonist is a “rhymadore” who is worried that his inspiration has dried up and today of all days he must come up with the most stunning couplet ever.

This article studies the contemporizing of the ethical and social connotations ascribed to string and wind instruments by the Grecolatin tradition that Hispanic Emblematics carried out in the 16th and 17th centuries. This is most evident in the depiction of the legend of Apollo in his respective musical competitions against Marsyas and Pan. This contemporizing of the legends allows us to perceive the political, social and religious dimensions that these musical contests acquire in the Hispanic World.

Anthocyanins accumulation and gene expression in berries of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Tannat trained in Lyre system was investigated. Expression of genes involved in anthocyanins biosynthetic pathway as chalcone synthase (CHS), fl avonoid 3-hydroxylase (F3H), dihydrofl avonol 4-reductase (DFR), and UDP-glucose fl avonoid-3-O-glucosyl transferase (UFGT) was examined. On the other hand, the infl uence of plant architecture, Lyre and vertical shoot positioned (VSP) trellis systems, on anthocyanins accumulation and gene expression was also analyzed. Final contents of total anthocyanins were not affected by trellis systems but varied in two years with different water defi cit imposition period. However, the individual profi le of the genes and anthocyanidins modifi ed according to the moment of water defi cit imposition (veraison or harvest) and by the trellis systems (Lyre or VSP). Analysis of gene expression in Lyre along the berry development period showed that low leaf water potentials after veraison cause an earlier and greater induction compared with expression in a year with low leaf water potential at harvest. At harvest, the hydric defi cit induced an increase in the expression of CHS, F3H and DFR genes and a higher total anthocyanins content. The study revealed that plant architecture affect the expression of anthocyanins related gene in berries possibly by modifying the canopy microclimate.

At Aeschylus Agamemnon 985 the manuscript reading ψαμμίας ἀκάτα is corrupt, giving neither meter nor sense. Wilamowitz’ conjecture ψάμμος ἄμπτα has met with some editorial approval, but its sense is dubious and should be rejected. I propose instead ψάλλον ἀκταῖς, “they were plucking on the shore”, referring to the performance of a paean on the lyre by the Greek fleet departing for, or, less likely, arriving at, Troy. The fleet’s departure would be an appropriate time for the soldiers to perform a paean, for which the lyre was a common accompaniment. Plucking a lyre without strumming, however, as ψάλλον implies, seems to have been a less common performance technique, sometimes culturally marked as ‘Asian’. While there is evidence that a paean with plucked accompaniment might have seemed unexceptional to a Greek audience, if Aeschylus did intend an Asian connotation, I suggest that the Chorus, having just witnessed Agamemnon tread on the purple cloths, would thereby portray the Greek army as already tainted by tryphe on their departure for Troy. Whether ‘Greek’ or ‘Trojan’, the conjectured army’s paean would form an effective counterpoint to the lyre-less threnos in the Chorus’ heart that dominates the ode.

Anthocyanins accumulation and gene expression in berries of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Tannat trained in Lyre system was investigated. Expression of genes involved in anthocyanins biosynthetic pathway as chalcone synthase (CHS), fl avonoid 3-hydroxylase (F3H), dihydrofl avonol 4-reductase (DFR), and UDP-glucose fl avonoid-3-O-glucosyl transferase (UFGT) was examined. On the other hand, the infl uence of plant architecture, Lyre and vertical shoot positioned (VSP) trellis systems, on anthocyanins accumulation and gene expression was also analyzed. Final contents of total anthocyanins were not affected by trellis systems but varied in two years with different water defi cit imposition period. However, the individual profi le of the genes and anthocyanidins modifi ed according to the moment of water defi cit imposition (veraison or harvest) and by the trellis systems (Lyre or VSP). Analysis of gene expression in Lyre along the berry development period showed that low leaf water potentials a...