Sunday evening in Aristo’s bar in Barga Vecchia and as usual, some of the members of the swing band Emma e gli Aristodemo’s were entertaining themselves with a little jam session when in through the door walked a young woman with a strangely shaped black bag slung over her right shoulder.
She certainly did not look like your usual hunter from the region but the bag did look suspiciously like she was bringing in a rifle to the bar. The music slowed down as people turned to watch the bag slowly being opened and then stopped completely once the contents finally came into view.
Nobody was any the wiser once in became clear that she was pulling out looked like a large wood saw … it was not until the stringed bow came into view that finally the penny dropped … it was a singing saw or musical saw.
Watch the video to see and hear the saw in action as the Aristodemo’s play a short version of the Amy Winehouse song, Back to Black
The musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a friction idiophone with direct friction under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification.
The saw is generally played seated with the handle squeezed between the legs, and the far end held with one hand. Some sawists play standing, either with the handle between the knees and the blade sticking out in front of them, or with the handle under the chin (like a violin). The saw is usually played with the serrated edge, or teeth facing the body, though some players face them away. Some saw players file down the teeth for added comfort. To sound a note, a sawist first bends the blade into an S-curve. The parts of the blade that are curved are damped from vibration, and do not sound. At the center of the S-curve a section of the blade remains relatively flat. This section, the “sweet spot”, can vibrate across the width of the blade, producing a distinct pitch: the wider the section of blade, the lower the sound. Sound is usually created by drawing a bow across the back edge of the saw at the sweet spot, or sometimes by striking the sweet spot with a mallet. The sawist controls the pitch by adjusting the S-curve, making the sweet spot travel up the blade (toward a thinner width) for a higher pitch, or toward the handle for a lower pitch. Harmonics can be created by playing at varying distances on either side of the sweet spot. Sawists can add vibrato by shaking one of their legs or by wobbling the hand that holds the tip of the blade. Once a sound is produced, it will sustain for quite a while, and can be carried through several notes of a phrase.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW780CFVeeY
Sawists often use standard wood-cutting saws, although special musical saws are also made. As compared with wood-cutting saws, the blades of musical saws are generally wider, for range, and longer, for finer control. They do not have set or sharpened teeth, and may have grain running parallel to the back edge of the saw, rather than parallel to the teeth. Some musical saws are made with thinner metal, to increase flexibility, while others are made thicker, for a richer tone, longer sustain, and stronger harmonics. A typical musical saw is 5″ wide at the handle end and 1″ wide at the tip. A saw will generally produce about 2 octaves regardless of length. A bass saw may be 6″ at the handle and produce about 2½ octaves.
Most sawists use cello or violin bows, using violin rosin, but some may use improvised home-made bows, such as a wooden dowel. – source
Emma e gli Aristodemo’s are: Emma Morton (cantante / singer), Keane (percussioni / percussion), Leo Gnesi (Contro Basso / Double Bass), Alessandro Rizzardi (Mandolino / Madolin and Sax), Fabio Guazzelli (chitarra / guitar) plus special guest, Lucca Giovacchini (chitarra/guitar)
This Band came together in the winter of 2009 when local musicians Alessandro Rizzardi (mandolino), Keane (Percussioni), Fabio Guazzelli (chitarra), Leo Gnesi (contro bass), and Emma Morton (cantante) found each other in Aristo’s enoteca, with instruments in hand, and exciting ideas in mind and of course, passion in heart. A new type of swing group was born. Focusing mainly on forgotten swing Italiano from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, Emma e gli Aristodemos welcome you to jump back in time and into their salotto.
Each concert is a piece of live theatre: a typical 40’s lounge is recreated in each performance space and the audience can witness the musicians play as a family… you may even get an invite into their ‘little home’ for tea!
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