NEW AT THE KIRCHER SOCIETY

ATHANASIUS KIRCHER SOCIETY - This week, we turn our attention to
visionary musical instruments. We start, of course, with an idea from
Father Kircher, the arca musarythmica, a device by which a non-musician
could compose a piece of four-part music using prearranged musical
fragments inscribed in wands arranged in columns inside the box. Each
type of wand corresponded to a particular metrical unit e.g. 4, 5, or 6
syllables, and on each wand there were examples of florid counterpoint
on one side and more simple note-against-note settings on the other.
Once the phrase to be set had been analyzed into its fundamental
syllabic units, each of these could be set to an example taken from a
wand of the appropriate type. There are many arcas still extant.

http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/?p=300

Harry Partch – composer, theorist, musical innovator, inventor of the
43-tone scale, creator of dozens of bizarre and visionary musical
instruments — is a Hero of the Athanasius Kircher Society. We have
recently discovered an incredibly enjoyable web site that uses Flash
technology to let you play Partch’s ingenious instruments, including the
Boo, the Zymo-Xyl, the Quadrangularus Reversum, and the Eucal Blossom.

http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html

A member of the Kircher Society writes to us about the Sea Organ in
Zadar, Croatia: Simple, elegant stone steps have been built on the
quayside, perfect for sitting on. Underneath, 35 pipes end in whistles
with openings on the quayside above. The movement of the sea pushes air
through, and – depending on the size and velocity of the wave – chords
are played.

http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/?p=282

The Great Stalacpipe Organ in Luray Caverns, Virginia is billed as “the
world’s largest musical instrument”: Stalactites covering 3 1/2 acres of
the surrounding caverns produce tones of symphonic quality when
electronically tapped by rubber-tipped mallets. . . .

http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/?p=307