The long-string instrument is a

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

in which the

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

is of such a length that the

fundamental Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental" * Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...

transverse wave In physics, a transverse wave is a wave whose oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of the wave's advance. This is in contrast to a longitudinal wave which travels in the direction of its oscillations. Water waves are an example of ...

is below what a person can hear as a tone (±20 Hz). If the tension and the length result in sounds with such a frequency, the tone becomes a beating frequency that ranges from a short reverb (approx 5–10

meter The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pr ...

s) to longer

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the li ...

sounds (longer than 10 meters). Besides the beating frequency, the string also gives higher pitched natural

overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

s. Since the length is that long, this has an effect on the attack tone. The attack tone shoots through the string in a

longitudinal wave Longitudinal waves are waves in which the vibration of the medium is parallel ("along") to the direction the wave travels and displacement of the medium is in the same (or opposite) direction of the wave propagation. Mechanical longitudinal wa ...

and generates the typical science-fiction laser-gun sound as heard in ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

''. The sound is also similar to that occurring in upper electricity cables for trains (which are ready made long-string instruments in a way).

History

A long string instrument was one of the techniques by which Mersenne tested Galileo's hypothesis, now known under Mersenne's name, by making string vibration speed visible and countable. For example if a string 0.33 meters long, of given mass and tension, produces

A440 A440 or A-440 may refer to: * A440 (pitch standard) * A440 highway (Australia), a road in Victoria, Australia * Quebec Autoroute 440 (Laval) * Quebec Autoroute 440 (Quebec City) See also * Apollo 440, an English band * Airbus A400M The Airb ...

, a string with identical mass and tension but eight times as long, 2.64 meters, produces 55

hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one her ...

. One example of a long-string instrument was invented by the American composer

Ellen Fullman Ellen Fullman (born 1957) is an American composer, instrument builder, and performer. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is known for her 70-foot (21-meter) Long String instrument, t ...

. It is tuned in

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is the tuning of musical intervals as whole number ratios (such as 3:2 or 4:3) of frequencies. An interval tuned in this way is said to be pure, and is called a just interval. Just intervals (and ...

and played by walking along the length of its approximately 100 -long strings and rubbing them with

rosin Rosin (), also called colophony or Greek pitch ( la, links=no, pix graeca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene com ...

ed hands and producing longitudinal vibrations. A

C-clamp A C-clamp or G-clamp or G-cramp is a type of clamp device typically used to hold a wood or metal workpiece, and often used in, but are not limited to, carpentry and welding. Often believed that these clamps are called "C" clamps because of the ...

is used on each string for putting tension on the strings, much like a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

capo, and a resonator is placed on the end the musician faces. This long-string instrument's range is centered on the octave of middle C and extends above and below this by an octave. The strings of the bass octave extend the instrument's full 90 feet. Fullman is not the only person who has built long-string instruments.

Alvin Lucier Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. (May 14, 1931 – December 1, 2021) was an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University in M ...

employed a

monochord A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string (chord). The term ''monochord'' is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument hav ...

of up to 25 meters in his piece ''

Music on a Long Thin Wire ″''Music on a Long Thin Wire'' is a musical piece by Alvin Lucier conceived in 1977. In his own words (1992): "''Music on a Long Thin Wire'' is constructed as follows: the wire is extended across a large room, clamped to tables at both ends. The ...

'' (1977). In 1981

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money ...

also recorded two musical pieces called ''Berlin Attic Wire, Beating'' with a long string instrument. Since 1983, in addition to his work on and about the violin,

Jon Rose Jonathan Anthony Rose (born 19 February 1951) is an Australian violinist, cellist, composer, and multimedia artist. Rose's work is centered in the experimental music known as free improvisation, where he has created large environmental multimed ...

has been bowing and recording the music of

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

s worldwide. Throughout his career

Paul Panhuysen Paul Panhuysen (21 August 1934 – 29 January 2015) was a Dutch composer, visual and sound artist. He founded and directed Het Apollohuis, an art space that functioned during the 80's and 90's having artists doing sound installations, sound s ...

made many large

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound ar ...

s with groups of long strings. George Smits built long string instruments acoustically amplified with

styrofoam Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and water barrier ...

. The experimental luthier and recording artist

Yuri Landman Yuri Landman (born 1 February 1973) is a Dutch inventor of musical instruments and musician who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a number of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japa ...

built a portable electric long-string instrument. A three-minute solo that he recorded in a garden on this instrument can be heard on YouTube, uploaded in 2011. Sound lab and research centre Sonoscopia in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

, Portugal has a permanent electric amplified long-string instrument mounted to the wall in the hall of their building.

References

External links

Ellen Fullman's Long-String Instrument
Photographs from the

Flanders Festival Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture ...

, Brussels, Belgium, 2003 * *Fullman, Ellen. ''The Long-String Instrument''. Netherlands: Apollo/R&S Records, 1985
(worldcat)
{{Strings (music) Experimental string instruments