Musical saw

From Young Composers

The musical saw, sometimes reffered to as "the singing saw", is most often regarded as a folk instrument, and little music is written specifically for it. It is considered by some to be one of the thousands of percussion instruments that a percussionist should master. But it is tricky to play; one needs a good ear for it.

Contents 1 General 1.1 Glissandi 1.2 Range 2 External Links

General

Basically, it is a saw. It might have teeth, it might not. Musical saws are made with somewhat more bendable metal than straight up saws for cutting things. The saw player places it between his legs, teeth edge facing in (a dangerous predicament) and obtains notes by bending the blade into a sort of S shape and then exciting the saw at the point at the center of the S (the inflection point). This excitation can be made with a bow or a yarn-covered mallet, typically. The saw hangs on to its note for many seconds after excitation; it is often practical to play a phrase of notes on one bow or mallet-strike.

The result is a strapping, limber sine tone similar to that of a theremin's. The dynamic capability is from very soft to very loud. When bowing, loud attacks are very difficult without a lot of rosin; a crescendo is more often what results. Excessive vibrato is a common effect (though essentially optional) and is done by wiggling one's legs, which rapidly alters the tension in the saw in relatively small increments.

For those interested in extended timbres: while bowing loudly, the excitation reaches a threshold above which something like harmonic distortion can be heard. Also, depending on how heavily bent the saw blade is, there are often multiple pitches available simultaneously along the length, typically an alternate tone about a minor third higher, and then one or more screechingly high tones.

Glissandi

Glissandi are easy to do on the saw. In the upwards direction they noticeably crescendo, and downwards they dimenuendo. When glissing, one can go to a note strongly (such that it will sustain) or weakly (by breaking out of the S shape, the note vanishes) A particularly striking effect is a sort of boinging sound when stiking then immediately perfoming a glissando upwards into nothingness.

Range

Range: The lower end of the range is the greatest limitation since most saws can get ear-piercingly high enough for any humans. A common tenor saw (the closest to an industry standard) bottoms out at C above middle C, and a bass saw at middle C.

External Links

Also see the musical saw on Oddmusic.com - http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om21800.html