# Long-string instrument
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{{short description|Experimental musical instrument}}
275px|thumb|Stick figure of 1.75 meters standing next to a violin string of .33 meters and a long string instrument string of 10 meters.
The '''long-string instrument''' is a [musical instrument](/source/musical_instrument) in which the [string](/source/string_(music)) is of such a length that the [fundamental](/source/fundamental_frequency) [transverse wave](/source/transverse_wave) is below what a person can hear as a tone (±20 [Hz](/source/Hertz)). If the tension and the length result in sounds with such a frequency, the tone becomes a [beating](/source/Beat_(acoustics)) frequency that ranges from a short reverb (approx 5–10 [meter](/source/meter)s) to longer [echo](/source/echo) sounds (longer than 10 meters). Besides the beating frequency, the string also gives higher pitched natural [overtone](/source/overtone)s. Since the length is that long, this has an effect on the [attack tone](/source/attack_tone). The attack tone shoots through the string in a [longitudinal wave](/source/longitudinal_wave) and generates the typical science-fiction laser-gun sound as heard in ''[Star Wars](/source/Star_Wars)''.[{{Cite web|url=http://filmsound.org/starwars/lasergunstory.htm|title=lasergunstory|website=Filmsound.org|access-date=21 April 2021}}] The sound is also similar to that occurring in upper electricity cables for trains.
==History==
A long string instrument was one of the techniques by which Mersenne tested Galileo's hypothesis, now [known under Mersenne's name](/source/Mersenne's_laws), by making string vibration speed visible and countable.[Bertoloni Meli, Domenico (2006). ''Thinking with Objects: The Transformation of Mechanics in the Seventeenth Century'', p. 115. Johns Hopkins University. {{ISBN|0-8018-8426-8}}.] For example if a string 0.33 meters long, of given mass and tension, produces [A440](/source/A440_(pitch_standard)), a string with identical mass and tension but eight times as long, 2.64 meters, produces 55 [hertz](/source/hertz).
One example of a long-string instrument was invented by the American composer [Ellen Fullman](/source/Ellen_Fullman). It is tuned in [just intonation](/source/just_intonation)[[http://www.ellenfullman.com/Biography1.html Ellen Fullman Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704082447/http://www.ellenfullman.com/Biography1.html |date=2009-07-04 }}, ellenfullman.com] and played by walking along the length of its approximately 100 {{convert|90|foot|m|adj=on}}-long strings and rubbing them with [rosin](/source/rosin)ed hands and producing [longitudinal vibrations](/source/longitudinal_wave). A [C-clamp](/source/C-clamp) is used on each string for putting tension on the strings, much like a [guitar](/source/guitar) [capo](/source/Capo_(musical_device)), 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{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} 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](/source/Alvin_Lucier) employed a [monochord](/source/monochord) of up to 25 meters in his piece ''[Music on a Long Thin Wire](/source/Music_on_a_Long_Thin_Wire)'' (1977).[[http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes1011.html Album notes for ''Music on a Long Thin Wire''], ''[Lovely Music](/source/Lovely_Music)''/Lovely.com.] In 1981 [Terry Fox](/source/Terry_Fox_(artist)) also recorded two musical pieces called ''Berlin Attic Wire, Beating'' with a long string instrument.[[http://www.ubu.com/sound/fox.html Terry Fox] on [Ubuweb](/source/Ubuweb).] Since 1983, in addition to his work on and about the violin, [Jon Rose](/source/Jon_Rose) has been bowing and recording the music of [fence](/source/fence)s worldwide.[[http://www.jonroseweb.com/c_articles_drawing_line.html Drawing the Line], article on Jon Rose's CD ''The Fence'', Jonroseweb.com] Throughout his career [Paul Panhuysen](/source/Paul_Panhuysen) made many large [sound installation](/source/sound_installation)s with groups of long strings.[[http://globeglauber.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/retour-vers-le-futur-14-paul-panhuysen-maja-ratkje-han-bennink-co-a-mechelen-181008/ Paul Panhuysen, Maja Ratkje, Han Bennink & Co. à Mechelen], Globeglauber.wordpress.com, 18.10.08 (in French)] [George Smits](/source/George_Smits) built long string instruments acoustically amplified with [styrofoam](/source/styrofoam).
The experimental luthier and recording artist [Yuri Landman](/source/Yuri_Landman) built a portable electric long-string instrument.[{{cite web|last=Barry |first=Robert |url=http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/yuri-landman-ensemble-thats-right-go-cats-97696 |title=Yuri Landman Ensemble - That's Right, Go Cats |publisher=The Line Of Best Fit |date=2012-05-18 |access-date=2013-10-28}}] A three-minute solo that he recorded in a garden on this instrument can be heard on YouTube, uploaded in 2011.[{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVFI4cbQAQE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/aVFI4cbQAQE |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Yuri Landman - Long string demonstration 2 |publisher=[YouTube](/source/YouTube) |date=2008-10-17 |access-date=2013-10-28}}{{cbignore}}]
Sound lab and research centre [Sonoscopia](/source/Sonoscopia) in [Porto](/source/Porto), Portugal has a permanent electric amplified long-string instrument mounted to the wall in the hall of their building.
==See also==
*[Tromba marina](/source/Tromba_marina)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/cactusbones/sets/1030065/ Ellen Fullman's Long-String Instrument] Photographs from the [Flanders Festival](/source/Flanders_Festival), Brussels, Belgium, 2003
*{{cite web |url=http://www.ellenfullman.com/TechRider.html |title=Long-String Instrument Technical Requirements |access-date=2012-05-18 |author=Ellen Fullman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308144853/http://www.ellenfullman.com/TechRider.html |archive-date=2012-03-08 |url-status=dead }}
*Fullman, Ellen. ''The Long-String Instrument''. Netherlands: Apollo/R&S Records, 1985. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/24552323?tab=details (worldcat)]
{{Deep Listening}}
{{Instrument tunings}}
{{Experimental musical instruments}}
{{Strings (music)}}
Category:Experimental string instruments
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Long-string instrument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-string_instrument) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-string_instrument?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.