Not necessarily traditional but opinions on...

The_Celtic_Bard · Post by **The_Celtic_Bard** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:26 pm

The Lyre, the cithira you know that instrument Orpheus played.

So any opinions on the playing of it in ITM?

The_Celtic_Bard · Post by **The_Celtic_Bard** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:02 pm

or any non-traditional instrument in ITM

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:09 pm

I dunno. I was playing a CD for a friend who'd never heard ITM before (granted, it was a "supergroup" band with tight arrangements so it wasn't all that traditional, strictly speaking, even though the tunes were), and when he heard a track with flugelhorns in it, he turned to me and said, "What the hell was THAT???"

Even he could tell a poor fit when he heard one.

But who knows? Centuries hence, maybe fluglehorns will be part of the tradition. *shudder*

The_Celtic_Bard · Post by **The_Celtic_Bard** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:13 pm

OH GOD HELP US ALL!!!

synecdoche · Post by **synecdoche** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:15 pm

Nano: I do believe I've heard the track from the "supergroup" you refer to. I had a similar reaction.

Per the thread: I don't know. I still can't bring myself to enjoy horns in ITM, but I've always wanted to play ITM on my ukulele. I think ITM can be played on anything with wonderful effect, just don't expect seasoned sessioners to enjoy your sense of experimentation.

Ro3b · Post by **Ro3b** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:18 am

There's a track on an early Lunasa album that uses a flugel; I think it sounds great.

I imagine Orpheus' lyre would work in Irish music about as well as uilleann pipes would work in Greek music. Why do you ask?

The_Celtic_Bard · Post by **The_Celtic_Bard** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:10 am

well if a flugel works than a lyre would, it is a precursor to the guitar, and is like that of a harp, gosh darn it works

Post by **Nanohedron** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:33 am

Um...so I take it you actually have a lyre, then?

Don't they usually only have five strings or something? From a practical standpoint, no, I don't think a lyre would work unless it had around 16 strings.

The_Celtic_Bard · Post by **The_Celtic_Bard** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:08 pm

No my girlfriend does, and it has 13 strings. Tuned in C major or a minor if you prefer, lowest string C and highest and thirteenth string 13. A good friend of mine, lordofthestrings, did a bit fixing and tweaking on it, good guy and a genius when it comes to his work.

Ro3b · Post by **Ro3b** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:37 am

Whether it would "work" or not is more about the player than the instrument. The thing for you to do is to devote some time to studying Irish music and figure if there's a way you can make it happen on the cithira. I've heard Irish music played very well on a lot of nonstandard instruments, but in each case the player's understanding of the music is what made it work, not any special characteristic of the instrument. If you really make a commitment to learn to play the music on this thing -- if you take it seriously -- you might just succeed. Just don't be a dilettante.

Tim2723 · Post by **Tim2723** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:18 pm

I think there's probably any number of harp-family and zither-family instruments that could work. If they have a sound that blends well with the other instruments, and if they have the technical requirements to play in the right keys and all, then why not? Personally, I'm working with the bowed psaltery in an ITM fashion. As long as the sound isn't utterly alien to the music or doesn't mess up the other players, what the heck. I understand that the mandolin was practically unheard of in ITM until the 1960s or so, and today it's very popular.