Re: [HG] builders' group

While I'm not a builder myself and have no plans to be one, I still find builders' discussions interesting, and enjoy reading them on this list. They help me better appreciate all the work that went into my hg. I'd vote for leaving these discussions here, since then I wouldn't have to check a

[HG] Bruegel the Elder's hg

I'm afraid I haven't been keeping up with all the emails on the list, so forgive me if this question has been answered already. I see quite a lot of hg makers basing the physical appearance of their hgs on instruments seen in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. That's all well and good, but why

Re: [HG] Hurdy Gurdies in museums information

I'm coming down on the side of conservation rather than restoration here. (That is, educated conservation, where instruments are set up as closely as possible to how they would have been when they were young.) I think I heard that just about all Stradivarius violins were restored (meaning

Re: [HG] HG CDs

Itunes needs to be easier to search, since there is hg music on it, including, to toot my own horn, my own CD. Searching for Melissa Kacalanos should reveal it. There are better hg players of course. I see there are also a lot of CDs featuring hg on cdbaby: http://cdbaby.com/found?allsearch=hurdy

Re: [HG] A passionate newbie full of questions

William and all, I haven't read all of the responses to this, but here's my response to your question Is there any particular reason why no one has produced hurdy gurdy plans or kits of a decent quality to facilitate the making of a first intermediate hurdy gurdy by a novice? I don't think

Re: copyrighted material was Re: [HG] Music

How the folks on this list feel about this isn't the issue. What matters is how the composers feel about their music being published, and the only way to find that out is to ask them. Let's say there's a musician who composes a good tune, so other musicians want to play it. Someone might

Re: [HG] Pennsic class?

I'd be up for co-teaching a class. It was fun last year. Melissa the Loud www.melissatheloud.com --- Jocelyn Demuth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello everyone, Well for those gurdiers going to Pennsic (big medieval re-enactment faire in Pennsylvania, USA) this year, anyone interested

Re: [HG] Hurdy Gurdy Players in NYC

I initially expressed interest in this, but other events prevent me from doing it. The piece is in A major. Most of it seems playable on a hg, except for a bit where the drone note is supposed to quickly change, and another bit where the hg is supposed to play harmony with itself, but I talked

Re: [HG] Sephardic Tunes

May I ask, why are you playing Sephardic tunes for belly dancers? I'd think Egyptian or Turkish tunes would be more appropriate. You can find simplified dots for beginners here: http://www.dorku.com/ Or, if these dancers want some particular Sephardic tunes, what are the names of those

Re: [HG] sticky keys

Just to clarify, although you use the word tangents here, I think you actually mean keys, right? A possible simple explanation: as you play, is the hg flat on your lap, or is it hanging down away from you slightly? It should be angled down away from you, so gravity helps the keys back

RE: [HG] sticky keys

I thought of another possible simple explanation: Maybe rosin dust has gotten caught around the key shafts or the holes, so that's what's making the keys stick. In this case, cleaning off the various parts might do the trick. If that's not it, I'm stumped. This sort of thing is a common

Re: Re[2]: [HG] Can someone identify this instrument?

I'm not defending the artist who painted this, but it is possible that this is fairly accurate depiction of a real instrument. Maybe a cranked, keyboardless, even fingerboardless instrument was used as a drone in ensembles like this, just as a tambura (AKA tanpura) is used to provide a drone in

Re: [HG] Kit or no kit? And if so which one? = now! NO KIT!

I haven't even read all these emails about kits, so forgive me if I'm repeating what's already been said. But I think that, if your goal is to get a playable instrument (rather than learn how to make hgs, which is a much larger project than merely learning how to play them) you're best off just

[HG] Perfection Pegs

Has anyone tried Perfection Pegs, also known as Perfection Planetary Pegs, on a hg? They look like traditional violin or cello pegs, but they have tiny gears inside so they function like modern tuners. I figure they could be useful for people who want their instruments to look traditional, but

[HG] Hungarian busker

Here's a video of a hg busker in Budapest: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yzInWiS7jQk Anyone know who he is, what the tune is, etc? Melissa www.melissatheloud.com Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with

Re: [HG] Good cotton source in Pacific NW?

. Pieter - Original Message - From: Melissa Kacalanos [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hg@hurdygurdy.com Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 7:19 AM Subject: Re: [HG] Good cotton source in Pacific NW? Balazs Nagy, who made my hg, recommends OB brand tampons, which are readily available

Re: [HG] Super dry weather and the tangent twist

I've used tiny strips of paper for this. I wouldn't use glue, since that would make the tangents thicker for good, and then what would you do when it gets humid? Your tangents would be too thick to turn. Also, as winter arrives, I'm taking this opportunity to tell everyone who lives in a heated

[HG] I'm on youtube again

I do seem to wind up on youtube a lot. Here's a long video of me playing a couple of tunes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Oy8FaBirQ and here's an interview in which I'm slouching terribly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT56auxMT74 These videos and many others of NYC buskers can also be seen

[HG] Arcade Fire?

I've been hearing a lot about this band called Arcade Fire. When I play nowadays, people come up and say Cool, a hurdy gurdy, just like in Arcade Fire! Man, I love that band. The freaky thing is, this is an actual popular band, well covered in the popular press and all that. They reviews always

Re: [HG] Advice wanted on buying first hurdy-gurdy (Bela Szerenyi)

No, I don't play a Bela (unless you were talking about another Melissa, which is quite possible, since there are a lot of us.) My tekero was made by Balazs Nagy: http://www.musicart.hu/balazs/index_en.htm I am very happy with my tekero, as it sounds beautiful, and is very reliable. I

Re: [HG] My Hurdy-Gurdy Arrived!

Alina (and hi to everyone else), I play tekero too, and I also second everything Arle says. He knows what he's talking about. You're going to get a whole lot of chatter on this list, so don't let it overwhelm you. As an example of that sort of distracting chatter, I'll add that I

Re: [HG] Rauschpfeif?

Jocelyn, I think we've both heard the same instruments by this maker, and in my opinion at least, they're great, and perform well under difficult circumstances. Then again, I don't have anything to compare them to. I think we've heard his instruments in G major played most often in A dorian,

[HG] Drones vs. Key Changes, was Irish?

Hm. Some tunes just aren't meant to be played on hg. Many tunes, I suspect like this one you mention, just wouldn't work with a constant drone on any note, whatever the note is. In your example, your trompette and petit bourdon are playing a constant open E chord. Then whenever your open

RE: [HG] I'm on youtube again

);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} What is that tune you are playing? Fran - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Melissa Kacalanos Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 3:43 PM To: hg@hurdygurdy.com

[HG] I'm on youtube again

I just noticed that omeone has put yet another video of me on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlIbMA6VFA Enjoy. Melissa __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

[HG] I'm on itunes

My band, Djinn: http://www.djinnnyc.com/ which I can proudly say is the world's best hg-cumbus-human beatbox-doumbek-and-seljefloyte tribal dance band, has finally recorded a CD, and it's on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=210439075 Enjoy. The

Re: [HG] Another trial balloon

My own emailwound up in my yahoo spam folder, so go figure. I'd suggest you check your own spam folder and see what you can glean from it.Then again, maybe my post shocked everyone into silence, since I haven't heard anything back. My apologies to anyone who doesn't approve of these modern

[HG] alternative tangents

I'm thinking of getting a fancy new super-duper hg, and I'm deciding what features it needs. What are people's opinions of the various tangent options? My current hg has the traditional friction tangents, which are generally pretty good, but they do slip occasionally. Also, I sometimes like to

[HG] Turkish hg (why not?)

I know that hg isn't traditionally used in Turkish music, but here's a tune that my band just learned and recorded last night: http://www.djinnnyc.com/Music/Djinn//Practice/Djinn-Practice-07252006-RumeliKarsilamasi.mp3 It's in 9/8, and the maqam is kurd. The performance isn't flawless, and the

Re: [HG] greetings from a new subscriber!

Robert,Welcome to the list.My hg likes humidity too, so to give it some humidity even in dry weather, I keep a wet dampit in the key box. A dampit is an expensive sponge you can get in instrumentstores. I got one meant for guitar, but they have different sizes. You can fit one in the case

[HG] latest version of tune

Readers of this list have come across a couple versions of this tune before, but here's the latest. My band is preparing to record our CD, and recording our rehearsals. Our improvisations are coalescing into tunes. Enjoy, if you're into this sort of thing:

Re: [HG] humidity and amps

Don and everyone,My hg deals with humidity pretty well, it just can't take dryness. That's why I use a dampit when it's dry.A few keys stickoccasionally in extreme humidity, and here's what I do. I take the key out and rub candlewax on it (a substance known as paraffin wax here in the