Ancient Greek Tortoise Shell Lyre Improvisation
29Another completely, on the spot, unrehearsed, spontaneous improvisation on my wonderful custom made, replica ancient Greek tortoise shell lyre, handmade in modern Greece by Luthieros:
https://en.luthieros.com/
In this improvisation, I attempt to illustrate just what sort of diverse variations in timbre and texture are possible on a lyre, authentically made with an actual tortoise shell, skin soundboard, gut strings & a carved bone plectrum - anything I can conjure up on this instrument could have been similarly conjured up by any ancient Greek musician with an ounce of timeless musical imagination!
I also demonstrate, that even with my own untrained vocals, how the lyre can be used literally as an 'ancient world guitar' to strum basic harmonies which can be used to accompany any vocal line; by the technique of 'string blocking' - blocking notes not required to sound with fingers of the left hand whilst strumming only the desired combination of open strings with the plectrum in the right hand. This technique is still alive and well in the playing of the Eritrean Krar; one of the many lyres still being played throughout the continent of Africa today; where they have remained since antiquity, probably introduced via trade routes with the ancient Near East and Egypt:
http://ancientlyre.com/the_incredible_survival_of_the_harps__lyres_of_antiquity_in_africa_today/
The improvisation is in the intensely mournful Hypodorian Mode - sometimes also known as the 'Natural Minor Mode', this was misnamed the 'Aolian Mode' in the Middle Ages; it is formed of the equivalent intervals as A-A on the white notes of the piano:
http://ancientlyre.com/blogs/composing_new_music_in_the_original_ancient_greek_modes/
Please note - no tortoises were harmed in the creation of this lyre! The shell was locally sourced, lying discarded by the already long deceased Greek land tortoise - for their regular commercial models, Luthieros actually use 3D scanning technology to make an exact acoustic replica in epoxy resin of one of these naturally occurring shells they find in the forests near Thessaloniki.
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