sounds that get under your skin
What constitutes tradition in music? Lea Hagmann has not only dealt with this question as an ethnomusicologist at the University of Bern, but has also created the movie “Beyond Tradition” together with Rahel von Gunten. It is currently showing in cinemas in Switzerland.
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Alphorn playing is sometimes described in history as “blown yodeling”, as “yodeling on the instrument”, or as “yodeling on the alphorn”. What is meant by this? On the occasion of the publication the English translation of the book “Alpenstimmung” (“Alpine Vibes”), Yannick Wey and Andrea Kammermann comment on this question.
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The alphorn presents such a unique, timeless beauty in its natural production of the overtone series; a sound that captivates with its resonance and simplicity. However, the absence of any kind of keys or valves means that they player is entirely responsible for vividly hearing the correct pitch before playing it. Unlike a piano or a fretted guitar string, the alphorn will never inform the player what the correct pitch is. For this reason, it requires a very clear musical
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Since 1975 the ISO standard 16-1975 is valid (here you can buy it for 40 CHF). It sets the concert pitch a1 at a frequency of 440Hz. As early as 1939, this tuning was agreed upon at a conference in London and endorsed as a recommendation by the ISO in 1955. With its adoption as a standard, unification was sealed, promoting musical exchange, trade of musical instruments and audio equipment. Already in the 1980s some people rejected the standard and
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