Mari Kimura is a New York composer and virtuoso violinist whose music includes haunting low notes on the violin called “subharmonics.” Problem is, these sounds aren’t supposed to be possible.If the science is anything similar to wind instruments, I used to hum through the back of my throat while playing the bass clarinet, and it would creating these warbling mid tones.
Click below to hear Mari's work.
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I'm not 100% certain, but I believe that Ben Mink does the same thing, playing solo violin on Rush's 1983 album Signals ("Losing It").
ReplyDeleteI LIKE RUSH!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check that out...
So I was talking to this guy at work and he thinks that the claim that scientists don't have a clue how it works is a little exaggerated. A possibility that he thought of is that she is really creating two higher frequency sounds that interfere and produce the subharmonic as a beat frequency.
ReplyDeleteMarcus
That sounds completely likely, and unfortunately makes for a very dull Digg headline, LOL.
ReplyDeleteOnly having a basic understanding of the physics of sound, I figured it was something similar to the harmonics created by binaural tones.
Can that actually be heard by ears? Or is that like dog frequency so we cannot hear it?
ReplyDeleteKim
Hey Kim,
ReplyDeleteNo, it is sound we can hear. The big "mystery" is that her technique generates sound that is to low for a violin to create.
Or so we thought...
duh Duh DUUUUHHHNNN!!!