Archeomusicologists commonly use methods based on the physical properties and the relative tuning system of a musical instrument in order to estimate its tones. However, because the musician often alters the tones' frequency, for example, while playing in wind instruments by means of embouchure or by stressing the string in string instruments, the current methods that neglect the musician's interaction with the instrument cannot provide solid results. In this work, we introduce ENTROTUNER, a computational method, based on mathematical optimization, to more accurately estimate the generated tones by considering: the instrument as a sound production mechanism, the relevant musical scale(s), and the musician's interaction with the instrument. We simulate this interaction as a system that, by following tuning rules, aims to maximize the partials' overlap (harmonicity), coded as entropy's minimization of the aggregated tones' spectrum. Last, we put ENTROTUNER into practice for the ancient Greek wind instrument Aulos. The results reveal that, compared with the traditional methods, ENTROTUNER highlights increased harmonicity (entropy decreased by 0.341bits), eleven additional consonant intervals, as well as 47.8% more tuning quality for the musical instrument.
The present paper focuses on the trigōnon retrieved from Grave II. Only the sound box and one arm (the pillar) of the instrument have survived. In the organological study which follows, the find is evaluated in the light of the available iconography and literature, and of ancient and modern ethnological parallels. A replica was constructed in order to test the results of the analysis.1
Two aulos pairs (Δ1965 and Δ1964), unearthed in 1980 and 2005 respectively at Megara (Attica), are exhibited in the city’s Archaeological Museum. Both are associated with metal sliding keys (resembling the keys on the well-known Pergamon aulos model), either mounted on the pipes (Δ1964) or displayed next to them (Δ1965). The present paper describes the parts, proposes a meaningful re-assemblage of the bone sections, and gives a detailed account of the sliding mechanism, which is here for the first time attested on finds of actual musical instruments, including an entirely new technology of speaker hole keys. A musical analysis, based on determining plausible reed configurations using software modelling, suggests that the finds represent a partially standardised design of professional modulating auloi, playing attested harmoníai while hovering between the enharmonic and chromatic.
Among the treatises on ancient music theory transmitted in the course of the manuscript tradition, a short excerpt stemmed from Bacchius’ Eisagōgē technēs mousikēs is located in seven medieval manuscripts, usually known as the ‘Bacchius fragment’, edited by Ruelle in 1875. The present paper investigates the manuscript tradition of the Bacchius fragment, dates the terminus ante quem of its compilation and restores its archetype; ultimately the Bacchius fragment is presented in a new critical edition with an English translation and commentary.
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