Aaaaah, the singing saw.
With the delicate tone of an angel's cry, the saw has been enchanting
unsuspecting audiences for generations. Similar to the sound of a Russian
theremin, the saw can be manipulated with heavenly intervention to mimic the
delivery of falsetto fantasia from a 1940s flapper - high and pulsating, airy and
penetrating.
If
you've never heard this winsome wonder of nature, just go to the old shed and
pick up a carpenter's blade. That's right, an average wood-cutting blade is
preferred many professional sawyers over specially constructed musical saws.
First,
place the saw between your legs with the teeth facing you. If razor sharp metal
is something that makes you squeamish, teeth out will suffice. Next, bend the
blade into an S-curve and find that fabled sweet spot in the middle where
vibrations are the flattest. If you don't have a cello bow handy, you can
fashion your own mallet out of a wooden dowel or spoon.
Harmonics
are created at varying distances from the sweet spot, and controlling the pitch
is as simple as adjusting the S-curve. Making the sweet spot travel up the
blade toward a thinner width will produce a higher pitch. Conversely, moving
toward the handle generates a deeper tone. More experienced sawyers are able to
add vibrato by shaking a leg or wobbling the top hand that holds the tip of the
blade.
You'll
be surprised how long the sound is sustained, and eventually you can learn to
carry it through several notes of a phrase. Its music classification is
technically an idiophone because it self-vibrates without the use of strings or
membranes. Other than the human voice, or animal sounds, the first instruments
were likely idiophones.
Much
like its quavering, mysterious tone, the singing saw's history is shrouded in
mythology. The singing saw wasn't popularized until the 1700s and lacked
wholesale manufacturing until the 1900s. However, there are images dating back
to the third century depicting the Chinese playing musical saws.
While
some connect the saw's origins to the Ozark and Appalachian Mountains, brought
to America by African slaves, others associate its conception to Scandinavian
laborers and even the South American lumber trade.
Perhaps
the most famous tale is of Pennsylvania lumberjack John Schmidt, who is rumored
to have dreamt up the idea. According to legend, he received a request from his
favorite blade one night. The saw pleaded, 'John, my back itches something
awful. If you just scratch it, I'll hum some of the most beautiful music you've
heard this side of heaven.'
More
than likely, the musical saw was developed simultaneously on several continents
in the context of many different cultures. The first tones produced with a
metal blade were probably associated with accidentally dropping a saw, striking
it with another dense object, or the playfully waving a blade in the air.
One
of the first famed sawyers was Swedish performer Martin Larrson who created a
media storm in Paris by playing the saw. Once, he was pressed to perform under
a bridge with a bun stuck in his mouth so as to dismiss accusations that he was
whistling rather than coaxing melody from the saw.
Charles
Hindmarsh is the contemporary equivalent, widely known as the Yorkshire Musical
Saw Player. Natalie Paruz, the Saw Lady, has performed with orchestras and in
subways, on movie soundtracks and TV commercials. The saw has been integrated
into a host of musical traditions from folk and blues to swing and classical.
The
saw phenomenon swept the United States during the early twentieth century. At
least ten companies made their own singing saws domestically, which ranged from
standard steel to limited edition gold-plated models costing hundreds of
dollars.
In the 1930s novelty bands like Bob Skyles
and the Skyrockets used the saw to accompany their vaudeville of showy dance
numbers. Traveling showman Leon Weaver performed saw music to adoring audiences
across the South with his Okie group.
The first American saw marketer, Mussehl
& Westphal, sold over 30,000 units annually through the early 1930s.
Operating out of rural Wisconsin, it's one of only a handful of American
companies still manufacturing musical saws.
Unfortunately,
the Great Depression and World War II dampened the demand for metals. Despite
the fact that actress Marlene Dietrich entertained troops with her saw playing
during the war, mass production of musical saws became obsolete and
unaffordable, leading to a decline in the instrument's availability and
application.
Depending
on the grade, gauge, and temper of the metal, musical saws have acoustics and
capabilities of wider range, richer tone, stronger harmonics, and greater
sustain. They are generally built wider and longer than standard saws for
increased range and finer control. They can also be designed thinner to
increase flexibility.
The
average saw is about five inches at the handle and one inch at the tip. It's
designed to produce two octaves of range regardless of the blade's length. A
bass saw is the exception with a six-inch handle and a range of two and a half
octaves. Two-person saws or 'misery whips' are still produced but possess a
very limited accuracy and range.
Worldwide,
musical saws remain fashionable in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Sandvik produces its world famous Stradivarius model in Sweden where plate
steel of the quality necessary to produce clear musical tones was first
developed. The French boast 'La Lame Sonore,' a renowned toothless singing
blade.
A
popular revival in roots music has spotlighted the saw once again. The
International Musical Saw Festival has been held every August for nearly three
decades in Felton, California. Tucked in the wooded hills of Santa Cruz County,
this historic logging town hosts professional sawyers from around the world.
Canadian
sawyer Robert Minden has toured and recorded for more than two decades. He
first learned the instrument in Santa Cruz from street musician Thomas
Jefferson Scribner. Once referring to the saw as 'the lost sound,' Scribner's
saw-wielding image is now immortalized by a statue in his hometown.
Over
the past 15 years, the musical saw has been revitalized in movies, music, and
art. French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet's fabulous black comedy Delicatessen
frequently featured the main character playing the saw.
Innovative
fusion bands are now combining folk, blues, jazz, bluegrass, and rock to form a
refreshing sound. The Asylum Street Spankers out of Austin, Texas, have enticed
audiences for over a decade with organic jams led by Christina Marrs who plays
both banjo and saw on stage.
During
the late 1990s a few indie bands toyed with the saw as well. Southern
neo-psychedelic rockers Neutral Milk Hotel occasionally experimented with the
musical saw. San Diego's own Black Heart Procession frequently utilizes the saw
to darken their spacey, cinematic soundscape. Avant garde composers like Aram
Khachaturian, Henri Sauguet, and George Crumb have included saw solos in their
ambitious modern music.
Few
mainstream artists have utilized the obscure instrument, but Sarah McLachlan
highlighted the saw on the composition 'Last Dance,' and even rap-metalheads
Korn employed the saw during their recent MTV 'Unplugged' set.
The
Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad has paid tribute to this overlooked but
exquisite instrument. The Singing Saw exhibition will run through July 31.
Musical saw virtuoso David Weiss, who gave a stunning performance in November,
admits, 'I've played a lot of different instruments and many musical saws, and
I keep coming back to my favorite. I love one of the first saws I purchased at
a local hardware store - my Stanley Handyman.'
Physics
professor Arnold Tubis lends his expertise and extensive personal collection to
this unique display. For more information, please visit www.museumofmakingmusic.org
or call (760) 438-5996.