mari kimura and "impossible" overtones, guitarbot

violinist mari kimura has found ways to play in cello range... on a violin! from this article... "she demonstrated her ability to top scientists in the US, but they gave up trying to find out how the effect happens." from this interview:

"DB: Interesting. Now, I tried the same thing the other day on my violin, and I could only get flattening down to a minor second below G. So it’s a matter of pressing down very hard?

MK: Well, it’s a very tricky thing. It’s not that hard. It’s more like you click into some kind of a mode. So there is a certain amount of pressure, and the location of the bow on the string has a lot to do with what interval you achieve."

samples and videos here. mari kimura's site here.

i saw the robot she's standing with at the pittsburgh children's museum recently. it made utterly beautiful sounds, and is a very simple, but well executed design. it's called guitarbot, and its' creators site is here. video of guitarbot with mari kimura here.

via popurls