View source for Tubulong

The tubulong is a tuned set of metal tubes. It has been used by
[[Lou Harrison]], [[Erv Wilson]], [[Ivor Darreg]], and Bart Hopkin, among many
others.

== History ==

[[File:Deagan-pipelaphone.jpeg|thumb|300px|The Deagan pipelaphone, later tubaphone.]]

The chime of metal tubes goes back at least to 1889 with the Deagan
pipelaphone, later marketed as the tubaphone.<ref name=deagan1889musical /><ref name=deaganresource />
The instrument later became popular for playing music in alternative tunings,
since it is relatively easy to build and tune and holds its tune very well.

Erv Wilson originally coined the term tubulon by phonetic analogy with gamelan;
later this became tubulong.<ref name=hopkin1994tubulonia /> Tubalong and
tubaphone are also used, as well as various particular names for individual
instruments (see recordings below).

The [https://intervalarchive.com/microtonal-history/ Interval Archive] contains
some photos of tubulongs.

== Recordings ==

Lou Harrison's 1970 puppet opera ''Young Caesar'' uses two tubulongs called
"soprano bells" and "tenor bells".<ref name=alves2017microfest /> The internet
archive has a [https://archive.org/details/AM_1974_12_25/AM_1974_12_25_A_ed.wav recording of the 1971 premiere],
followed by a radio interview with Harrison and Bill Colvig.

[[File:Rosenthal-tubulong-1-small.jpeg|thumb|300px|David Rosenthal playing his tubulong.]]

[[File:Rosenthal-tubulong-2-small.jpeg|thumb|300px|David Rosenthal's tubulong.]]

David Rosenthal's 1977 composition ''Improvisations'' appears on the 1979
record [https://youtu.be/ruIdlyei1OU&t=1582 ''Professor Johnson's Astounding Sound Show''].
From the liner notes:

<blockquote>
"Improvisations" was composed in 1977, shortly after I built the just-intoned
tubulong, the 88 key 3½ octave instrument on which the piece is played. The
tones of the tubulong are tuned to notes of harmonic series and their
inversions. Each of eight rows of eleven metal alloy tubes sounds a series
through and including the 15th harmonic (each is thus a transposition of an
identical chord). The complete inversion of every transposition is also
available on the instrument. This amounts to an enlargement of the late Harry
Partch's "tonality diamond" tuning system, and the tubulong much resembles
certain of his creations. Partch's original design is altered mainly by
revoicing and rearrangement of tones. These changes and the tubulong's ample
range increase its self-sufficiency for my purposes.

The just tuning system used here includes many intervals not practicable in our
standard contemporary musical alphabet of twelve equally spaced tones to the
octave. In it, there are much finer increments of pitch, and there is much
potential for expressiveness by virtue of the greater power and variety of both
consonance and dissonance. The limitation of this tuning by most western
standards lies in its inability to achieve intricate transposition of certain
musical materials, but this is not necessarily an impediment to what the ear
hears as a real modulation. "Improvisations" treats the tuning as a giant mode,
portions of which make up distant keys, which differ in intervallic
construction, but modulate one into another, and develop the same ideas. The
title of the piece may be misleading, in that it does not refer to how the
piece is played, but to how it was written, and to how it should sound.
"Improvisations" is completely notated, but its rhapsodic pacing and the very
interpretive playing it calls for justify its name.

It is important to mention that no technical or theoretical understanding of
any tuning is prerequisite to the enjoyment of this or any other music. There
are no necessary obstacles to the appreciation of intonational subtlety. The
listener's central involvement is not with the explanation of musical artistry,
but with its effort.

                            —DR
</blockquote>

Lou Harrison's score for James Broughton's 1988 short film
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rUzv3Ki-SM ''Scattered Remains'']
uses a tubulong as well as a retuned harpsichord.<ref name=alves2017microfest />

The Union Duo, Anthony Di Sanza and Todd Hammes, have a series of videos called
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxRttDjzAoeo-ui2iwHQdgDcWoQpOcej- Music with Tubes]
featuring a replica of Lou Harrison's Tenor Bells.

Percussionist Emil Richards had two tubulongs tuned in equal temperament, which
he called pipe gamelans. There are some videos of them on YouTube:

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PotVZZsVcDY "Porgy and Bess" on Brass Pipe Gamelan]
* A [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiojev3vgVs demonstration of the Brass Pipe Gamelan] showing many playing techniques
* A [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O02Wb454KNM short demonstration of the galvanized steel pipe gamelan]

== Acoustics ==

The frequency of an ideal tube goes as one over the square of its length, so
making a tube twice as long lowers its pitch by ''two'' octaves. This rule
applies better or worse depending on the material and construction of the
tubes.<ref name=hopkin1994tubulonia />

If the tubes have a seam running down the inside, they produce two slightly
different notes depending on where they are struck.<ref name=hopkin1994tubulonia />
Compare the two-tone phenomenon in Bronze Age Chinese bells.<ref name=rossing1989acoustics />

== References ==
<references>
<ref name=deagan1889musical>
J.C. Deagan and J. Carroll, [https://patents.google.com/patent/US408655A/en Musical Instrument], US Patent 408,655, 1889
</ref>
<ref name=deaganresource>
[https://deaganresource.com/tubaphones.html Deagan Tubaphones], The Deagan Resource
</ref>
<ref name=hopkin1994tubulonia>
Bart Hopkin, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_10_2_December1994/page/26/ Tubulonia], Experimental Musical Instruments 10 #2, 1994
</ref>
<ref name=alves2017microfest>
Bill Alves, [https://microfest.org/rare-gems-of-lou-harrison-in-pasadena-california/ Rare Gems of Lou Harrison in Pasadena, California], MicroFest
</ref>
<ref name=rossing1989acoustics>
Rossing, Thomas D. [https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ast1980/10/5/10_5_241/_pdf Acoustics of Eastern and Western bells, old and new], Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan (E) 10.5 (1989): 241-252.
</ref>
</references>

== Further reading ==

* Ivor Darreg, [http://www.tonalsoft.com/sonic-arts/darreg/xhb11.htm METAL TUBES AND BARS], Xenharmonic Bulletin No. 11, 1989
* Bart Hopkin, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_2_1_June1986/page/4/ Stephen Smith's Conduit Marimbas and Glass Marimbas], Experimental Musical Instruments 2 #1, 1986
* Ivor Darreg, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_4_2_August1988/page/n1 Letter], Experimental Musical Instruments 4 #2, 1988
* David Barnes, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_8_4_June1993/page/26/ Don’t Sue Me, I Just Want Your Sounds], Experimental Musical Instruments 8 #4, 1993
* Blake Mitchell, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_9_1_September1993/page/2 Bass tubulon (Letters)], Experimental Musical Instruments 9 #1, 1993
* Buzz Kimball, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_9_2_December1993/page/4/ The 13 Tone Ensemble], Experimental Musical Instruments 9 #2, 1993
* Bill Colvig, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_10_2_December1994/page/24/ Metallophone Construction], Experimental Musical Instruments 10 #2, 1994
* Stephan Golovnin, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_10_3_March1995/page/10/ More Tubulonia: Conduit], Experimental Musical Instruments 10 #3, 1995
* Bart Hopkin, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_10_3_March1995/page/11/ Fork Chimes and Everly Chimes], Experimental Musical Instruments 10 #3, 1995
* Daniel Schmidt, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_10_3_March1995/page/14/ Tube Instruments], Experimental Musical Instruments 10 #3, 1995
* Blake Mitchell, [https://archive.org/details/emi_archive/EMI_11_1_September1995/page/4/ Letters], Experimental Musical Instruments 11 #1, 1995

[[Category:Instruments]]