Awesome, Leigh! I love your tremolo technique - those replica ancient Greek plectrums are just so cool. I very much look forward to seeing what other delights you can conjure from this beautiful lyre...
Michael Levy Hey Michael, thanks for your encouragement! I'm still a little clumsy, mainly because I'm not sure how to hold it properly! I'm still not very comfortable using the τελεμον, I tend to grip the lyre between my legs and the cross bar against my shoulder. Maybe, I'm already developing bad habits! I'm starting to get better at playing with both hands, something which I'm sure comes more naturally to a pianist like yourself than a guitarist! Check out my soundcloud page for more of my latest "improvisations"! soundcloud.com/ataraxia-alpha
Try resting the edge of the naturally slippy lyre inside the folds of a pillow case on your lap - from my own performing experience, these wonderful instruments were almost certainly designed with ancient tunic/toga fashions in mind, and the instrument is perfectly steady when rested inside a fold of material...but horrendously slippy when trying to hold the thing on our smooth and 'foldless' 21st century jeans! I will certainly check out your soundcloud :)
Hello from russian gusli player! Your lyre is very interesting instrument. I marvel at how similarly sound the ancient lyrelike instruments: as a russian gusli, as a scandinavian lyre, as an ukraininan kobza or bandura, as a latvian kokle, as a finnish kantele, as a lithuanian kankles, as a greek lyre. Methinks, the main differences between sound of all of them make various types of strings and playing techniques. Except of this they're extremely similar. Can you ask for some questions: Which is made of the bottom(board ?) of the lyre? Do you made it by yourself? Are you greek?(your appearence is too north european for greeks, as it seems)
+Микитко сын Алексеев Yeah, I think most stringed instruments are related if you go back in time far enough. The lyre I'm playing is based on those you see on Greek vases from the fifth century bce. The soundbox is made from a tortoise shell with animal skin stretched over the front, just like a drum (its percussive too!) It eventually developed into other Byzantine stringed instruments, so there could have been a connection to other instruments such as yours from those . The main difference in approach to playing it is that unlike other instruments there is no living "tradition" which it is linked to and so it's pure speculation to imagine what it would have sounded like originally or what techniques they would have used. In some ways this gives us a certain amount of liberty in how it should be played. A lot of the techniques I use are modern and inevitably come from my experience as a guitar player. As for me, you're right that I'm not Greek! I come from Britain. I would have no idea how to make such a beautiful thing as this lyre, I got it from a Lutherios shop in Thessaloniki, northern Greece. Check out their website for more info on these instruments: en.luthieros.com What about you? Do you have any videos playing the gusli? I listen to a lot of Scandinavian folk but know very little about Russian music. I'll have a look at some of the instruments which you mentioned, thanks for commenting!
+juan david restrepo duran Mine is a tortoise shell, whereas the kithara is a larger wooden instrument with mechanical springs that give it all kinds of "effects". Michael Levy (who commented below) has just got one recently so check out his channel!
+juan david restrepo duran Not at all, in fact it feels almost weightless. The main difficulty is holding it steady, I'm still a little clumsy with it!
@@leandroscorieltauvorum Thank you very much for your response! The turtle shell looks different and the taller? Is that because a number of strings how would you get to sound like this? Can it sound similar if it only had 7 strings?
I find seven strings a bit limited as I like to have a high and low D for harmonies, but that was supposedly typical in antiquity although there was never a standardised number of strings. The length of the strings makes the sound lower pitch, Michael Levy has a turtle one with really short strings which sounds a lot higher pitched than mine, so I guess it’s personal preference. The turtle shell does make it resonate differently to a wooden sound box too, but it’s difficult to hear the difference in a recording. I’d say the wooden one resonates better and longer, which is more to the taste of a modern ear, but the tone which the shell gives makes it sound more archaic.
@@leandroscorieltauvorum Thank you for your response! I have a question another one. Did you tune this with a app? If so what’s it called? I can’t find one maybe I don’t get it but I want to try a app. Was it tuned by ear?
@@Demetriosssss I’m hopeless at tuning, so yeah, I have an ipad app which Michael Levy suggested in one of his lyre tutorial videos called “Cleartune” which has, among other things, Pythagorean tunings and just intonation if you’re into that sort of thing.
Saludos cordiales desde Argentina exelente videos los escucho regularmente podría pasar por mi canal y darme críticas constructivas porfavor sobre mis videos de lyre un abrazo Caleb
Awesome, Leigh! I love your tremolo technique - those replica ancient Greek plectrums are just so cool. I very much look forward to seeing what other delights you can conjure from this beautiful lyre...
Michael Levy Hey Michael, thanks for your encouragement! I'm still a little clumsy, mainly because I'm not sure how to hold it properly! I'm still not very comfortable using the τελεμον, I tend to grip the lyre between my legs and the cross bar against my shoulder. Maybe, I'm already developing bad habits! I'm starting to get better at playing with both hands, something which I'm sure comes more naturally to a pianist like yourself than a guitarist! Check out my soundcloud page for more of my latest "improvisations"!
soundcloud.com/ataraxia-alpha
Try resting the edge of the naturally slippy lyre inside the folds of a pillow case on your lap - from my own performing experience, these wonderful instruments were almost certainly designed with ancient tunic/toga fashions in mind, and the instrument is perfectly steady when rested inside a fold of material...but horrendously slippy when trying to hold the thing on our smooth and 'foldless' 21st century jeans! I will certainly check out your soundcloud :)
Beautiful Leandros
I wanna buy one right now!
Me too!!
You are amazing and this song fits you well!
PERFECT
Hello from russian gusli player!
Your lyre is very interesting instrument. I marvel at how similarly sound the ancient lyrelike instruments: as a russian gusli, as a scandinavian lyre, as an ukraininan kobza or bandura, as a latvian kokle, as a finnish kantele, as a lithuanian kankles, as a greek lyre. Methinks, the main differences between sound of all of them make various types of strings and playing techniques. Except of this they're extremely similar.
Can you ask for some questions: Which is made of the bottom(board ?) of the lyre? Do you made it by yourself? Are you greek?(your appearence is too north european for greeks, as it seems)
+Микитко сын Алексеев Yeah, I think most stringed instruments are related if you go back in time far enough. The lyre I'm playing is based on those you see on Greek vases from the fifth century bce. The soundbox is made from a tortoise shell with animal skin stretched over the front, just like a drum (its percussive too!) It eventually developed into other Byzantine stringed instruments, so there could have been a connection to other instruments such as yours from those
.
The main difference in approach to playing it is that unlike other instruments there is no living "tradition" which it is linked to and so it's pure speculation to imagine what it would have sounded like originally or what techniques they would have used. In some ways this gives us a certain amount of liberty in how it should be played. A lot of the techniques I use are modern and inevitably come from my experience as a guitar player.
As for me, you're right that I'm not Greek! I come from Britain. I would have no idea how to make such a beautiful thing as this lyre, I got it from a Lutherios shop in Thessaloniki, northern Greece. Check out their website for more info on these instruments: en.luthieros.com
What about you? Do you have any videos playing the gusli? I listen to a lot of Scandinavian folk but know very little about Russian music. I'll have a look at some of the instruments which you mentioned, thanks for commenting!
“…and he played until I could barely see his fingers in the dark.”
“Now I know how to make you follow me everywhere.” ❤️🏛
Apollo plays by the light of day, Dionysus by the deep nocturnal abyss of the psyche’s dark void
Cool! Maybe u know something about "Kithara"?
+juan david restrepo duran Mine is a tortoise shell, whereas the kithara is a larger wooden instrument with mechanical springs that give it all kinds of "effects". Michael Levy (who commented below) has just got one recently so check out his channel!
Ataraxia... Actually, is your tortoise very heavy?
+juan david restrepo duran Not at all, in fact it feels almost weightless. The main difficulty is holding it steady, I'm still a little clumsy with it!
How do I get one like this lyre?
luthieros.com/shop/ancient-lyres-2/
@@leandroscorieltauvorum Thank you very much for your response! The turtle shell looks different and the taller? Is that because a number of strings how would you get to sound like this? Can it sound similar if it only had 7 strings?
I find seven strings a bit limited as I like to have a high and low D for harmonies, but that was supposedly typical in antiquity although there was never a standardised number of strings. The length of the strings makes the sound lower pitch, Michael Levy has a turtle one with really short strings which sounds a lot higher pitched than mine, so I guess it’s personal preference. The turtle shell does make it resonate differently to a wooden sound box too, but it’s difficult to hear the difference in a recording. I’d say the wooden one resonates better and longer, which is more to the taste of a modern ear, but the tone which the shell gives makes it sound more archaic.
@@leandroscorieltauvorum Thank you for your response! I have a question another one. Did you tune this with a app? If so what’s it called? I can’t find one maybe I don’t get it but I want to try a app. Was it tuned by ear?
@@Demetriosssss I’m hopeless at tuning, so yeah, I have an ipad app which Michael Levy suggested in one of his lyre tutorial videos called “Cleartune” which has, among other things, Pythagorean tunings and just intonation if you’re into that sort of thing.
Saludos cordiales desde Argentina exelente videos los escucho regularmente podría pasar por mi canal y darme críticas constructivas porfavor sobre mis videos de lyre un abrazo Caleb
Panta rhei
... καὶ μηδέν μένει!