Monochord

This is a modern version of the monochord that was first created and used by Pythagoras. The instrument was conceptualised in partnership with instrument maker Richard Bowring. It has 24 strings that are tuned into the same note. When the strings are played they resonate together. This creates a warm spectrum of frequencies. The back side of the instrument is concave which allows for a comfortable placement on the human body, ideal for soundbath sessions. You can listen to a sonic example example of the monochord in my second studio album Omega here.

A monochord is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument. The word “monochord” comes from the Greek and means literally “one string.” A misconception of the term lies within its name. Often a monochord has more than one string, most of the time two, one open string and a second string with a movable bridge. In a basic monochord, a single string is stretched over a sound box. The string is fixed at both ends while one or many movable bridges are manipulated to demonstrate mathematical relationships between sounds. With two strings you can easily demonstrate how a consonant just chord sounds. Both open strings are tuned equal and then the movable bridge is put in a mathematical position to demonstrate, for instance, the major third (at 4/5th of the string length) or the minor third (at 5/6th of the string length).

The monochord can be used to illustrate the mathematical properties of musical pitch. For example, when a monochord’s string is open it vibrates at a particular frequency and produces a pitch. When the length of the string is halved, and plucked, it produces a pitch an octave higher and the string vibrates at twice the frequency of the original (2:1). Half of this length will produce a pitch two octaves higher than the original—four times the initial frequency (4:1)—and so on. Standard diatonic Pythagorean tuning is easily derived starting from superparticular ratios, (n+1)/n, constructed from the first four counting numbers, the tetractys, measured out on a monochord.

For more info and orders mail Richard Bowring here.