Development of the Piccolo Glockenspiel
The Piccolo Glockenspiel was intended to serve as an experiment and explore the extremes of musical register. Several technical difficulties came about regarding tuning and physical construction. This has resulted in a quirky instrument which speaks best when bowed. It is difficult to make the D9-E9 bars speak (either bowed or struck with mallets), but they are available and show the limitations of instrument creation in this register.
The intent to create this instrument began in July 2018, beginning with the drilling of the small, steel keys. Due to other ideas and projects, as well as teaching and other commitments, the instrument was not completed until the end of August 2020. Earlier in the process, Connor considered abandoning the idea of a new [physical] instrument, instead accessing higher pitches with the careful consideration of bowing overtones on existing glockenspiels. On Connor’s own Olds-brand glockenspiel (with aluminum keys) he was able to find overtones up to ~D9 in a few different ways. However, these methods were inefficient and the overtones were difficult to reproduce, encouraging the creation of the physical instrument instead.
In order to create the Piccolo Glockenspiel frame, Connor (with the help of colleagues) repurposed the Olds glockenspiel. The remaining parts of that instrument were used to create a lower-range extension of C5-E5. The original G5-B5 bars were taken and drilled out to lower their fundamental pitches. Due to the resulting nature of these modified bars, the overtones are increasingly audible and the fundamental is more clearly heard when the bars are bowed.
Below is a photo of the Piccolo Glockenspiel in progress, as well as a video demonstrating some of the unused prototype keys which actually produced pitches higher than E9, but were not able to be included. The primary issue from including more keys was on account of the frame, as well as imperfections in the keys themselves, primarily with the holes for the screws.
The intent to create this instrument began in July 2018, beginning with the drilling of the small, steel keys. Due to other ideas and projects, as well as teaching and other commitments, the instrument was not completed until the end of August 2020. Earlier in the process, Connor considered abandoning the idea of a new [physical] instrument, instead accessing higher pitches with the careful consideration of bowing overtones on existing glockenspiels. On Connor’s own Olds-brand glockenspiel (with aluminum keys) he was able to find overtones up to ~D9 in a few different ways. However, these methods were inefficient and the overtones were difficult to reproduce, encouraging the creation of the physical instrument instead.
In order to create the Piccolo Glockenspiel frame, Connor (with the help of colleagues) repurposed the Olds glockenspiel. The remaining parts of that instrument were used to create a lower-range extension of C5-E5. The original G5-B5 bars were taken and drilled out to lower their fundamental pitches. Due to the resulting nature of these modified bars, the overtones are increasingly audible and the fundamental is more clearly heard when the bars are bowed.
Below is a photo of the Piccolo Glockenspiel in progress, as well as a video demonstrating some of the unused prototype keys which actually produced pitches higher than E9, but were not able to be included. The primary issue from including more keys was on account of the frame, as well as imperfections in the keys themselves, primarily with the holes for the screws.
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This video demonstrates some of the unused prototype keys which actually produced pitches higher than E9, but were not able to be included. The primary issue from including more keys was on account of the frame, as well as imperfections in the keys themselves, primarily with the holes for the screws.
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