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The Exotic Musical Instruments

of Denny Genovese

(tuned in Just Intonation)

[ Instruments of Denny Genovese ] [ Instruments of Jeff Bunting ]

Currently Located at the Florida School of Massage

Josh Lederman, Musical Director

Bass Marimba

Built in 1988 in collaboration with sculptor, Tim Treadwell.
The 10 sound blocks were made from 2" x 6" Clear Redwood.
The longest, lowest pitch block is 5' long. It stands 8' wide and 3'high.
The lower 5 blocks are amplified by the large tubular resonators mounted below.
The higher blocks are amplified by a shared "cave" resonator.
The tuning is Harmonic Series #2-10 on C=64Hz. with an additional block tuned to 27/64.
The lowest sound is 2 duples (octaves) below middle C.

Kosmolyre

While related to the electric slide guitar and played similarly with a slide and plectrum, it has much in common with harps because of the many strings on each side. Each of the four sides are strung and tuned differently.

Side 1 has 14 strings, tuned to harmonics 4-16, with the lowest string (harmonic #4) tripled for power.
Side 2 has 15 strings, tuned to subharmonics 3-12. The highest string (subharmonic #3) is tripled for a chorus effect.
Side 3 has four courses of 3 strings, tuned to harmonics 1-4. this is the "Drone" or "Pedal" side.
Side 4 (the Chord side) has 6 strings tuned to a harmonic hexad, six tuned to a subharmonic hexad and 6 tuned in unisons for rich melodic playing.

The instrument can be turned easily during performance by means of the wheels at either end of the playing board, to expose the different sides to the player.

Built by it's inventor, Ivor Darreg in the late 1970's, it was rebuilt by Buzz Kimball in the late 1980's. In 1992, it was restrung and retuned to it's present state by Denny Genovese, who also designed the stand to make it easier to play.

Kosmolyre

Hammerstrings

The Frame, strings and soundboard of an upright piano
were mounted on an easel like stand (6' high x 5' wide).
It is played with marimba mallets, similarly to a Hammered dulcimer.
There are 3 ranges of strings, With courses of unisons on each pitch.
The Bass range is tuned to the subharmonic series 4-17 (a duple lower).
The Midrange is tuned to the harmonic series 4-17 on C=64Hz.
The highest course is tuned to subharmonics 1-12 (a duple higher).

Harmonic Series Xylophone

Rebuilt from a Deagan instrument, it is retuned to a subset of the harmonic series 11-128 on C=64Hz.

Lambdoma (subset) Xylophone

Also rebuilt from a Deagan (a gift from Todd Underhill),
it is tuned to the subharmonic series 2-24 on G=768Hz.
with portions of several harmonic series scales as well.

Tubular Bells

The lower course of these clear toned bells are tuned to harmonics 4-24 on C=256Hz.
The upper course is tuned to subharmonics 2-12 on G=1536Hz.

Lambdoma Chimes

These Capped, chrome plated brass tubes ar tuned to Harmonics 6-16 on C=64Hz.
and to subharmonics 3-11 of G=768Hz.

Big Drums

These drums put a solid bottom on rhythmic episodes.
They were built by Denny Genovese around 1991.

Hand Drums

For extra rhythmic interest.
The two on the far left were built by Denny Genovese around 1990.

Roto-Toms

Each of these 3 drums are easily tuned to various schemes by rotating them.

Interchangeable Fretboard guitar

(photo by Buzz Kimball)

The guitar was a gift from my brother Gary. I purchased an interchangeable fretboard kit from Mark Rankin and hired Buzz Kimball to install it. I designed and calculated the fret positions, and Buzz helped me create the magnetic fretboards, that slide on and off of the steel plate, on the face of the neck. Frettings include: 5 Limit Just, 17 Limit Lambdoma, Fretless. It also works as a slide guitar when no fretboard is used.

Fipple Pipes

(photo by Steve Patmagrian)
Harmonic series scale is played by changing breath pressure.
each length has a different fundamental frequency.
Accidently invented in 1977, several hundred were made over about 15 years thereafter.

Theremin Controlled Analog Synthesizer

(photo by John O'Brian)

The control voltages from a Paia Theremax theremin (donated by John Simonton) are routed to a set of ARP 2500 analog synthesizer modules (donated by Don Slepian). The pitch is controlled by moving the left hand toward the vertical antenna, and the loudness and timbre are controlled by moving the right hand toward the horizontal antenna.

Photos by Ken Mc Murray unless noted otherwise.

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