Voices

 

When an instrument I've designed is built and finally arrives here, I have to learn it.  Not merely learning to play it, but I also have to learn its voice.  Learning to play it goes pretty quickly, because I designed it and I know what to expect.  Additionally, new instruments tend to be extensions of, or on the level of, other instruments I've designed. 

Learning the voice of a new instrument can take up to a year or more.  During that time, I am still using it, both in daily practicing and eventually on recording studio sessions, but at the same time, I'm learning its voice.  One of the ways I know that I've fully learned an instrument's voice is that I can hear it in my head when I'm away from it.  I'll start internally hearing compositions for it.  I'll begin to mentally place it in upcoming recording projects.

It's an odd thing, and I am still learning about this process.

During the voice-learning process, I'm also trying different tunings and even various registers on the instrument.  That all helps to discover where it's going to fit in with the other instruments and their registers and tunings.

It may be a puzzling and sometimes challenging process, but it's also an interesting one.  More to come.

-kk