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Musical saw
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A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound created is an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin, or a woman's clear voice. The musical saw is classified as an idiophone under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification.
The saw is generally played seated with the handle squeezed between the legs, and the far end held with one hand. It is generally played with the teeth facing the body, though some more timid players opt to face them away.
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Encyclopedia
A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound created is an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin, or a woman's clear voice. The musical saw is classified as an idiophone under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification.
The saw is generally played seated with the handle squeezed between the legs, and the far end held with one hand. It is generally played with the teeth facing the body, though some more timid players opt to face them away. Some sawists choose to play standing, either with the handle between the knees and the blade sticking out in front of them, or with the handle under the chin (like a violin). To make a note, a sawist first bends the blade into an S-curve. The parts of the blade that are curved are dampened from vibration, and do not sound. At the center of the S-curve a section of the blade remains relatively flat: this "sweet spot" can vibrate across the width of the blade, producing a distinct pitch (the wider the section of blade, the lower the sound). Sound can be created by drawing a bow across the back edge of the saw at the sweet spot, or by striking the sweet spot with a mallet. Harmonics can be heard by playing at varying distances on either side of the sweet spot. The sawist controls the pitch by adjusting the S-curve, making the sweet spot travel up the blade (toward a thinner width) for a higher pitch, or toward the handle for a lower pitch. Sawists can add vibrato by shaking one of their legs, or wobbling the hand that holds the tip of the blade. Once a sound is produced, it will sustain for quite a while, and can be carried through several notes of a phrase.
Standard wood-cutting saws are often used by professional sawyers, although special musical saws are also made. The blades of these musical saws are generally wider (for range) and longer (for finer control), do not have set or sharpened teeth, and may have grain running parallel to the back edge of the saw, instead of parallel to the teeth. Some saws are made with thinner metal to increase flexibility, while thicker musical saws have a richer tone, longer sustain, and stronger "harmonics." A typical saw is 5" wide at the handle end, 1" wide at the tip, and will produce about 2 octaves (regardless of length). A "bass" saw may be 6" at the handle and will have about 2 1/2 octaves. Two-person saws, or "misery whips," can also be played, though with much less virtuosity, and an octave or less of range. Most sawyers use cello or violin bows, using violin rosin, but improvised home-made bows, such as a wooden dowel, are not uncommon.
Musical saws have been produced for over a century. In the early 1900s there were at least ten companies in the United States alone manufacturing saws. These saws ranged from the familiar steel variety to gold-plated masterpieces worth hundreds of dollars. However, with the start of World War II the demand for metals made the manufacture of saws too expensive and many of these companies went out of business. In the year 2000 only three companies in the U.S. were making saws: Mussehl & Westphal, Charlie Blacklock, and Wentworth.
Two other important companies exist in the saw world: Swedish Sandvik, maker of the Stradivarius saw and a company in France which produces a toothless saw, "La Lame Sonore," with a range of three octaves.
An International Saw Competition is held every August in Felton, California.
An International Musical Saw Festival is held every summer in NYC.
Famous Musicians
Marlene Dietrich, A famous performer on the musical saw who entertained troops during World War II.
Jack Robinson,famous musical saw player in England during the first half of the 20th century. Robinson was born in 1897 in Blackpool, but then moved to Liverpool and Edge Lane in the 1920s. He died in 1943. During his career he played with Harry Wood’s Grand Band at The Palace in Douglas, Isle of Man and Bert Pearson’s Band at Reece’s Ballroom in Liverpool. Jack also performed solo in a concert for charities including the Seamen’s Orphanage, Liverpool, held on board the RMS Duchess of York. He was also a professional hairdresser. You can see his bow and saw at the Museum of Liverpool Life, Liverpool, UK.
Natalia Paruz, also known as the 'Saw Lady', plays the musical saw in movie soundtracks, TV commercials, with orchestras all over the world and in the New York City subway. November 2007 marked her Carnegie Hall debut as a musical saw soloist and June 2008 marked her Madison Square Garden debut. She is the organizer of the Musical Saw Festivals in NYC and in Israel and she was a judge at the International Musical Saw Competition in France. Her saw playing is mentioned in 4 books and has been featured in paintings by many artists. She has premiered music by many composers, including PDQ Bach.
Kev Hopper, formally the bass guitarist in 1980's band, Stump, made an album entitled 'Saurus' in 2003 featuring six original saw tunes.
Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff plays the musical saw with R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders in addition to the cello, Stroh fiddle, and mandolin.
Charles Hindmarsh, also known as The Yorkshire Musical Saw Player is originally from Harrogate in England. Although he works in IT for Harrogate Borough Council, he has played the musical saw throughout the UK. While study violin at College the musical saw became a bit of a party trick. However this developed and he is now involved with playing for old time musical hall events, charity concerts and sessions as a soloist and/or with accompaniment from either piano or brass band.
As well as taking part in the "BBC music live" festival he has also played in a skip outside Belfast City Hall for a "Catalyst Arts" Festival, in a folk festival at Broadstairs and as part of the International Gilbert and Sullivan festival in Buxton. He is now actively involved in promoting the playing of this wonderful instrument through workshops and public concerts.
David Weiss- The retired Principal Oboe of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. What started out as a lark twenty-two years ago, David Weiss is now considered to be one of the world's foremost musical saw virtuosos. He has appeared on the Tonight Show, Prairie Home Companion, at Disneyland, on television commercials, and movies (most recently in the Grammy Award winning "O Brother Where Art Thou?"). July 1985 marked his Hollywood Bowl debut on the musical saw in a work specially commissioned for him by the Philharmonic. Larry Lipkis's "Harlequin" for bass trombone and orchestra features a prominent musical saw part which was played by Weiss at the composition's world premiere performances with Jeffrey Reynolds on bass trombone and Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Other performances took place at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, aboard the QE2 and other cruises, and as an added feature in most of his oboe recitals. His album "Virtuoso Saw" received international critical acclaim.
Robert Minden, a Canadian saw player who has been touring and recording since the early 1980s, learned from folk musician Thomas Jefferson Scribner on the streets of Santa Cruz California. Scribner referred to the forgotten voice of the saw as The Lost Sound". There is a statue honoring Scribner playing the saw in Santa Cruz. (see Lostsound.com for a picture of the statue)
Akira Ifukube used musical saws often in his film scores.
Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel played the singing saw, along with various other instruments, in the band and currently plays the saw in his solo project, The Music Tapes. In 2008, he released The Singing Saw at Christmastime, an album of Christmas carols played on the saw.
Eels occasionally use the singing saw in their live performances and recordings. In particular, on their Eels with Strings: Live at Town Hall live album, singing saws are notably heard during the musical interlude between "Flyswatter" and "Novocaine For The Soul".
Emmanuel Brun was the famous french musical saw player. He met Yehudi Menuhin and Georggi Cziffra. He died in 2004. He was the teacher of Karine Safar.
Bob Pritikin, San Francisco socialite, often performs classical music on the musical saw at eccentric parties in his mansion.
Karine Safar plays with the pianist of Emmanuel Brun, Paule Sagne, in concerts.
Brian Wilkinson plays the singing saw for the little-known band Where She Crumpled Canada.
Artist Laurel Hausler plays the musical saw, sometimes accompanying puppet shows.
Pascal Ayerbe, the french composer and performer plays a Jacques Keller reissue model.
Pat Phillips, the conductor of british Tapton Youth Brass Band
Also:
- The main character on the movie Delicatessen plays a musical saw at several parts of the movie.
- Tom Waits uses the musical saw on many of his songs from the last 30 years
- Icelandic quartet Amiina plays a saw on stage, and indie-rock band The Black Heart Procession features the musical saw in many of their songs.
- Another Athens, GA band, Hope for Agoldensummer used the singing saw on recordings and in concert.
- Mercury Rev make extensive use of the saw on their albums Deserter's Songs and All Is Dream.
- Christina Marrs of the group Asylum Street Spankers plays the musical saw in numerous pieces, including 'The Minor Waltz'.
- Sarah McLachlan is one of the few mainstream artists to use a musical saw, as a main instrument on the composition 'Last Dance', featured on her 1997 album Surfacing. She does however not play the saw herself.
- Modern Rock band KoRn utilized a musical saw in their 2007 "Unplugged" performance, particularly during "Coming Undone".
- Experimental Indie pop band Br'er uses a singing saw on their single "Endomitriosis".
- An uncredited street musician plays the saw on the choruses of the Supertramp song "Hide in Your Shell", from their 1974 Crime of the Century album.
- Norwegian duo Thinguma*jigSaw, who are categorised under the self coined genre splatterfolk, use the saw as a vital element of their music as can be heard in their debut album 'Awake in Whitechapel'.
- A musical saw can be heard in The Devil Makes Three's song "River Deep" off their second album Longjohns, Boots and a Belt.
- A musical saw is played by Nicholas Brancaccio in the low-fi band Coors Light.
- A musical saw is used in the theme song of The Station Agent
- A musical saw is used on The Real Tuesday Weld CD The London Book of the Dead
- A musical saw played by Ali Tabatabai can be heard on The Dillinger Escape Plan's Ire Works album, in the track "Dead as History".
- A musical saw played by Andrew Furse is used on the Pelican album Australasia, in the track "Untitled"
- Durham, North Carolina folk band Midtown Dickens uses a musical saw in several of their songs.
- In the TV show Britain's Got Talent a man named Austin Blackburn made it through the Birmingham auditions with two out of three of the judges' votes playing You Raise Me Up on the musical saw.
- Mexican songwriter Julieta Venegas used the musical saw in the song "Como Se" for her MTV Unplugged performance.
- English band Keane used the musical saw on their song "Love Is the End", and as a consequence it cannot be played live, as extra musicians were needed to record musical saw tracks and no member of the band knows how to do it.
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