Aeolian Wind Harp

[nomicrowave]

An Aeolian Wind Harp is a box with an opening across which are stretched a number of strings of equal length that are tuned in unison and sounded by the wind. Also called aeo'lian lyre', wind harp.

I ran across this instrument on the web and liked it enough to want to copy the design of one.

nomi

[nomicrowave]

More information found on the web.

Sometimes called Harmonic Harps, wind harps originated in ancient Greece (circa 6 BC) and flourished throughout the Renaissance era. Aeolian Harps are rare, beautiful instruments designed to be played by the wind; free of the touch of human hands. Harmonic wind harps transpose the spirit of the wind into spontaneous, multi-layered music in time to nature's rhythms. Their vibrant voices sing pure harmonic tones that range from deep, pulsing bases to soaring sopranos.

Here's a link to a page that has a sample of the sound of a truly grand wind harp. http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om01000.html

[Gaieus]

He. Interesting, really. Thanks...

[Roger]

I have run into unintentional implementations of this twice. Once I was racing a Hobie cat sailing catamaran off the coast of Laguna Beach, California and I thought I was being followed by a jet plane. Looked around and there was nothing but wind and waves. I was on a broad reach, had one hull out of the water and was really smokin. Then it occured to me that the wind in the rigging and the tension created by the hull slipping through the water were setting up vibrations that was causing the whole rig to sing in a high pitched whine.

More recently I was biking along the southern outskirts of Phoenix next to the Tohono O'Odham reservation and I was sure that I was being followed by a flying saucer. It was the same sound as saucers make in Sci Fi movies. Actually raised the hair on the back of my neck which is the only hair I still have left to raise. Then I realized it was wind setting up vibrations in the high tension wires far above the roadway. Even though I now knew what it was I looked back a few times just to be sure I was not being followed.