Soundscapes Project 1: The Musical Saw
I always wanted to learn how to play the musical saw, but to my surprise actual musical saws made for playing are quite expensive. Then I found out, playing with any heavy duty steel saw and creating enough tension will create sound.
I then took a trip to my nearest hardware store, and tried to find the longest saw possible. Standard musical saws range from 28"-32", the longer the blade more octave range you get. However, the longest saw I could find was only 26", still pretty long but not as much to work with.
Next, I had to worry about the bow. Those don't come very cheap either, the lowest I've ran into was about 40 dollars. You culd make your own makeshift bow out of fishng wire or weedwacker wire, but the sound wouldn't be nearly as pretty as a real bow. Fortunately for me, a fellow classmate let me borrow an old violin bow she never used.
Now with a good piece of dark rosin, which is a little thicker than regular rosin, I prepared this bow to play a saw. Since it never been used before, a good 100+ strokes did the trick for the first time, and maybe another 50 times each use after.
The trick was bending the saw enough to create the tension similar to a string. Ideally, you want to hold it between your knees, blades facing you in an "S" shape. However, with my scrawny arms, it was a little difficult. I used a screwdriver to help me get a better grip on the saw blade. I tested where the best place to bow was by hitting the along the saw to see where the note vibrated the longest. Once I found it, I was able to start playing.
I started to play with how the blade was bent, and allowed the saw to create different notes. I also accidentally made a cool vibrato type sound when my legs trembled from the vibrations. I definitely felt the vibrations in my arms, and even after I stopped playing I could see my hands shake.