Slide 1
The Rosslyn MotetThe Nature of Music and Sound
Rosslyn Chapel Music tours and eventsThere are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception. Aldous Huxley
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Thomas.J.Mitchell(Composer)Stuart Mitchell(Composer/Arranger)
William Sinclair & Gilbert Haye
The Designers of Rosslyn Chapel
Musical Cubes
The Musicians
The Musicians
The Musicians
The Organnetto
The 213 Cube
To approach the problem of attempting to make sense of the cubes and their symbols one has to make certain assumptions. First of all, we can never know what was in William St Clairs mind or what his actual goal was in designing the cubes in the arches above the pillars. After 500 years all we have to go on is mainly the hard evidence of the actual carvings and an attempt to make sense of them. Therefore, the results of any of our efforts will be to a great extent an interpretation based on the little historical evidence that we have and, of course, a degree of intuition based on the hard evidence.
For this reason we decided to approach the problem from the point of view of music. What are the symbols/Patterns on the Cube Faces
Chladni Patterns
Chladni Patterns translated into music pitch
The Stave Angel
CHLADNI PATTERNS, NATURE AND CYMATICS
www.cymascope.com
Video Demonstration
HOW WOULD THE DESIGNERS HAVE KNOWN ABOUT SOUND PATTERNS?
Professor Siliman says
The aggregate sound of Nature, as heard in the roar of a distant city, or the waving foliage of a large forest, is said to be a single definite tone of appreciable pitch. This tone is held to be the middle F of the piano-forte, which may therefore, be considered the keynote of nature. The Chinese recognised it some thousands of years ago, by teaching that the waters of the Hoang-ho, rushing by, intoned the kung called the great tone in Chinese music, and one which corresponds exactly with our F, now considered by modern physicists to be the actual tonic of Nature.
Gilbert Haye Co-designer travelled to China
Cymatics and Nature
Natures Tuning system
No tuning forks, so Sound Patterns were very well known to Instrument makers and musicians.
Natures Tuning system
Cymatics has been quietlyused by violin makersfor years to help build better violins: by watching the shape of particles inside the violin they can perfect their carving of the body
1. Cymatics turns sound into avisible patternthat is often geometric in nature.2. Cymatics may be the clue that proves sound isnot a wave but a bubble.3. Cymatics is used to help the hearing impaired learn to speak clearly. In fact adeaf studentat the University of Edinburgh used cymatics to create a sound-based art show at his graduation.4. Cymatic symbols may have beenimbedded inside a chapel in Scotlandin order to encode music secretly in the carved stone cubes lining the ceiling of the chapel.5. Cymatics actually shows thestillness within sound, when applied to metal or membranes; howeverwhen applied to watercymatics reveals visuals of the sound itself.6. Cymatics is currently being used by researcherJohn Stuart Reidto record and decode the language of dolphins, including creating a dolphin alphabet.7. Cymatics plates were played with a violin bow for astonished victorian audiences by Ernst Chaldini, the father of acoustics, in the 1700s. (The same technique was used to create the plates in the photo above in 2009).8. Cymatics can make matter actually defy gravity for example, if you tip a plate sideways with liquid or particles on it, the matter will fall downward; but if sound is applied to the plate, the liquid will climb back up the plate to keep its cymatic form in defiance of gravity.9. Cymatics has been quietlyused by violin makersfor years to help build better violins: by watching the shape of particles inside the violin they can perfect their carving of the bodyAnd last but not least10. Cymatics can be used to see the geometric patterns of your voice at home using table salt and a simple device made out of 3 things you can get at the hardware store. You can get freeinstructions for how to make this device here.
TrilobiteThe trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, roaming the oceans for over 270 million years.[2]
Patterns in Nature
47,000 Mile wide Hexagon on North Pole of Saturn
The Rosslyn Motet
www.therosslynmotet.com
Rosslyn Chapel Music Tours and concerts are conducted throughout the year at Rosslyn Chapel and can be booked through the Rosslyn Chapel website or
www.therosslynmotet.com
Many thanks for your interest
Stuart & Thomas.J.Mitchell
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