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Thanks to someone who gave me a wonderful birthday gift, which I will soon replace with another just like it,  Moksha, of the amazing “Country Eastern” musical experience, Hu Dost — which is currently on tour — now has an official musicalsaw.com tenor musical saw to add to their List of Mystical Inventory. Here’s an example of a musical saw used in a highly technical manner:

Back in 1949, I heard my music teacher at Camp Woodland, Grant Rogers, play the musical saw; then Joe Hickerson played it, after which Joanna Cazden, Louise deCormier and, as I remember it, Happy Traum or Geoff Kaufman tried it.

Well, heck-darn, I asked for, and got, a musical saw for my 70th birthday last December 27th.

When I first encountered the musical saw it was immediately post-war, World War II (which is the Roman numeral “II”, not the Arabic numerals which we use today, as in “World War Eleven”, as some kids insist on calling it) when instruments made of steel were almost unobtainable, and was amazed at how much like the newly invented Electronic Theramin it sounded. Here are some stunning examples: Continue reading →