nPostednon January 11, 2016
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nWhennyou think “engineer,” do you think trains? Or bridges, ornspaceships, or…?
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nYounprobably do not think “MUSIC!”
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Andnyet, why not? An engineer is someone who uses knowledge of sciencenand math in order to come up with solutions to technical orncommercial or even social problems. An inventor is often considerednan engineer, and there are chemical engineers, electrical engineers,nmechanical engineers, people who work with civil engineering orncomputer engineering, engineers who work on extracting metals orndeveloping new materials.
Andnyet, why not? An engineer is someone who uses knowledge of sciencenand math in order to come up with solutions to technical orncommercial or even social problems. An inventor is often considerednan engineer, and there are chemical engineers, electrical engineers,nmechanical engineers, people who work with civil engineering orncomputer engineering, engineers who work on extracting metals orndeveloping new materials.n
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nSonan inventor / innovator who creates new ways to make or record ornenjoy music might very well be an engineer.
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nTodaynwe celebrate an engineer who invented an electric organ and the world’s firstnpolyphonic musical synthesizer.
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nPoly-what-ic?
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nInnmusic, sometimes there is just one simple melody, or perhaps a melodynaccompanied by a few chords. Music with just one “voice” isncalled monophony (one sound), and music with one melody plusnchords is called homophony (same sound). On the other hand, somenmusic has a “texture” with more than one simultaneous andnindependent melody. This kind of music is called polyphony (manynsounds). n
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nAnsynthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that creates soundsnby directly generating electric signals that can be converted tonsound through amplifiers or loudspeakers or headphones.nNon-electronic instruments create sounds by causing air to move, ornvibrate, usually by causing something ELSE to vibrate – strings, andrum skin, a piece of wood or metal, and so on. Of course, wentypically covert these air vibrations to electric signals to benplayed louder through amplifiers and loudspeakers and headphones.
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nSona synthesizer basically cuts out the middle of the sound-makingnprocess.
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nBacknto Hammond…
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nWhennHammond and another engineer first created their electric organ, inn1935, they wanted to copy the sounds made by a wind-driven pipenorgan. Their electric organ was a lower-cost way of creating organ ornpiano music, and Hammond marketed his organ almost entirely tonchurches. n
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However,nthe organ really took off with professional jazz musicians. JimmynSmith used the Hammond B-3, for example, and many other organ playersnwere inspired by and influenced by the electric organ. Hammond organsnbecame even more widespread in the 1960s and 1970s, in rhythm andnblues, rock, and reggae. n
However,nthe organ really took off with professional jazz musicians. JimmynSmith used the Hammond B-3, for example, and many other organ playersnwere inspired by and influenced by the electric organ. Hammond organsnbecame even more widespread in the 1960s and 1970s, in rhythm andnblues, rock, and reggae. nn
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nHowever,nmusicians began to switch to more electronic instruments during then1970s, and in 1985 the Hammond Organ Company went out of business.nWhen Suzuki purchased the Hammond name, it released a new, electronicnversion of the B-3.
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nHammondnand a few others created their synthesizer, called the Novachord, inn1938. It was introduced at the 1939 World’s Fair, in New York Citynand the very first instrument produced was, in 1940, delivered tonPresident Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a birthday gift. n
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nApparentlynthe Novachord was better at making otherworldly sounds than it wasnsounding like normal musical instruments, and it found its nichenyears after it was first invented in making sounds for sciencenfiction movies and TV shows. I read that it actually shaped the soundnwe associate with sci-fi!
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nProductionnhad to stop during the World War II, in 1942, and Hammond never wentnback to manufacturing the Novachord. There were only 1,069 Novachordsn built during the four years of production, and fewer than 200 arenstill in existence!
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nStill,nthe Novachord was important historically, and of course nownsynthesizers are used for many different types of music and for soundneffects as well.
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nHammondnwas an engineer and an inventor, not a musician. He invented lots ofnthings other than his organ and synthesizer. For example, he inventednan automatic transmission for autos, a silent spring-driven clock andna non-self-starting clock motor, a sort of 3-D shutter glasses, annelectric bridge table, guided missile controls, bomb guidancensystems, a camera shutter, and a new type of gyroscope. Altogether,nhe held 110 patents in his life!
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversarynof the Grand Canyon becoming a National Monument
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nHostosnDay
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Anniversarynof the discovery of francium
Anniversarynof the discovery of franciumn
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nBirthdaynof the “Father of Wildlife Management”
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Plannahead:
Plannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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