[Aztlan] Maya Acoustics and Unusual Percussion Instruments

[Barb MacLeod]

Listeros,

I have been following the Xibalba discussion and the marimba discussion with 
fascination and a modicum of skepticism. I agree completely with Karen 
Bassie, citing Elin Danien's work, that the objects being carried by the 
attendants on those three vases are cushions to accommodate the royal toches 
once the king dismounts from his carrying hammock. I have a tongue drum of 
modern manufacture, with ten tongues, and it's quite a wonder; I wish I 
could do it justice in playing it well. I am very interested in any evidence 
Dave Hixson may have concerning other types of ancient Mesoamerican 
percussion instruments with resonating chambers.

On a related note, so to speak, the bottle-gourd jaguar caller is a 
resonating stringed instrument of Maya origin.

An as-yet unresolved issue comes to mind concerning the many limestone cones 
found on the Platform of Venus at Chichen-Itza. Has anyone actually set 
these up and experimented with possible scales? They are mentioned as an 
afterword in the following 1978 paper by myself and Denny Puleston:

http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT04/Pathways.html

And they are mentioned again in a short paragraph at this site on unusual 
acoustic phenomena:

http://www.tomzap.com/sounds.html

Denny's idea was that the cones at Chichen represented a permanent 
re-creation of the tonal acoustics offered by certain clusters of 
stalactites and stalagmites in caves. I spent five years doing cave 
archaeology in Belize and found a number of such clusters offering five or 
more clear tones, which I often played in situ. The cave chamber itself 
provided amplification. One of these clusters was immediately adjacent to a 
site where wooden platforms (suggested by postholes) were erected in Classic 
times, and where we found a significant ceramic midden in a large crack 
below the wall.

Chichen Itza is known for several interesting acoustic phenomena, including 
those of the ballcourt and the "chirp" at the Castillo. Unless someone has 
done it already, I think it's about time that "chthonic orchestra" of cones 
is reassembled and studied on top of the Platform of Venus, suitable 
musicians are recruited, and a concert is given.

Barb MacLeod