Lyre 2.0* Project
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the Lyre 2.0* * Project Re-Inventing an Ancient Greek artifact and Re-Introducing it as a product to the World Market by Nikolaos Koumartzis “So then, I will give you this lyre, glorious son of Zeus…” Homeric Hymn to Hermes, line 490 Get to know the project in just 2 minutes: http://vimeo.com/user24775202/lyre2 (password; lyra20ihu) The “Chelys” version of the “Lyre 2.0” final product. Abstract n this dissertation thesis, the author presents a design project that its scope is to reconstruct different versions of the ancient music instrument known as “lyre”, based on the study of ancient sources and current research papers. The goal is reintroduce the “Lyre of IHermes” (or the “Lyre of Apollo” if you prefer) to the global market of professional musicians, replica’s collectors and admirers of the ancient Greek civilization. By combining expert’s experience and latest technology in different fields –such as traditional luthiers,1 3d scanning and printing equipment (provided by the International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki), 3d drawing software packages, audio engineers and researchers, an anechoic chamber at the Electronic Media Lab (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) etc.–, the author explains how the first lyres were actually being produced and how they were tested so as to scientifically define their sound quality. Last, all the presented research data and theories were applied in practice, as among the deliverables of this design project are actual and top-quality different versions of the lyre: the “Chelys Lyre 2.0” and the “Barbiton Lyre 2.0”. 1 A luthier is someone that constructs music stringed music instruments (i.e. music instruments that use strings for producing sound). 4 Acknowledgements proper research in general -and in a MSc level even more- cannot be conducted based solely on the researcher’s skills and knowledge. In order to be of some help to future researchers, its author has to discuss, be advised, or even be corrected by experts from various Afields related to his thesis’ topic. This is the case with this MSc dissertation too. Regarding the practical and hands-on experience necessary for such a project, all the credits must go to Anastasios Koumartzis, luthier and author of two related books in the field. His willing to share his experience and knowledge contradicts the norm of the traditional luthiers in Greece. What’s more, his fellow co-worker and carpenter Ilias Kouroutzis (sharing the same workshop) brought to our design team his carpentry experience and a creative way of thinking while processing the wood. Special thanks must go to Mr. Fotiadis, who showed the needed enthusiasm about this topic. His working experience and innovative way of thinking was an inspiration for me, and helped me bring this project to its very end: the launch of the product for the global market. The aid of Nikos Grigoriadis, my colleague at this MSc course, was of great importance for the successful 3D design of the product. Thanks to his valuable working experience as a 3D Product Designer, the design stage of this project proved to be a fun and creative process. What’s more, Dr. George Kalliris and PhD Candidate Rigas Kotsakis (of the Electronic Media Lab of the Department of Journalism and Mass Media, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) helped me find the “sound properties” of the produced music instruments and justify (in a scientific manner) their top-quality. Furthermore, George Ioannidis (author and editor, specializing among others to the study of ancient Greek documents) was more than helpful in the initial steps of this research, as he proposed to me several sources to start with. Minas Papageorgiou, Editor in Chief at Eleftheros Tipos newspaper, helped me to “spread the word” of the “Lyre 2.0” project in Greece and abroad. Additionaly, Constantinos Moisiadis must be mentioned for accepting our invitation to become one of the “Lyre 2.0” players for the product’s promotional campaign. The audio that is used at the accompanying video is featuring him playing the song “Symmalos” (in the Phrygian ancient music scale). Last, all the theoretical part of this dissertation wouldn’t have any substantial value if the author wasn’t able to apply it by launching the actual product for the global market. For this, the rest of the team of the newly founded company called “Anastasios O.E.” must be thanked for letting me (as a co-founder) thoroughly research and present our innovative way of working, even if this dissertation might “uncover” some of our trade secrets to future competitors. 5 Table of Contents 4 Abstract 5 Acknowledgements 8 1. Introduction 8 1.1 A General View 9 1.2 Motivation 9 1.3 Aims and Objectives 10 1.4 Research Methods 11 1.5 Structure of this thesis 12 2. The Market (Global Music Instrument Industry) 12 2.1 Global Music Instrument Industry and the Financial Crisis worldwide 13 2.2 Music Instruments and Technology 14 2.3 Conclusions 15 3. The Lyre as part of the Antiquity (Literature review) 15 3.1 The Ancient Lyre 16 3.2 Hermes & the Invention of the Lyre 17 3.3 Visual Analysis of the Amphorae’s Representations 20 3.4 Specifications of the ancient Lyre 6 23 4. Designing the “Lyre 2.0” 23 4.1 From the Ancient Instrument to the “Lyre 2.0” (limitations and objectives) 24 4.2 Digitizing a Tortoise Shell through 3d Scanning and Reverse- Engineering 25 4.2.1 Preparing the tortoise shell for 3d Scanning 26 4.2.2 The 3d Scanning and post-scanning processes 28 4.3 Designing the lyre in 3D 33 4.4 Conclusions 34 5. Producing the “Lyre 2.0” 34 5.1 Choosing the right materials 35 5.2 From the tortoise shell to the strings (a step-by-step description) 42 5.3 The final product (photographs) 42 5.3.1 The “Chelys” lyre 45 5.3.2 The “Barbiton” lyre 48 6. Testing the “Lyre 2.0” in SoundLabs 48 6.1 Inside an anechoic chamber 50 6.2 The Research Hypothesis 50 6.3 The Audio Properties of “Chelys Lyre 2.0” and “Barbiton Lyre 2.0” 52 6.4 Future work 53 7. Conclusions and Further Research 55 Selected Sources & References 58 Appendix 1. “Lyre 2.0”s Production Drawings 62 Appendix 2. Audio Properties of “Chelys” & “Barbiton” lyre 7 Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 A General View “Take my lyre,” he said, “which to those who can deftly use it will discourse all sweet things; but to those who touch it, not knowing how to draw forth its speech, it will babble strange nonsense and rave with uncertain meanings.” Homeric Hymn to Hermes, lines 482-490 n this design project, the author proposes a unique approach that can lead from the ancient Greek literature and antique black- figure amphorae’s representations (also known as melanomorpha) straight to the reconstruction of modern top-quality replicas of one Iof the first sophisticated musical instruments of the human kind: the Lyre of Hermes (or the Lyre of Apollo, if you prefer). Through thorough literature review of ancient Greek documents, observation of amphorae’s relevant representations, 3d scanning of tortoise shells, reverse engineering of the scanned files and 3d design using one of the most advance CAD software packages, the author managed to end up with detailed production drawings for a modern version of the ancient music instrument. Then, by using only materials available in antiquity (such as specific kinds of wood, tortoise shells etc.) and modern carpentry technology, the author aimed to end up with a high-quality music instrument, suited for use by today’s professional musicians. In order to have such an outcome, practical experience from traditional luthiers was used. Even more, the first produced lyres were tested in a specialized unechoic chamber (based in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), in order to define their sound properties and scientifically justify their top-quality as music instruments. 8 At the end, a top-quality product was produced using methods that can lead to low-cost mass production. The final product was decided to be called “Lyre 2.0”, with the “2.0” referring to an upgraded version of the ancient music instrument (and using the semiology from the well-known term “Web 2.0” coined by D. DiNucci in 1999 - O’Reilly 2004). Last, but certainly not least, possible future work is being discussed. 1.2 Motivation Coming from a musical family and spending many years studying and playing the piano, music (in general) always played a key role in the author’s personal development. Moreover, he came in touch with the art of lutherie2 years ago, when his father start to manufacture traditional Greek musical instruments such as baglamas, bouzouki, tzouras etc. So, it was quite expected the MSc studies in Strategic Product Design to lead the author to approach the musical instruments as products with great added value. The “Lyre 2.0” project is a combination of all the above along with his personal affection for sophisticated artifacts from the ancient world and how they can be reconstructed and used today in their initial or similar context. The reason that the “lyre” was actually chosen to play a key role at this project is quite simple: it is among the first sophisticated musical instruments mentioned in the ancient Greek literature, linked to many parts of the Greek Mythology and theology. The ultimate goal of the author is to re-introduce ancient Greek instruments to the global market. Our starting point is the “Lyre of Hermes”, but the prospects are endless… 1.3 Aims and Objectives By using different “Strategic Product Design” techniques in different levels and directions, this dissertation thesis aims to re-introduce ancient Greek instruments to the global market as top-quality products (Koumartzis 2011).