Musical saw
regular cutting saw used to produce musical sounds
A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque friction idiophone with direct friction (132.1) under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification and as a metal sheet played by friction (151) under the revision of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification by the MIMO Consortium.
Playing
[The musical saw is] a flexible handsaw played by holding the handle between the knees and bending the blade while bowing along the flat edge. The musical saw is found in the folk music of Russia and rural America, and is a popular vaudeville instrument.
The saw is generally played while seated, with the handle, called a tip-handle or cheat, squeezed between the legs and the far end held with one hand. Some sawists play standing, either with the handle between the knees and the blade sticking out in front of them. The saw is usually played with the serrated edge, or "teeth," facing the body, though some players face them away. Some saw players file down the teeth, which makes no discernable difference to the sound. Many – especially professional – saw players use a cheat at the tip of the saw for easier bending and higher virtuosity.
The public source identifies “Musical saw” as regular cutting saw used to produce musical sounds. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Musical, regular and cutting.
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This entry incorporates text from “Musical saw” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.