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The Oldest Magic
Nine: The Four That Are More
Lew Paxton Price
He was experimenting with his pipes to make a set that would sound good in his rituals, be easy to carry and still versatile in its performance. He had learned from the Old Ones that the pipes could be tuned mathematically. His father had taught him to use a pipe three-fourths as long as the first to attain a pleasing sound (what we call a musical fourth). The same was true for one two-thirds as long (our musical fifth). It was this last pipe that could be mimicked by blowing hard into the lower pipe (overblowing). The more slender pipes could be overblown most easily, and there was one proportion of pipe that would play its fundamental quite easily and still be easy to overblown.
He wanted only a few pipes in his new set and, when he had finally settled upon his new scale, he had chosen four pipes. There was the low one pitched for easy thought (about what we call a D', or one octave above the beside middle C). There was another that was three-fourths as long, a third pipe that was midway in length between the first two, and a fourth pipe that was three-fourths as long as the third. He preferred this set because its notes could be "bent" most effectively to work with one another, and overblowing added a new note to the scale.
Probably well over ten thousand years ago, South Americans used the instrument we call the pipes or panpipes. They discovered the harmony of the musical fourth so that, eventually, they standardized a very distinct set of four pipes. This set of pipes was composed of four reeds, each of which could be easily overblown to produce its own musical fifth; thus, each pipe produced two notes.
According to Professor A.L. Kroeber of the University of California, these pipes have been discovered in northwest Brazil and in the Solomon Islands of Melanesia. One set has four pipes whose frequencies are 557, 651, 759 and 880 Hz. The other has frequencies of 560.5, 651, 749 and 879 Hz. The supposed musical principle of these pipes is a fundamental pipe, with another pipe tuned to our musical fourth located two pipes above it. So the third pipe is a musical fourth above the first (lowest) pipe. The second is tuned between the first and the third. And the fourth pipe is the musical fourth above the second pipe.
The average frequencies of the two sets are 558.75, 651, 754 and 879.5 Hz. These averages do not produce a precise musical fourth, possibly because the craftsmen's ears were not pitch-sensitive enough to achieve a precise musical fourth (this is often the case with ear-tuned pipes today). If we were to use 558.75 and 651 Hz as starting points, the musical fourths would be 745 and 868 Hz. On the other hand, if we use 754 and 879.5 Hz as starting points, the lower pipes would have frequencies of 565.5 and 659.625 Hz. If we choose the average of the frequencies postulated in the last two sentences, we have "intended" frequencies for the pipes of about 562, 655, 749 and 874 Hz.
Average Likely
Published Actual "Intended Old" Scales
PipeFrequencies AverageFrequencies First Second
557560.5 558.75 562562 562
651651 651 655631 668
759749 754 749750 750
880879 879.5 874842 892
If we set up frequencies for a theoretical old scale for these pipes based upon our finding, we have two possible choices. This is because the second and fourth pipes are between two notes as we know them, but slightly closer to the second scale shown in the above chart.
From the average position of a set of pipes on the player's lips, a note can be "bent" upward less easily than downward. The human ear demands that the frequencies have certain simple mathematical ratios, so the player would have actually played either the first or second scale during any simple piece of music. It is very likely that the second and fourth pipes were used for both scales that we are theorizing with the probability of the second scale evolving with the invention of the flute with playing holes. This would be very likely because the overblown notes would tend to sharp rather than flat. Here are the possible notes for such a set of pipes (old scale):
In the 2nd octave, the
Fundamental (lowest note)5th Above (overblowing) D' A"'
E' or F' C"'
G' "'
A" or A"# F"'
This results in a pentatonic scale of ,F,G,A and C. This is quite probably the scale the South
Continued on page 35
The Oldest Magick IX
Continued from page 23
Americans used for their first flutes with playing holes for the fingers.
If you would like such a set of panpipes, you can construct this is simple four pipe set using the following dimensions (see vol. 1, no. 3 for detailed panpipe handcrafting instructions.)
Pipe Length from Approximate
Plug to Blowing End Inside
(minus exact inside dia.) Diameter
6 1/64" 1/2"
5 5/32" 7/16"
4 1/2" 3/8"
3 7/8" 5/16"
To play these pipes in a scale of consecutive notes, begin with the lowest and progressing upward to the highest, pipe by pipe. Then dropping down to the second lowest pipe, overblow it, and progress upward again, overblowing each pipe in turn. The notes will be slightly flat by modern standards but will sound richer (we made the mistake of sharping the old scale some years ago). The notes you play (old scale) will be D', F', G', A', C', " and F. This is the equivalent of having a seven pipe set. By flatting the second and fourth pipes, you will gain a different sound and two more notes. You can do this by simply blowing more into the pipe than across it. The scale that results is pentatonic (five notes per octave—six including the octave note) even though the instrument has only four pipes. This how the ancients got the most from the simplest set of pipes.
1989 by Lew Paxton Price | 
