MEET THE WORLD'S FIRST TRILLOIST
Tralian ( born April 8, 1957) is a classical musician, composer, and inventor, best known according to the United States Patent Office records, as the first person to invent a new method of playing kinetically with interlaced hands on an upright fretboard of a stringed instrument like a piano, issued on Feb. 19, 1991.
Pioneer patent #4,993,300 describes the method of interlaced hands that integrate “as one appendage both moving fluidly together as one scale and one chord” taken verbatim from the contextual embodiment found in the USPTO archives. Tralian's pioneer methodology patent measured the fretboard for two hands using sharps as indicia, where interlaced hand movements were made tangible through a new universal system in elemental form, resulting in a singularity combining hands together. The method later evolved into the Expansion Principle, which collected the sharps into a series of five repeating symbols called the Flag System.
The
flags increase musical esoteric space over the chromatic scale, by
adding 60% more musical distance to the fretboard in the same
physical space over the octaves, which the piano also does by
plotting the five sharp structure, and which according to Pythagoras,
and esoteric knowledge, the number five is the universal number of
expansion. In this new dimension the hands are able to juxtaposition
in and out of octave registers, and still retain their continuity
with the chromatic scale similar to the piano. The formula of the
expansion principle subtracts the value of the octaves from dimension
twelve, which equates to the third dimension by adding the numbers
one and two. After subtracting the eight note octave value and the
five flag value from 12D, Tralian then subtracted the lessor from the
greater, or 12 divided by 8 = 1.5 octave range, and 12 divided by 5 =
2.4 flag range. Thus 2.4 minus 1.5 = .9 which equates to a 60%
increase in the musical esoteric space of the fretboard for two
handed playing. 1.5 * 60% = .9.
The Universal Flag System of the Expansion Principle
A NEW PATENTED METHOD OF PLAYING AND A NEW THEORY
In
1965 Tralian began his musical journey listening to classical music
while residing in Corona Queens, N.Y. He practiced classical and
electric guitar using various known methods that he learned after
Jimmie Webster published the 'Illustrated Touch System' in 1952. He
was further inspired by the N.Y. World's Fair in Queens, N.Y., most
notably the Science pavilion, which influenced him and made a lasting
impression showing him star systems set to classical music, produced
by the Martin Marietta Aerospace company, which blended Tralian's
musical interest with the stars. It was during this time that he
conceived of the rhomboid shape of his instrument while observing the
Little Dipper as a diamond-shaped perspective, and in 1982 produced
his first rhomboid co-ordinate fretboard guitar called a flutar (or
fluetar) designed to join hands together in a trilling/tapping
method, which rhomboid design ironically provided the elements needed
to support his new methodology.
Tralian had a number of engagements and performances with the flutar in the 1980s, including an appearance on the Joe Franklin Show that aired on national television in 1983. The flutar was also recognized in various trade periodicals including "Guitar Player Magazine," "The Guitar: The History, The Music, The Players," in 1984, and "Guitar Gear" in 1985.
On
December 10, 1985 Tralian was granted a design patent Des. 281,700.
The flutar's new diamond-shaped body perpendicular to the neck and
hands, counterbalanced the instrument from both sides for upright
hand over hand fingering when standing, which, if held horizontally,
would be incongruent to the human body, so, by force of the design
naturally angled the neck upright. The chin or bottom of the rhomboid
was the perfect solution for centering the flutar between the thighs
when sitting, and the neck provided more playing room. The flutar
also made fretting easier because the longer scale length resulted in
reduced string tension, which enhanced it's ability to feed back
during ultra high magnetic amplification. The flutar's name was
chosen because it shared a close relationship with singular note
patterns produced by the flute when trilling. Tralian performed at
Walt Disney's Tomorrowland from 1990-to late’94, as the stringed
instrumentalist of tomorrow. Tralian and the flutar were filmed by
Disney, and used in their commercials, with other Disney characters.
Tralian culminated his new two handed playing method with the purest natural instrument ever conceived, and prototyped a new classical instrument called a trillo. invented from the Expansion Principle that won Tralian a pioneer methodology patent for playing with interlaced hands similar to the piano. But unlike the piano the trillo was not meant for self accompaniment, rather to be played with vibrato as a singularity, solo or in multiplicity as in the symphony. The trillo is an all wood natural instrument with a hollow neck and body, with three wooden internally resonant pressure bows, that utilizes a string chamber instead of a bridge, and transports sound waves up through harmonically tuned apertures on the fretboard taken from the flag system that serve as sound emanating apertures. The acoustical envelope is the first of it’s kind, with a unique body and neck, and three ornate scrolls, make the trillo intricate to build in comparison to other fine art stringed instruments.
Direct
string transfer from the nut to the chamber and only two points of
contact, enable sound waves to gather and project inside the body and
neck. The sound of the acoustic produces a
natural chorus sound, and the body of the trillo is diamond shaped,
so that the artist can sit without the need of any attachments,
placing the body between the thighs, or, the instrument can be played
standing up by attaching looped cords around the scrolls on the body
and wearing a strap over the back of the neck. The trillo has four
strings, and is tenor in scale. The first trillo prototype was made
of purple heart wood, accounting for it's crimson color. Subsequent
trillos may possess superior sound qualities discerning to musical
connoisseurs like that of Stradivarius violins.
http://www.trillomusic.com/The_Trillo_Explained.html.
Tralian Playing Alphadeidiem on THE FLUTAR
Tralian on THE FLUTAR Playing "Johnny B. Good"
References
Gary Ejen's Flutar, Guitar Player, June 1983, pp. 42–43.
Allan Kozinn et al., The Guitar: The History, The Music, The Players, (Quarto Marketing Ltd. 1984), p. 196.
DESIGN U.S. Patent No. D281,700 (filed 1983, granted 1985)
Guitar Gear, (John Brosh ed., William Morrow & Co 1985), pp. 250–51; Allan Kozinn et al., The Guitar: The History, The Music, The Players.
METHOD OF PLAYING A FRETTED STRING INSTRUMENT U.S. Patent No. 4,993,300 (filed 1987, priority to 1984, granted February 19, 1991)
