Granada – Digital technology and 3D printing are bringing back the lost sounds of ancient music. At the International Congress DigitalHeritage 2015, held in Granada, Spain, September 28-October 2, the first results of the virtual reconstruction of an aulos – ancient flute-like instrument – will be presented. The aulos in question was discovered in the summer of 2012 under the Temple of R in Selinunte. The discovery – by Clemente Marconi, director of the American Mission at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University – consists of two fragments of an “early type” aulos, dating back to the 6th century BCE, like other instruments unearthed in Greece and Magna Graecia. Thanks to research conducted by Angela Bellia, Marie Curie Researcher at New York University and the University of Bologna, it was possible to create a 3D model of the instrument which was then transformed into an artificial three-dimensional polymer thanks to Workshop 3D Lab. To play this type of auloi, the musician used exclusively his fingers, alternately or simultaneously covering up the wholes at the top, along and at the end of the pipe. The pipes of these “early type” auloi were usually made of bone and of different lengths. (9Colonne)
