Since I was making so many drawings based on sound and tempo, time and vibration I thought it would be fun to make some unruly instruments. These are all built from beginners enthusiasm and I intend to work on engineering some bridges and pegs and contact mic attachments, though each instrument is different so they will all have to be customized.
No specific system of octaves is recognized here. Every time a new person plays one a different touch brings new frictions and pressures. It’s never exactly the same. In the same way that I am uninterested in making visual compositions that relate to appropriate proportions or some arbitary order that is pleasing or simple to humans because it seems untrue to experience, I am not really interested in making something conforming to a measure.
Anyway, meet the band…..
(scroll down to see them all)
Back to the wilderness
One last reunion for the whole band before leaving the residency. All of this will now live in my tiny Brooklyn kitchen. We will be available for parties.
Ungovernable harpy played by Mark Reynolds. Waterphone played by Shahira Hammad.
Sarah Valeri on ungovernable harpy. Shahira Hammad on bells.
Sarah Valeri and Shahira Hammad on ungovernable harpies
Bells from the fires
I’ve resorted to using the barbecue pits at Prospect Park to fire my clay. Several of these exploded on contact with hot coals. After the fire cooled I sifted through the ash to find as many pieces as I could. I wanted to see if they could still hold their own. Many of the pieces had fired to a different color since they had been buried in ash or exposed to air. Many pieces don’t seem to belong to any surviving bell form, and I can only assume I’ve been trying to force pieces from forms completely lost into the still recognizable forms. I used thread to hold the pieces tightly together. At times the process of repair silenced the clanger with the bell as it would catch on the threads that were holding the body together. Some still ring out and others are silent.
Waterphone, welded steel and water, 10” x 10” x 36”
Slowly, very slowly rusting. (You can’t weld stainless steel without releasing toxic gases.)
Artist Kun Kyung Sok plays the waterphone
Harpies
Branches collected from Prospect Park are rigged with guitar and banjo strings between the natural divisions of the branches. The strength of the branches, the amount of tension they can tolerate and width of the fork determine possible range of pitches available. When fitted with a small contact mic the entire branch can be played as any contact will reverberate through the length of the branch.
I’ll be working on different plans for resonators and simple customized bridges that hold the strings more firmly than the current indepenent zither pegs.
Jam night with friends. More audio to come
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business.
Bells
Barbecue pit fired porcelain bells.
La Prima Storia
A ritual for compositions based on resting heartbeats
