Instruments and Circuit Bends

Handmade instruments and circuit-bent noisemakers play a large role in my performances and recordings. I am always exploring new sounds and looking for ways to coax unusual tones from odd objects.

Piano Guts

I finally got a Piano Guts (harp & soundboard of upright piano)... pictures coming soon. Here are some clips of my first session exploring its sounds:

chopstick or drumstick?

cheapo kiddie cymbal

drumstick

brass bowl & rubber mallet

threaded rod

plastic bow

table knife

china cymbal

plastic bow

Wine Rack

This instrument began its life as a wrought-iron wine rack, which I found in a thrift store and augmented with a base, contact mic, and cymbal. It is wonderfully resonant and works equally well struck or bowed. It has a very sculptural quality and lends itself to a gestural, dance-like playing style.

I have used it in numerous performances, and my CD "Missing the Snow" is a live recording of a solo performance with the wine rack in 2008.

Goat Spirit

I constructed this instrument for a ritual butoh dance performance in July, 2009. It consists of three cymbals with guitar strings strung on a shaft topped by a decorated goat skull. The cymbals are very resonant and the whole instrument can be struck, strummed, or bowed. The strings are tuned by rotating copper fixtures below the bottom cymbal.

The entire instrument's pitch can be adjusted up and down a few semitones while playing by bending the central shaft back and forth. A quick vibrato effect can be obtained by "shimmying" the cymbal with a finger. The goat spirit invites one to dance with it while playing, and the more one plays, the more sounds one can evoke from it.

A sample from the Elkugami performance with Danse Perdue:

Iron Council

This once-innocent toy train has strayed off its track and now howls, roars, and thrashes out industrial beats. All it took was a mini-jack and one capacitor. It has also been decorated.

A quick sample of some of its sounds: