Between Copper and Zinc
I have developed a modular instrument to drop small, hollow brass tubes. My interest lies in the singing, buzzing sound that the flying tubes produce. Dispensers containing the tubes are hung throughout the ceiling of a tall building. The tubes fall in a composed manner, creating a musical rain. The starting point for my search is:
“How does it feel to be inside a music chord?”
In my practise I collect various materials that stimulate me sonically. With the collected materials, I experiment to come up with new ideas, research, and work. During one of these experiments, I discovered that brass tubes in free fall produce a complex sound. If you throw a handful of brass tubes into the air, a singing, buzzing sound, a cluster of complex sounds, is created. With sand or soil on the floor, this sound suddenly breaks off with a thud, and the tubes do not rattle on the floor. In this way, the focus is on the singing of the tubes during their fall.
From this point, I have developed a modular instrument consisting of five dispensers, each with two magazines full of tubes on board. In total, 1000 tubes fall during a performance. There are four types of magazines that are modularly deployable:
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Soprano
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Alto
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Tenor
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Bass
The length of the tubes makes a difference in pitch. Brass with a high zinc content was chosen to achieve a clear and complex sound. The placement of the droppers in space creates a interplay between the visitor, the space, and the chord that is divided into individual elements. Each building has a different height and reverberation. This, together with a composition made for the characteristics of the space, make each performance a unique experience.