SOUND
WORLD AT KEW
In
2001,SOUND WORLD was commissioned to make three bamboo
sound-sculptures for the Japan Festival at the Royal
Botanic Gardens at Kew.The sculptures were installed in
September in the bamboo gardens.The three installments are
an ANGKLUNG,a bamboo XYLOPHONE and a giant WINDCHIME.All
three instruments use Japanese scales and constitute an
hommage to the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996)
and in particular to his composition 'A flock descends into
the pentagonal garden'(1977).The instruments will remain in
the gardens after the Japan Festival for the foreseeable
future.
For more sound sculptures created by Sound World,see the
gallery
here.
ANGKLUNG
(3 m. high x 3 m. wide)
An
angklung is a tuned bamboo rattle ,with each rattle
comprising the same note in different octaves.This one has
8 rattles each comprising 6 octaves,forming a Japanese
scale.It is sounded by thumping the white pads with your
fists-not the usual way of playing an angklung but
necessary when the lowest note is as tall as a person!
WINDCHIME(4.5
metres tall)
This
windchime,(taller than two people!) actually has two
windchimes of 6 notes each,one pitched an octave above the
other (and positioned above the other!).The Japanese
characters read 'TAKE'-bamboo.
The windchime prior to putting on the roof.
The windchime in the bamboo gardens prior to installing the
chimes.
Installing the strikers for the
windchime.
XYLOPHONE
(3 metres wide)
The
xylophone at Kew uses 24 bamboo tubes each about 100 cm. in
diameter (which is nearly as big as bamboo gets) to form a
2 octave chromatic scale. The beaters are suspended from
two tall bamboo poles (not visible in the picture).The
frame is about as tall as a person. The tubes are tuned by
cutting a slit so that a sounding bar is formed with its
own resonator.
HANDMADE
MULTICULTURAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
