s p i d e r - s p i d e r - s p i d e r - s p i d e r - s p i d e r - s p i d e r - s p i d e r - s p i d e r - s p i d e r
Picture by Inga "Vika" Erdmane
s t e r e o h o r n s
- s t e r e o h o r n s - s t e r e o h o
r n s - s t e r e o h o r n s - s t e r e o h o
r n s - s t e r e o h o r n s
Stereo Horns: two 1.20 m long red horns (3mm MDF) with an
aluminium membrane (0.5mm) on
the smallest end. Horns connected with 1m long spring.
Stereo Horns can be played by pulling and releasing the spring. By
playing with each hand differently the "stero effects" of this
instrument can be controled, giving a separate musical role to the left
and right side.
b l u e t r i a n g l
e - b l u e t r i a n g l e - b l u
e t r i a n g l e - b l u e t r i a n g l e - b
l u e t r i a n g l e
The Blue Triangle: Solid wood equal sided triangle (58 cm) with 6
bridges attatched to a rounded angle triangle resonnating case and 12
different length and thickness springs, arranged in a shape of a
spiderweb.
The Blue Triangle can be played with a bow, creating then very high
and low tones and overtones. Instrument can also be plucked,
creating then sounds similar to bell and gong.
t u n e l l e - t u n
e l l e - t u n e l l e - t u n e l l e
- t u n e l l e - t u n e l l e - t u n e l l
e - t u n e l l e - t u n e l l e
Tunelle : 3mm wood 60 x 33 x 25 x 23 cm; 0.5 mm steel 50cm long plate,
bent in a curve with the highest point of 10 cm; 27 equal springs,
tuned in B scale.
Tunelle allows to play melodies in two full octaves. Tunelle can be
played by grabing the end of a spring with two fingers, pulling and
releasing it. The beauty of this instrument is the extra "spring"
sounds resonnating along and the visual vibration of the springs. Sound
of this instrument reminds a little of a toy piano.
r u m b l i n g b u g
- r u m b l i n g b u g - r u m b l i n g
b u g - r u m b l i n g b u g - r u m b l i n
g b u g - r u m b l i n g b u g
The
Rumbling Bug is a sketch for a low sounding spring instrument.
Visually it reminds a lot of Tunelle even though the way of playing it
is different. It has 7 thick springs attatched on top of the
metal curve. They produce very low tones, similar to a double base.
When plucking, the vibrations of the springs are powerful enough to let
the metal curve slide over the resonating board and create a rumbling
sound. On one side of the board is a row of 7 smaller springs. Slightly
pressing the metal curve and moving it over the row of small springs
soft and high crackling and ringing sounds are produced.
At this state The Rumbling Bug is an addition of sound in a musical
piece, not a solo instrument.
Spring instrument reasearch started from two separate points.
One was the urge to build an instrument that looks like no other and sounds unrecognisable.
The other one - my bed as an old spring mattress where each turn on it created a long and clear tone and reverb.
The main idea behind building my own instruments is - to free the musician from a fear to be juged by other musicians and audience.
The best suitable musicians for these spring instruments are actually the ones that are not framed in the classical traditions of playing a musical instrument.
Even if the instrument has been built with an idea of a certain kind of sounds it should produce and how it mainly should be played, the approach of the musician becomes an important input in this research.
The goal of the spring research is to find a number of different conditions where spring triggers sound and build different looking instruments where each instrument is optimized to be played a certain way.
As the end result a spring instrument orchestra would be organised, formed by diverse spring instrument groups - similar to a classical orchestra with string, wind and percussion instruments.
Specially composed music or free improvisations performed on these instruments could be used as soundtracks for audio or audio-visual projects.
Duo Neon & Landa performs with spring instruments - The Blue Triangle, The Tunelle, The Rumbling Bug and The Stereo Horns. In this live improvisation spring instrument sounds are processed. To listen to Neon & Landa music, visit the Neon & Landa website: www.neon-landa.com.