instrument-a-day 25: man-who-sold-the-world-o-phoneFebruary 27th, 2010
I was listening to David Bowie’s "The Man Who Sold The World" and wanted to reproduce its distinctive percussion.
You may recognize the beads from last year.
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instrument-a-day 24: guitar drone wheelsFebruary 27th, 2010
A modification of the handheld drone wheel (instrument-a-day 13) – now solidly mounted on the guitar.
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instrument-a-day 23: dollarwhistleFebruary 26th, 2010
It's a pennywhistle made from a can of Coke, which costs a dollar. A little slanted block of wood is glued in the mouthpiece to direct air to the fipple. I only made two holes because it was in danger of falling apart the whole time.
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instrument-a-day 22: tiny kalimbaFebruary 26th, 2010
A teeny tiny thumb piano made from guitar wire clippings and a little tube clamp, on top of a contact microphone.
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instrument-a-day 21: blinkyFebruary 22nd, 2010
One of my earliest memories is of lying on the carpet under the christmas tree watching the colored shadows change as the bulbs blinked on and off, and listening to the small tinkling sounds of the tiny metal thermostat timers inside each bulb. For this instrument, I stuck contact microphones onto a bunch of blinky bulbs to magnify those sounds.
The sound in this video is in stereo.
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instrument-a-day 20: paulownia rattleFebruary 21st, 2010
The paulownia tree, also known as empress tree or princess tree, makes little seed pods that are natural rattles. I picked this one up in Prospect Park.
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instrument-a-day 19: bang on a can ensembleFebruary 20th, 2010
This actually sounds surprisingly good, considering my lack of rhythm! In case you were wondering, the ensemble members are (clockwise from top left) black beans, chickarina, tuna, italian beans in tomato sauce, and more tuna.
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instrument-a-day 18: paper clipsFebruary 19th, 2010
It's a bunch of paper clips screwed to a chunk of wood with a piezo contact mic. It sounds kinda like 1960s electronic music. Kinda.
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(mailing list archive) upcoming noisy stuff in the springFebruary 19th, 2010
Happy February! I’ve got some upcoming events to share. A lot, in fact!
Tonight is the opening of Flux Factory’s latest show, HOUSEBROKEN, celebrating their new home in Long Island City. I contributed to the show by sneaking a bunch of dishes and cookware out of their kitchen, engraving them with various texts and images, and returning it all. http://www.fluxfactory.org/ for details of tonight’s opening, and if you’d like to see some of my dish-tricks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ranjit/sets/72157623333378723/detail/
I did it back in 2001, 2002, and 2003, but then I neglected it for a while. Now, with the help of NYC Resistor, Lanternfest is back! Make homemade lanterns and show them off in Prospect Park. We’ll have a lantern-building workshop next Tuesday the 23rd (please RSVP to me), and the lantern festival itself on the first full moon of the Year of the Tiger, Sunday, February 28. More details at http://www.nycresistor.com/2010/02/14/lantern-festival/
I’ve got one of my greenmarket produce scan photos up for sale at the Dumbo Arts Center’s benefit Pop-Up Sale – go buy art for a good cause (more art)! The sale is Friday-Sunday Feb 26-28 – more at http://www.dumboartscenter.org/benefit_events.html
I’m in the middle of my annual instrument-a-day month, in which I spend February trying to make a new musical instrument every day. This is the third year, and I think it’s getting harder. You can see and hear the noisemakers so far at http://www.moonmilk.com/ — and like last year, I’m celebrating the end of the month of instruments by performing with the Glass Bees at Barbes in Park Slope, Brooklyn: Wednesday, March 3 around 7:30pm. Thanks to Bethany Ryker for making this possible! More info: http://www.glassbees.com/ & http://www.barbesbrooklyn.com/
I’ll be performing a new piece for robot toy piano at the NYC Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, March 25-27. There’s dozens of interesting-looking performances, and I think most of them will be free! My piece will be at Galapagos in DUMBO, Brooklyn, the evening of the 25th. Check http://www.nycemf.org/ in a week or so for the full schedule.
I’m working on a sort of piano-tickling machine for a piece by composer Zachary James Watkins, which will be performed by Tiffany Lin in Seattle on April 3, at the Chapel Space at Good Shepherd Center. By the way, if any of you in New York have a grand or baby grand piano I can experiment on (harmlessly, I promise!), please let me know!
On May 2, I’ll be performing with pianist Asami Tamura at the Music with a View series at the Flea Theater in Tribeca. Looks like it’ll be a fun show with a bunch of experimental composers and performers! http://www.theflea.org/show_detail.php?page_type=0&show_id=12
And my ongoing daily photo project with Keira Chang continues at http://dontwiggle.com/ – we’re just a few months away from a full year.
Please let me know what you’re up to!
- Ranjit
www.moonmilk.com
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instrument-a-day 17: pickup gloveFebruary 19th, 2010
I took some scrap wire and wound it into coils, which I sewed to the fingertips of a knit glove. I tossed some extra magnets under the guitar strings, and then waggled my fingers over the strings while tapping the strings (still tuned to Open D) with a drumstick. It works ok, not great. The next version will use much finer, more sensitive coils, and probably only on the thumb and two fingers. It's hard to use all five!
