Rhythm, tones and scales. The music instruments has existed for almost as long as the human beings. So where to start?
I wanted to work with the sound and let the interaction appear from how to evoke and change the sounds. I was inspired by the Hang Drum and my experience with one.
When playing the Hang Drum i was drawn into the vibrating tones and odd scale which touched me emotional. I felt like couldn’t really play the instrument but neither play it wrong. I escaped to a place where i was no longer aware of my body or mind, but almost just observed myself drumming in different patterns. Playing. I forgot time and snapped back to reality without a clue about how long I had been drumming.
I created 3 drumming instruments.
The “Blop” a small handheld rhythm instrument, of which creates small hollow sound when slapping a shallow room of air. The sound would appear differently in terms of how you hit the opening of the ceramic round shell.
The “Air Drum” which is build upon the same principles as the “Blop”. This drum consist of 7 separate hollow ceramic rooms joined together. The differentials in the size of the rooms create the possibility to hit different notes/tones making it possible to play melodies like on the Hang Drum.
The “Water Drum” is inspired by the singing bowl of the southern traditions. A lathed brass bowl. Fill it with clean cold water. Adjust the water level to create the notes you want. A smaller brass bowl turned up side down and lead with a handle creates a room between its’ own sheell and the water underneath. A drumming stick in the other hand and you have endless possibilities of creating different sounds consisting of both vibrating brass, tones from hitting the top bowl and tuning tones by adjusting the top bowl (se video).
The instruments was all about experimenting with sounds. Creating friendly and cosey sounds. Create instruments for contemplation. Not being able to play wrong but still have an opportunity for mastering all the different sounds.
A huge thanks to drummer Malte Visnekus (seen in the video) for bringing the best out of my instruments. I was very blessed to meet this talented genius!