The Phoenix Bird  

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An Experimentally Conceptualized,
Multi-Sensory, "OMNIMedia" Symphony,
and (Live) Performance-Art Event
including an Interactive Sound/Light Installation
INFORMATION ABOUT: The Performance Concepts, the underlying Creative Process
(including Story writing, Music composing, Programming, etc.)
Some of the Influences, the Research being done,
ongoing progress being made on the Project
and efforts to find support for the Development Costs
through Fundraising, Grants, Fellowships and Private Donations.
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Music is the universal language of mankind.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
- William Congreve

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.
- Confucius

From the beginning, I have avoided categorizing The Phoenix Bird Symphony with any distinct label. I intend to produce it as recorded music, as a concert piece and a fully staged performance, so it is advisable for me to take all of the various forms of distribution into consideration, as well as invest research time and efforts into creating unique instruments and performance techniques that will allow for an imaginative, musical exploration of this concept. I am considering a specific area of this "New Music for New Instuments" approach, (although I remain open-minded about an entire range of experimental possibilities). Because of my background as a sculptor, I have experience in the production of Clay artforms, and I'm researching a method of instrument making that is a spinoff of that type of work.

Topic:
EMBARKING ON AN ACOUSTIC ODYSSEY WITH CLAY INSTRUMENTS
Shedding stereotypes in the interest of innovation

I am considering the use of clay as a material for musical instruments. When clay is fired in a kiln, the resultant material is hard and brittle, and yet has some unique possibilities due to exceptional resonance and acoustical properties. If you have ever tapped on a thin-walled ceramic vase, bowl or plate, you will know what I'm referring to. The sound produced from such material can be exceptionally resonant, ringing with a clear pitch that could be considered a non-clangorous tone. As with all solid materials that have the ability to vibrate when struck, fired clay can be used to produce pitched tones of specific frequency based on the engineering of the structural thickness, length of vibrating chamber or area of surface resonance.

Based on previous experience with various clays with different characteristics from all over the world, it should be possible to make some choices pertaining to the temperature at which the clay vitrifies or hardens into a denser material. The type that would be the most applicable for this purpose would be stoneware clay, which works best for sculpting large forms. Firing it to about 2400-2500 degrees F. would produce a durable and resilient material, hard and dense enough to resonate with excellent tone characteristics.

Instrument designs based on columnar air resonance could include: Ceramic flutes, whistles, ocarinas, horns and didgeridoos. In addition to wind instruments, percussion instruments such as: darabukkas, doumbeks, udus, abangs, kimkims and other forms of traditional and goblet drums based on a ceramic "bowl" and a stretched skin top would be possible --even without throwing them on a potter's wheel, because they could be built using coils. Some of the resultant sounds that could be produced would be comparable to the Indian tabla or African talking drum.

Experimental Clay instruments could also be produced. These might consist of hybrids of the above categories of wind and percussion instruments, as well as clay versions of Egyptian rebabba-type stringed instruments that could be played with techniques similar to those used for violin. In addition, imaginative designs based on previously unexplored design principles could be fabricated, as long as they can stand up to the requirements of musical tonality, durability and transportability.



Ceramic Speakers!

Another design innovation from nOrh Loudspeaker Ltd., a high-end audio manufacturer, located in Bangkok, Thailand. They sell over 20 types of speakers, including the nOrh 4.0, which comes in a black ceramic version and two special ceramic versions - the Celedon and All American.