3.04.2004
from the dead media project...
Dead medium: The Flame Organ
Source(s): Experimental Musical Instruments Volume 10 #1, Sept. 1994.
FIRE MUSIC . Introductory Notes by Bart Hopkin
Here is how to make flame sing: obtain a glass tube, one or two inches in diameter, open at both ends, and perhaps two or three feet long. Light a propane torch or similar burner, and insert the nozzle about one fourth of the way into the open lower end of the tube. If conditions are right, you will hear the tone will begin == not abruptly, but with a growing volume.
Gather together a tuned set of such tubes, develop the mechanisms to shut the flames on and off in a controlled manner, and you will have created a flame organ.
The sounds of such an arrangement, according to people who have worked with flame tones, are highly varied. The system can be refined so as to dependably produce clear, steady tones at the frequency of the tube's fundamental. Or the mechanism can be adjusted to bring out harmonics. On the other hand, you can take a less controlling approach, and let the system come forth with a menagerie of whoops, shrieks and moans. One consistent characteristic: the attacks are not sharp; rather, each tone grows as the resonance establishes itself.
Dead medium: The Flame Organ
Source(s): Experimental Musical Instruments Volume 10 #1, Sept. 1994.
FIRE MUSIC . Introductory Notes by Bart Hopkin
Here is how to make flame sing: obtain a glass tube, one or two inches in diameter, open at both ends, and perhaps two or three feet long. Light a propane torch or similar burner, and insert the nozzle about one fourth of the way into the open lower end of the tube. If conditions are right, you will hear the tone will begin == not abruptly, but with a growing volume.
Gather together a tuned set of such tubes, develop the mechanisms to shut the flames on and off in a controlled manner, and you will have created a flame organ.
The sounds of such an arrangement, according to people who have worked with flame tones, are highly varied. The system can be refined so as to dependably produce clear, steady tones at the frequency of the tube's fundamental. Or the mechanism can be adjusted to bring out harmonics. On the other hand, you can take a less controlling approach, and let the system come forth with a menagerie of whoops, shrieks and moans. One consistent characteristic: the attacks are not sharp; rather, each tone grows as the resonance establishes itself.
