Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Liverpool John Moores University
Guqin Water Piano
Interactive Sound Installation, Shanghai Baoshan International Folk Arts Exposition, Shanghai, September 2010.
I invented the Gu Zen Water Piano (2010) as an interactive instrument that explores the tuning and origins of the Gu Zen - one of the earliest Chinese instruments. Much of the early music written for the instrument was associated with interpretations of nature and landscape and my research tested its creative and sonic possibilities.The Water Piano uses water flicked onto highly amplified bronze rods tuned to a pentatonic scale. The speed and intensity is affected by the movement of the audience and the sound is a poetic audio metaphor for the flowing water of a mountain stream. The Gu Zen Water Piano is permanently sited in Shanghai Baoshan International Folk Arts Exposition.
