Reed box tone-tool

16.0002.JPG

Dublin Core

Title

Reed box tone-tool

Subject

Description

Steel, brass, wood, accordion reeds, blower fans, linear bearings.

In their original Reed box experiments, Grainger and
Cross approximated the effect of gliding musical
pitches by using closely-spaced microtones. They
detuned harmonium reeds to microtonal intervals, using
tape to weight the reeds. They then used a wooden
waveform on rollerskates to control the motion of air
from a vacuum cleaner blowing through the reeds.
Cross later introduced electronic oscillators to create
smoother gliding tones.
This scaled-down version uses accordion reeds, also
detuned by tape. Blower fans take the place of the
vacuum cleaner and linear bearings streamline the design.

Date

2016
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