For this on-going project I design and make sounding objects to expand the sound palette of traditional instruments. I've explored stretching strings over drums with percussive handmade bridges and ceramic instruments played inside the grand piano. The ceramics alter the sound of the piano by muting the strings and highlighting harmonic nodes. They are also resonant percussion instruments unto themselves.
The work evolves and grows. It started as a sonic investigation, fueled by a playful curiosity into the strange sound world of altering instruments. Now, I'm interested in juxtaposing the mass-produced, standardized, highly-tuned instruments with the intuitive work of the hand. With ceramics, this is also about bringing domestic-like objects, tools for “women’s work”, into my sound palette. By making my own instruments, I seek to divorce myself from macho, misogynistic attitudes which still dominate avant-garde, experimental music and new instrument design.
