The Hills Harp 2003
Materials - Galvanised steel, cables, plastic 3m x 3m x 2.6m
The Hills Harp consisted of a custom made Hills hoist that could have its wires tensioned and tuned. To play the harp, the public could wind the hoist to their desired height and pluck or hit the wires. To hear it you had to put some of the earphones that were dangling from it - as you put on the earphones, you left the ambient soundscape of the area and the very soft and subtle sounds of the Hills Harp, and entered into the very present and rich soundscape of the Hills Harp itself, audible only to those people who were also "connected".
Commissioned for the Queensland Biennial Festival of Music by the Artistic Director and creator of The Sound Forest, Linsey Pollak.
The Spoonaphone 2003
Materials - Queensland Hoop Pine plywood, steel, PVC plastic 1m x 1.2m x 40cm
The Spoonaphone is the most inventive of all of the acoustic instruments listed here, as the timbre of the sound it produces and the way in which it does this are entirely new. The "spoons" are essentially wooden tines that are clamped in a bracket that enables them to be tuned to a specific note when struck with a mallet or plucked by hand. Under these spoons are tunable resonating chambers that are in sympathy with their respective spoons. The result is a sound that has been described "like big drops of musical water" falling into a well or chamber. For The Sound Forest the spoons and their resonators were arranged like a piano keyboard, but for the exhibition at St. Kilda's Linden Gallery, The Instrument Building, they were arranging in the experimental format of the "Spiral of Fifths". With this arrangement, the relationship and "shape" of any note to any other note, or any chord to any other chord remains the same regardless of what key you are playing in. By pivoting the instrument you essentially change key, with the seven arms of the spiral closest to you being the notes of that scale, and the notes furthest from you being the notes that aren't (for instance, in C major the "white notes" are the ones closet to you, and the "black notes" are the ones furthest from you).
Commissioned for the Queensland Biennial Festival of Music by the Artistic Director and creator of The Sound Forest, Linsey Pollak.
Drum Kit 2014
This was a drum kit that was commissioned by Nigel Wright. It features goat skin heads and a tourniquet tuning system on the bass drum and toms. The snare is a fully floating goat head on top, and a regular plastic snare batter on the bottom and allows for either stick or hand playing.
Curlaphone 1990
Constructed with the help of a baritone horn and Melbourne jeweler Tony Mardling, the Curlaphone was a central instrument in the 1990's street band Buckley's 44. Its rectangular shaped horn gives it a distinctive reverb and timbre, and a jaunty centre of gravity.
Violins
These violins were commissioned by the Black Arm Band for their 2013 show Ngangwurra means Heart
Squash Racquet Violin 2013
Also using goatskin as the resonator, the plastic funnel acts as an amplifier, and part of a television aerial is the very functional bow
Bush Violin #3 2013
Materials - squash racquet, goatskin, bamboo, light fitting, wooden spoon, salad bowl, bolts, and violin strings
Shovel and Speaker Violin 2013
Using an old broken shovel handle and assorted objects, the strings activate a mangled speaker cone to produce an authentic, violin-like timbre
Ukeleles 1999
These instruments was made as part of a theatre design for the show The Enormous Club by Born in a Taxi
Buckley's Bass 1990
This was the centre piece in the 1990's street band "Buckley's 44". Made from both found objects and highly specialised components, it includes a cow hide bass drum on the back end, and an internal compartment to house an amplifier and batteries
Bush Drum Kit - Winton 2005
This drum kit was made as part of Winton's Musical Fence that Graeme Leak created. This photo shows the kit being set in concrete in readiness for being hit by the public for the next 10 years
Poly Snare 2014
This is the 4th snare drum in a series that have goat skin heads, rope and bolt tuning, Queensland hoop pine tuning rings, conventional plastic batters and custom made snare mechanisms. This one is made from a section of 14" high density polyethylene pipe, and allows for the drum to be played with either hands or sticks
Bush Drum Kits 2011
These junk drum kits were commissioned by the Black Arm Band for their show Dirtsong and designed specifically for Bart Willoughby to play.