Raindrop Drum Apparatus

Craft

27 Nov

States of Change

This interactive installation consists of a steel frame hosting 8 platforms, water drippers and medical blood bags, exploring the acoustic qualities of rain and how sound responds to material. Materials found at Bow Creek are subjected to the impact of artificial rain drops. The user interacts with the piece through two channels. Frequencies at which the water drops hit the 8 platforms are controlled through taps. Sound level is controlled by changing the platform height through a pulley system, effectively turning the installation into an automated, amplified drum. Adjusting the two variables for all eight materials produces music. With the brief: “States of change / Changes of state” this apparatus intends to register and quantify the natural chaos of rain through sound data.

Falling rain doesn’t produce the sound of water, it resonates the sound of the surface it falls on.