The History and Development of Electromagnetic String Instruments

Accepted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Fine Arts at The Savannah College of Art and Design

________________________________________________________________________/__/__ (Professor Robert E. Miller) Committee Chair ________________________________________________________________________/__/__ (Professor Matthew Akers) Committee Member 1 ________________________________________________________________________/__/__ (Professor Stephen LeGrand) Committee Member 2

The History and Development of Electromagnetic String Instruments

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Sound Design Department in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts Savannah College of Art and Design By John Edward Freyermuth

Savannah, Georgia June, 2011

Table of Contents

Abstract - 1Introduction -2Influences -3Literature Review -9Methodology -32Analysis -41Conclusion -46Works Cited -48Bibliography -53-

Freyermuth

The History and Development of Electromagnetic String Instruments

John Edward Freyermuth

June, 2011

Electromagnetic string instruments have a storied history, usually associated with electromagnetic pickups for guitars and pianos. But beyond this there is a rich history of interesting string instruments that use electromagnets to set strings into vibration or alter the natural acoustics of existing string instruments. This thesis traces the development of electromagnetic string instruments from the mid 19th century to the present. The author will place an original and unique electromagnetic string instrument into the historical context of the greater history of the genre in an effort to demonstrate the potential for a revived interest in electromagnetic string instruments. Modern technology provides the ability for designers and composers to control acoustic instruments with the detail and precision which is or was traditionally only associated with electronic music. Through further examination of the rich past of strange and unknown string instruments, artists and composers could greatly enhance the repertoire of sounds available to them.

1

Freyermuth 2 Introduction Traditional string instruments are played by having their strings excited by a mechanical impetus; plucking, bowing, striking with a number of different materials, and even in some instances, like the aeolian harp, using wind to excite the strings to vibrate.1 String instruments that use electromagnets as a means to excite the strings to vibrate without mechanical input or in combination with traditional mechanical methods of setting strings to vibrate are examined in this paper. The development of electromagnetic string instruments as well as electromagnetic devices used to alter the natural acoustics of string instruments, including but not limited to their natural resonant frequency, their harmonic content, their volume envelop and the duration of their notes is explored throughout this paper. The historical analysis will focus on how these instruments were developed, who developed them, why they were developed and why they eventually fell out of use. Through the historical analysis of electromagnetic string instruments the author places his own electromagnetic string instrument into historical context, illustrating it’s similarities and differences with past instruments. By placing this new instrument into the historical cannon of electromagnetic string instruments the author illustrates why such instruments fell out of use and how, advances in technology and materials, have allowed reinterpretation of the instruments providing, artists, musicians and composers with a new palette of sounds.

1

Bart Hopkin, Musical Instrument Design: Practical Information for Instrument Making (Tucson, AZ: See Sharp Press, 2005), pg. 122-123.

Freyermuth 3 Influences In 1820 Hans Christian Ørsted, a Danish physicist unintentionally discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism while lecturing to a class of physics students.2 During an experiment Ørsted accidentally placed a wire carrying an electrical current near a compass, and noticed the needle swing at right angles away from north towards the wire.3 Ørsted immediately realized that this discovery was important but did not immediately go public with his findings. Instead, he continued the lecture and then went on to produce further experiments in the area to verify his findings. Later in 1820, when Ørsted went public with his findings, he showed how an electric current produces a circular magnetic field as it flows through a wire and how that field flows in the same direction as the current in the wire.4 Ørsted’s discovery proved that electricity and magnetism are linked. Ørsted’s work, in combination with Michael Faraday’s discovery that changing magnetic fields produce an electric current in a nearby circuit, formed the basis of James Clerk Maxwell’s unified theory of electromagnets and most of modern electrotechnology. 5 In 1825, British electrician, William Sturgeon, used Ørsted’s research as the basis for his development of the first electromagnet.6 The first electromagnet was a seven-ounce horseshoeshaped piece of iron that was loosely wrapped with eighteen turns of bare copper wire. When 2

"Oersted and the Discovery of Electromagnetism Tutorial," National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, accessed May 02, 2011, http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/oersted/index.html.

3 Frank Neville H. Robinson, Edwin Kashy, and Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, Britannica Academic Edition, s.v. "Electromagnetism (physics)," 2011, Experimental and theoretical studies of electromagnetic phenomena, accessed April 20, 2011, http://0www.britannica.com.library.scad.edu/EBchecked/topic/183324/electromagnetism/71603/Experi mental-and-theoretical-studies-of-electromagnetic-phenomena.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid 6 "Electromagnet," Inventors, Introduction, accessed February 08, 2011, http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blelectromagnet.htm.

Freyermuth 4 Sturgeon ran a current from a single cell battery through the bare copper wire, the horseshoeshaped iron bar became an electromagnet capable of lifting nine pounds, twenty times its weight.

When Sturgeon turned off the current the iron bar demagnetized and was unable to attract or lift anything.7 With his electromagnet Sturgeon showed that by regulating the flow of the electrical current to the wire, he could determine the strength of his electromagnet as well as turn it on and off.

In 1929 American inventor Joseph Henry created an electromagnet that was able to lift more then one ton of iron.8 Henry’s work was rooted in the same principles utilized by Sturgeon, but contained some substantial improvements over Sturgeon’s earlier model. Henry’s magnet used insulated wire to prevent short-circuiting when the electrical current ran through the wire wrapped around the iron core. Henry was able to make his magnet thousands of times stronger then Sturgeon’s magnet by tightly wrapping the insulated copper wire around the iron core creating hundreds of coils, which vastly increased the power of the electromagnet.9 Continuing to examine the potential of electromagnets Henry illustrated a number of future uses for the device, including long distance communication which he demonstrated by sending an electronic current over one mile of wire to activate an electromagnet which caused a bell to strike.10 Henry’s demonstration of the power of electromagnetism as a means of long distance communication can be viewed as one of the earliest demonstrations of the potential application

7

Frank Neville H. Robinson, Edwin Kashy, and Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, Britannica Academic Edition, s.v. "Electromagnetism (physics)," 2011, Experimental and theoretical studies of electromagnetic phenomena, accessed April 20, 2011, http://0www.britannica.com.library.scad.edu/EBchecked/topic/183324/electromagnetism/71603/Experi mental-and-theoretical-studies-of-electromagnetic-phenomena.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 "Electromagnet," Inventors, Joseph Nery, accessed February 08, 2011, http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blelectromagnet.htm.

Freyermuth 5 of electromagnets in the design of musical instruments. Electromagnetism was the agent inducing the sound by means of directly exciting a material to vibrate periodically and create sound or by controlling the mechanical apparatus that creates sounds. In the case of Henry’s experiment it was releasing a bell to swing in a pendular motion which causes the clapper to hit the inside ring of the bell, causing the bell to ring.

Throughout the 19th century researchers continued to investigate the relationship between electricity and magnetism. In 1931, Michael Faraday, a British experimental physicist, discovered that magnets could induce electricity. Faraday demonstrated the ability of magnets to induce an electric current. He illustrated that by moving a magnet, by turning an electromagnet on and off, and by moving an electric wire in the Earth’s magnetic field an electric current could be induced.11 The results of Faraday’s experiments proved that a changing magnetic field in a circuit induces an electromotive force in the circuit, and also that the magnitude of the electromotive force equals the rate at which the flux of the magnetic field through the circuit changes.12 Faraday’s discovery of electric induction went on to become one of the most influential discoveries of the 19th century.

Faraday’s research would go onto inspire some of the finest minds of the 19th century, influencing the work of Herman von Helmholtz, Gustav Kirchhoff and Sir George Stokes.13 Faraday’s discovery of electric induction became a central component in James Clerk Maxwell’s unified theory of electromagnetism. Maxwell’s unified theory was the first to successfully

11

Frank Neville H. Robinson, Edwin Kashy, and Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, Britannica Academic Edition, s.v. "Electromagnetism (physics)," 2011, Faraday's discovery of electric induction, accessed April 20, 2011, http://0www.britannica.com.library.scad.edu/EBchecked/topic/183324/electromagnetism/71603/Experi mental-and-theoretical-studies-of-electromagnetic-phenomena.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

Freyermuth 6 synthesize electricity and magnetism in a single construct.14 Faraday’s research became an integral component of Maxwell’s equations, which provide a complete description of electromagnetism down to the subatomic level and eventually became accepted and as Faraday’s law of induction.15 Faraday’s discovery that a changing magnetic field can induce a current in a circuit and subsequent research in the field of electric induction was responsible for a multitude of new technological innovations that shaped the 19th and 20th centuries. Along with shaping trends in scientific thought, Faraday also put his knowledge to practical use, building the first electric generator only a few months after his discovery.16 Faraday’s discovery of electric induction was one of the leading theories that would eventually allow for the amplification, recording and reproduction of sound, as it finds use in the build of magnetic pickups, moving coil microphones, ribbon microphones, magnetic microphones17 and loudspeakers. Faraday’s research was influential in Joseph Henry’s identification of the phenomenon of self-induction, the inertial characteristics of an electric circuit.18 Henry’s discovery of self-inductance would lead to Faraday’s discovery of mutual inductance. Mutual inductance is when an electromotive force is 14

Frank Neville H. Robinson, Edwin Kashy, and Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, Britannica Academic Edition, s.v. "Electromagnetism (physics)," 2011, Maxwell's unified theory of electromagnetism, accessed April 20, 2011, http://0www.britannica.com.library.scad.edu/EBchecked/topic/183324/electromagnetism/71603/Experi mental-and-theoretical-studies-of-electromagnetic-phenomena.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 According to Harry F. Olson in his text Music, Physics and Engineering, “Magnetic microphones are microphones which depend on variations in the reluctance of a magnetic circuit.

The variation in reluctance in the magnetic circuit produces a variation in magnetic flux and leads to the induction of a voltage in the coil surrounding the magnetic circuit.”

Harry Ferdinand Olson, "Resonators and Radiators," in Music, Physics and Engineering, 2nd ed.

(New York: Dover Publications, 1967), pg. 329.

18 "Henry, Joseph," Almagest - A Multimedia Database for Teaching & Learning, section goes here, accessed March 28, 2011, http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/henry_joseph.html.

Freyermuth 7 produced in a coil because of the change in current in a coupled coil.19 The research of Faraday and Henry would be integral in the development of the electrical transformer20, which has been a cornerstone in sound recording and reproducing technology.

Electromagnets have a well-documented history with regards to musical instruments and audio technology. Electromagnets are integral parts of transformers and inductors, which find themselves in the circuitry of an array of audio technology including but not limited to microphone preamplifiers, mixing desks, amplifiers and compressors. Electromagnets are essential components of magnetic pickups, moving coil microphones and speakers. Their effect on musical instruments and audio technology in the arenas of sound amplification, recording and reproduction is well chronicled and deeply researched. The impact of magnetic pickups alone points to electromagnets as one of the most important developments in the history of music.

Electromagnets were an integral component in the evolution and design of string instruments, chordophones, in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century. When the impact of electromagnets on the history of musical instruments is discussed the first thing that is referenced is the importance of electromagnets in the design of devices used for amplification, recording and reproduction of acoustic instruments. Electromagnets are integral components of magnetic pickups, moving coil microphones, ribbon microphones, electrical transformers and loudspeakers. These innovations were some of the most important and commercially successful developments in the design of musical instruments and audio technology in the past two hundred

19

"Mutual Inductance," Mutual inductance, accessed March 28, 2011, http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/indmut.html.

20 According to Carl. R. Nave from the department of physics and astronomy at Georgia State University, “A transformer makes use of Faraday’s law and the ferromagnetic properties of an iron core to efficiently raise of lower AC voltages. “ "Mutual Inductance," Transformers, accessed March 28, 2011, http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/indmut.html.

Freyermuth 8 years. The use of electromagnets in the amplification, recording and reproduction of sound is well documented because of the massive commercial success of industries employing said technologies. No instrument has benefitted more from the use of electromagnets then the guitar, which since the development of magnetic pickups in the 1920’s by famed Gibson engineer Lloyd Loar, and later enhancements to the design in 1932 by George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker, has become a staple in modern popular music.21 According to Marc Henshall, “the modern day electric guitar was born as a result of the electromagnetic pickup,” and thus by the electromagnet.22 Although the history of electromagnets in the development of musical instruments is detailed in its analysis of the use of electromagnets for amplification, reproduction and recording of sound, it is lacking in its chronicles of the rich and varied history and development of musical instruments that use electromagnets as sound creating or sound modifying devices. Since the development of electromagnets in the early part of the 19th century inventors and instrument designers have used electromagnets to modify existing instruments and as central components in the design of new instruments.

21

Marc Henshall, "The History & Development Of Magnetic Pickups « Sound Matters," Sound Matters, February 17, 2011, Early History, accessed March 14, 2011, http://www.soundmattersblog.com/2011/02/history-development-magnetic-pickups/.

22 Ibid.

Freyermuth 9

LITERATURE REVIEW

There is not a great deal of research related to the history and development of electromagnetic string instruments. There is also no definitive chronology on the history, development and impact of these instruments. Very few documents of early electromagnetic string instruments survive and even fewer recordings of performances of these instruments exist today. There is very little information about the materials used to construct many of the early electromagnetic string instruments because they never reached a level of commercial acceptance that would warrant extensive documentation. In the case of many of these electromagnetic string instruments none of the actual instruments have survived in a state that would allow them to be played. In order to be played these instruments would need to undergo extensive restoration, which would be extremely costly and difficult. One of the major difficulties in trying to restore these instruments is the lack of images and supporting documentation necessary to understanding how they were constructed in order to restore the instruments to performance level.

In piecing together the early history of electromagnetic string instruments researchers have to search exhaustively for primary sources of information about these instruments. In many cases of these instruments the only remaining resources are the rapidly aging community of people that either worked for the companies that produced these instruments or were one of the few individuals that performed with or owned one. Very few researchers have gone through the trouble to seek out these individuals and preserve their unique knowledge of the development of electromagnetic string instruments.

There are three major categories of current research in the field of electromagnetic string instruments. The first category is the historical documentation and preservation of the instruments as unique artifacts in the history of musical instruments and their affect on the music

Freyermuth 10 of the 20th century. The second category uses electromagnets to study the physics of strings, examining their natural resonant frequency, the spectral content of the string’s tones, the different modes of string vibration and the damping of strings. The third category of research is in the field of preparing pianos with electromagnets controlled by computer programs, enabling them to perform outside of their traditional physical capabilities by resonating the strings of the piano with electromagnets. What is not currently being researched is the application of electromagnets in the design of new electromagnetic string instruments as well as the use of new technology and new materials to revise previous incarnations of electromagnetic string instruments allowing them to overcome the problems, which spelled their prior downfalls.

This first category of research illustrates recent attempts to understand and build a history of electromagnetic instrument development and music composition. This foundation of knowledge examining electromagnetic instruments is crucial if this technology is to develop in the future. Carol J. Oja, the William Powell Mason Professor of Music at Harvard University, has completed research that focuses on 20th century American musical traditions. She is the author of the award-winning book Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920’s, which chronicles the development of new music, new instruments and new ideas in the early part of the 20th century.23 Her approach to the research of early electromagnetic string instruments is to examine them in their original context. In her book Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920’s, Oja analyzes a number of new musical instruments that were demonstrated in New York in the 1920’s. One of the instruments she discusses is the crea-tone, an early electromagnetic string instrument that was used to increase the sustain of piano strings beyond what their natural

23

"Carol J. Oja - History of American Civilization," Home | Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Introduction, accessed May 27, 2011, http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~amciv/faculty/oja.shtml.

Freyermuth 11 volume envelope allows. Instead of breaking down the crea-tone to all of its constituent parts and analyzing how it works, Oja discusses the role of the crea-tone and other new instruments in shaping the development of music in the 20th century.24 Oja’s research looks at the social, economic, political and cultural events and correlates those to the development and success of new instruments and new music. She looks at more than simply the methods utilized in the creation of new instruments and music. She also examines why they were developed and what they represented.

Oja illustrates that, while there was considerable excitement over new instruments when they were first introduced to composers and the general public, interest in new mechanical instruments soon faded because the instruments were only used to perform music written for traditional instruments or used as special effects in performances with large orchestras.25 Oja explains that composers that did actually write music for new instruments were part of a small niche that was not well known to the public and very rarely received radio play because of their subversive views towards the traditional values of 20th century music.26 Oja examines the impact modernist values and how they clashed against the values being propagated from the newly created radiobroadcast system, which resulted in stunting the spread of new musical instruments.

She also points out the impact of the great depression and the crash of the stock market. This economic downturn made it difficult for new musical instruments to gain commercial success, as they could not attract investors to allow for large-scale production. Oja outlines how much of the

24

Carol J. Oja, "The Machine in the Concert Hall," in Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), pg. 67.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid, 62.

Freyermuth 12 technology used in creating these instruments was new, still very expensive and somewhat unreliable. Many of these new instruments, like the crea-tone were prone to breaking down.27 Oja’s research provides an in-depth examination of the various issues that determined if a new instrument survived or failed in the early part of the 20th century. She informs the reader of the difficulties in the transition of musical thought from the 19th to the 20th century, and how a casualty of the clash of musical ideas were many of the instruments that were inspired by the machines of the machine age.28 The major component that is missing from Oja’s research is a description of how these new instruments sounded and if the audience in New York in the early part of the 20th century accepted the sounds of these new instruments as musical or, considered them simply noise. If this was the case, did the aesthetic quality of the sound play a part in their failure to become a commercial success and supplant traditional instruments in everyday music composition?

Edith Borroff is an American composer born in New York City in 1925. She earned a Masters of Music from the American Conservatory of Music in 1948. She later went onto receive a Ph.D. in the history of music at the University of Michigan in 1958.29 Borroff has composed a number of choral pieces for female choirs as well as being an accomplished musicologist. She taught at the Milwaukee-Downer College from 1950-1954 and then taught music history at the State University of New York at Binghamton until her retirement in 1992.30Since the early 1980’s Borroff has focused her research on unearthing information about the choralcelo, one of the earliest and most complex electromagnetic string instruments invented.

27

Ibid, 67.

Ibid, 59.

29 "Biographies of Selected Composers," Treble Clef Music Press, accessed March 09, 2011, http://www.trebleclefpress.com/bios.html.

30 Ibid.

28

Freyermuth 13 The choralcelo, was a large electromagnetic string instrument invented by Melvin Severy and George Sinclair from 1888 to 1909 in Arlington Heights Massachusetts.31 The choralcelo consisted of two keyboards resembling an organ. The top keyboard had 64 keys and was used to control an organ that used an electromagnetic tone wheel, similar to the one found in Cahill’s Telhamonium, for sound generation.32The bottom keyboard consisted of 88 keys and was used to control a piano. Through the use of a stops and knee operated switches the performer could vibrate the piano strings with hammers striking the strings, by electromagnets33 vibrating the strings or by a combination of the two. The combined use of the hammers and magnets to vibrate the strings provided performs with the ability to play passages that would be impossible on traditional pianos. For example on the choralcelo by using both the magnets and the hammers to vibrate the string performers could play a passage of staccato notes over the same notes playing sustaining chords.34 Borroff began her investigation into the history of the choralcelo because she found that the instrument was tremendously misrepresented or ignored. Borroff’s connection with the choralcelo is personal; her mother was trained by the Choralcelo Company of Chicago to give performances on the instrument demonstrating its unique abilities to potential buyers and

31

Simon Crab, "120 Years of Electronic Music," 120 Years of Electronic Music (update V3.0), 2004, choralcelo, accessed January 25, 2010, http://www.mathieubosi.com/zikprojects/120YearsOfElectronicMusic.pdf.

32 Ibid.

33 The electromagnets used in the choralcelo vibrated the strings by receiving electrical pulses at the specific rate of the note that was being played on the keyboard that would cause the electromagnets to magnetize and demagnetize with the same frequency at which the strings needed to vibrate to play the desired note.

Wade Jenkins, "The Choralcelo (Celestial Choir) History: 1888 - 1942," Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association 45, no. 4 (August/September 2008): pg. 205, accessed April 18, 2011, http://www.amica.org/Live/Publications/Public-Aug-Sept-08.pdf.

34 Ibid, 239.

Freyermuth 14 investors.35 Her father also worked as a performer for the same company and thus the choralcelo became an important component of her life. The importance and proximity of the topic is evident in the tenacity with which she approaches researching the choralcelo.

Borroff’s research examines in great detail the history and the development of the choralcelo in the hopes of finding enough information to restore one of the three surviving models that she has located scattered throughout America. Borroff’s research works mainly with finding primary sources about the history and development of the choralcelo. She has conducted interviews and received documents concerning the instrument from all corners of the United States. Her research has presented a clear picture of how the mysterious instrument operated and was designed. From her own first hand experience with the instrument in her youth she is able to give a first hand account of how it was able to create its sound, which she describes as, “ethereal and never to have been duplicated.”36 Her research has also provided scholars and enthusiasts with a number of photographs and blueprints that illustrate how the instrument was to look and operate, shining light onto the disputed topic of whether the instrument was classified as an organ or as an electromagnetic piano.37 Along with physical descriptions of the instrument and details on how it was played, Borroff examines a number of reasons why the instrument never received a warm commercial welcome. She postulates that one of the main reasons had nothing to do with the quality of its sound, but rather was an direct result of its massive size, the complexity of its design, its

35

Edith Borroff, "The Choralcelo: One Uniquely American Instrument," College Music Symposium 22, no. 1 (Spring 1982): pg. 46, accessed March 04, 2011, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40374138.

36 Ibid, 47.

37 The choralcelo went through a number of revisions as its developers continued to refine the instrument and as a result at different times the choralcelo had more in common with an organ and at other times it ad more in common with an electromagnetic piano.

Freyermuth 15 penchant for breaking down and its extremely high cost to purchase and maintain.38 Borroff states in her 1979 article for the College Music Symposium “An Early Electro-Magnetic Experiment”, that a choralcelo cost two hundred and sixty thousand dollars to purchase in the 1930’s and it was that massive price tag which stunted its commercial appeal.39 The goal of Borroff’s research is to save the choralcelo from falling through the cracks in the history of new musical instruments in America in the 20th century. Her work seeks to be able to conduct enough research and gain enough knowledge to lead the restoration of one of the three existing instruments. She only seeks to rebuild the original model as accurately as possible without making modifications to the design. Her purpose is not to improve the existing model and she has no hopes of making it commercially viable. Her only goal is the historical preservation of one of the earliest and strangest electromagnetic sting instruments to ever exist, the choralcelo.

Other organizations researching the history and development of electromagnetic string instruments in order to preserve their rich and varied history are AMICA, the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors’ Association and the Mechanical Music Press. AMICA was founded in San Francisco in 1963 as an educational non-profit organization with worldwide appreciation of historic automatic musical instruments.40 According to AMICA’s website, Its goal has always been to introduce people from all walks of life to the beauty and value of automatic musical instruments. AMICA has prevented the destruction of many fine rare instruments that have been restored to their former glory. Not only that, but AMICA

38

Edith Borroff, "An Early Electro-Magnetic Experiment," College Music Symposium 19, no. 1 (Spring 1979): pg. 56, accessed March 4, 2011, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40351752.

39 Ibid.

40 Karl Ellison, "Automatic Musical Instrument Collector's Association," Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association, Home, accessed February 29, 2011, http://www.amica.org/Live/index.htm.

Freyermuth 16 has placed many instruments in places where the general public can see, hear and enjoy these glorious instruments from the past.41 One of the automatic musical instruments that AMICA has set out to save is the same instrument Borroff intends to preserve, the choralcelo. In their August – September 2004 bulletin Wade Jenkins presented the clearest and most in-depth examination to date of the history, development and performance capabilities of the choralcelo. In his article “The Choralcelo (Celestial Choir) History: 1888-1942,� Jenkins provides extensive information about the construction of the choralcelo, including notes from its inventors Melvin Every, George Sinclair and Wilber Farrington.42 Jenkins also provides extensive images of the choralcelo and schematics of its design that where submitted when Every and Farrington applied for a patent.43 These images provide an in depth look at how the choralcelo actually works. One diagram Jenkins has unearthed describes the interrupter that was used to generate the timed DC pulses sent to the electromagnet that vibrated the string at the natural periodicity of the individual notes.44 The diagram outlines how the choralcleo used a switching device activated by a slider to provide six positions of harmonic derivatives for each note. This was done routing the pulses of a given magnet to the strings an octave above or below the intended note depending on the position of the slider. Allowing the performer to blend different levels and types of harmonics for the note.45

41

Ibid.

Wade Jenkins, "The Choralcelo (Celestial Choir) History: 1888 - 1942," Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association 45, no. 4 (August/September 2008): pg. 202, accessed April 18, 2011, http://www.amica.org/Live/Publications/Public-Aug-Sept-08.pdf.

43 Ibid, 201-217.

44 Ibid, 204.

42

45

Freyermuth 17 In the same article Jenkins describes how the instrument was played and provides first hand accounts of the audiences extremely positive reaction to the introduction of the instrument at a Boston performance on April 27th 1909.46 A review of the performance in the May 1st 19109 edition of The Musical Age, captures the excitement and expectations for the chaoralcelo.

The surprise in the choralcelo is that he ordinary piano string can be made to give more sounds than those obtained from it under the blow of the hammer, and the variety of these sounds is great on the account of the immensely increased possibility of making what the student musician knows as overtones. The concert this evening faithfully demonstrated the merits of the choralcelo and it may be expected to contribute important things to music.47 Through the research of Wade Jenkins, AMICA has played a major part in saving the history of the choralcelo. Their research has presented new and important findings on the construction and design of the instrument that now make it possible to rebuild one of the three remaining models. As their mission statement calls for, the individuals at AMICA are on the right track to restore one of the most interesting musical instruments created in the past two hundred years. By restoring it to its former state, this will and help to illustrate the importance of this unique electromagnetic string instrument in the history of new musical instrument design in the 19th and 20th century.

The Mechanical Music Press is a website founded by Terry Hathaway in 1998 and reorganized by Art Rebiltz and Tim Westman in 2002 as an entertaining and educational resource devoted to historical research and education relating to large mechanical music machines.48 Since its creation Mechanical Music Press has presented a number of articles about

46

Ibid, 205.

Ibid, 205.

48 Terry Hathaway, "About the Mechanical Music Press Web Site," Mechanical Music Press Home Page, About This Web Site, accessed February 29, 2011, http://www.mechanicalmusicpress.com/site_refs/about.htm.

47

Freyermuth 18 obscure mechanical musical instruments. Without their attention many would simply be lost to the void of history. One such instrument is the Encore Automatic Banjo. This instrument, developed by Willard Gilman in 1892 used an electromagnetic device for its operation.49 The Mechanical Music Press does not strictly focus on researching the history of electromagnetic string instruments but if one falls into the category of large mechanical music machines then the site provides an in depth look at their construction, their role in music making and their history as it relates to the time period in which they were produced. The site does not comment on any changes that could be made to the instruments or present any plans for restoration. It simply provides hard to find information about the history and development of these instruments. The one caveat about this site is that it is not attached to a larger institution and therefore the information contained on it has not been reviewed and verified.

Thom Holmes is an author, music historian and book editor. Holmes studied music composition with Paul Epstein at Temple University in the 1970’s. 50 He was the publisher and editor of the magazine, Recordings of Experimental Music from 1979 to 1985. Through working with John Cage, Holmes created and maintained the only discography of Cage’s work authorized by the composer.51 In the third edition of his book Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music and Culture, Holmes provides an analysis of early advancements in electromechanical instruments and their relation to the earliest approaches to electronic music. In his analysis of electro-mechanical instruments, Holmes discusses two important advancements in electromagnetic string instruments, the choralcelo and the crea-tone placing them within the

49

Ibid, The Original Encore Automatic Banjo.

Thom Holmes, "About Thom Holmes," Thom Homes Noise and Notations, About Thom Holmes, accessed May 29, 2011, http://www.thomholmes.com/Noise_and_Notations/About_Me.html.

51 Ibid.

50

Freyermuth 19 greater context of the history of electronic instruments.52 In his text Homes provides a detailed physical description of the choralcelo and outlines its importance in the development of electronic instruments and places it on the historical timeline between Cahill’s Telharmonium and Laurens Hammond’s organ.53 Holmes describes in clear detail Simon Cooper’s crea-tone as a device that uses electromagnets to induce the continuous vibration of some of the strings of a piano.54 Holmes places the development of the crea-tone in the same category as the development of magnetic pickups. Describing them both as devices that are used to alter traditional instruments and allow them to perform outside of their natural acoustic capabilities.55 By placing the development of electromagnetic string instruments in the larger historical context of electronic instrument development Holmes draws interesting conclusions about the concept behind the development of the choralcelo and the crea-tone. He illustrates how both instruments were early attempts at providing composers and performers with extended control of the performance of acoustic instruments. By placing the choralcelo and the crea-tone in the historical context of the history of electronic instruments Holmes is drawing a direct connection to the use of electromagnets as a precursor and partial inspiration for the further development of other electronic instruments that would provide the performer and composer with total control over a number of parameters that effect the generation and playback of sound.

Simon Crab’s website 120 Years of Electronic Music, is an extremely interesting educational resource that focuses on electronic instruments and hybrid electro-acoustic

52

Thom Holmes, Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (New York: Routledge, 2008), pg. 28-29.

53 Ibid, 28-29.

54 Ibid, 29.

55 Ibid, 29.

Freyermuth 20 instruments that were designed between 1880 and 2000, paying particular attention to instruments developed between 1900 and 1960.56 His site accurately places a variety of electromagnetic string instruments into the greater history of electronic instruments and provides a valuable resource for the analysis of electromagnetic string instruments. Because the layout of his site is a timeline; it is easy to directly compare what electronic instruments were being developed when electromagnetic string instruments fell into disuse. This provides the opportunity to do quick comparative research about the development of different technologies that are not necessarily directly related to each other. Through Crab’s research it can be seen that electromagnetic string instruments began to fall out of favor shortly after the introduction of the vacuum tube.

What is provided by both Thom Holmes’s and Simon Crab’s research is that they place electromagnetic instruments in the larger context of the evolution of electronic instruments in the 19th and 20th century. Neither Homes nor Crab provide information on how electromagnetic instruments could be developed and utilized today, taking advantage of all of the advances in technology and building material that would make electromagnetic string instruments far more flexible then they had been in the past. However, all of these authors have offered a starting point on which other researchers can build and develop further avenues of investigation relating to electromagnetic string instruments. It is critical to preserve this fading past because as technologies advance, it can be utilized for future developments The second area of research that is being conducted using electromagnets and strings is in creating experiments that utilize electromagnets to illustrate the natural resonant frequency of

56

Simon Crab, "120 Years of Electronic Music," 120 Years of Electronic Music (update V3.0), 2004, Introduction, accessed January 25, 2010, http://www.mathieubosi.com/zikprojects/120YearsOfElectronicMusic.pdf.

Freyermuth 21 strings, the spectral content of tones from vibrating strings, the vibration modes of strings and the damping of strings. Scientific research in the fundamental acoustic properties of strings dates back to the 1860s and is demonstrated in Hermann von Helmholtz book, On the Sensations of Tone. In his text Helmholtz outlines a number of ways to be able to see the different modes of vibration for a string that is fixed on both ends. He also outlines a number of procedures used to isolate different partials of specific tones. These procedures involve altering the position the string is struck and where the string is dampened in relationship to nodes and antinodes that occur during different modes of vibration for the string.57 By carrying out these experiments Helmholtz was able to greatly enhance the understanding of the physical properties of vibrating strings as well as draw interesting conclusions about how the quality of tones is perceived and determined by the spectral content of the partials of a tone and their relationship to the prime tone in amplitude.58 Helmholtz also conducted interesting research into the qualities of tones by controlling the exact amount of amplitude at which specific partials were allowed to sound at in relationship to the amplitude of the prime tone. This was accomplished using electromagnetic tuning fork instrument that was attached to a Helmholtz resonator.59 Helmholtz’s experiments, with electromagnets to shape the spectral content of sounds, would lead to further experiments where researchers would use electromagnets to alter the harmonic content of vibrating strings. In his research Helmholtz never strives to create new instruments but is only examining the physical characteristics of strings for scientific purposes.

57

Simon Crab, "120 Years of Electronic Music," 120 Years of Electronic Music (update V3.0), 2004, Introduction, accessed January 25, 2010, http://www.mathieubosi.com/zikprojects/120YearsOfElectronicMusic.pdf.

58 Ibid, 80.

59 Ibid, 121-123.

Freyermuth 22 Since Helmholtz’s early experiments with electromagnets and tuning forks many researchers and scientists have applied the same approach in examining different aspects of vibrating strings. One such experiment, was conducted by Miguel C. Briton, Jorge Maia Alves, Joao Serra and Antonio Vallera at the University of Lisboa, utilized a copper wire held under mechanical tension, which passed an AC current through wire as it was suspended in a magnetic field created by two electromagnets. When current was passed through the copper wire mechanical vibration of the string was produced allowing the nonlinear effects of a forced vibrating string to be observed.60 With this setup the researchers were able to see how the strings pattern of vibration became elliptical as the amplitude of the vibration increased They also saw that the resonant frequency of the string depended on the amplitude of the vibration and that at sufficiently high amplitudes the resonant frequency no longer be determined independent of the amplitude.61 With this particular setup the researchers were able to change the mechanical tension applied to the string as well as its length and the excitation frequency.62 In the conclusion of their experiment the researchers found, “the nonlinear behavior of a vibrating string can be understood as arising from the fact that the tension is not constant due to the varying length of the string throughout the oscillation. This effect leads to the propagation of compressional longitudinal waves.�63 They also demonstrated that the motion of the string is restricted to the driving plane for small amplitudes and that for higher amplitudes the motion of the string becomes elliptical.64

60

Miguel C. Brito et al., "Observing Nonlinear Effects in Vibrating Strings," Cornell University Library, March 24, 2004, Introduction, accessed November 22, 2010, http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0403128v1 [physics.ed - ph].

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 Ibid, Conclusion.

64 Ibid.

Freyermuth 23 The researchers at the University of Lisboa did not intend to produce an experiment that would explain what was physically occurring in one of the most revered electromagnetic string instrument compositions. What was explained in the experiment carried out in Lisboa describes the results of Alvin Lucier’s 1977 composition Music on a Long Thin Wire. In Music on a Long Thin Wire Lucier took an 80-foot wire and strung it through the Rotunda at the U.S. Custom House, Bowling Green, New York City. Lucier then clamped the wire to two tables and ran the wire over two wooden bridges with an AKG D100 contact microphones attached to them. Lucier then routed the output of the contact microphones to the input of a mixer, which fed a power amplifier, connected to a set of loudspeakers. Lucier then attached the ends of the 80 ft wire to the positive and negative binding posts of a second power amplifier, which received its input from a sine wave generator. Lucier then placed a powerful horseshoe magnet over one end of the string, and tuned the oscillator to the resonant frequency of the wire and set the composition into motion.65 What Lucier observed was that the wire displayed changes in volume, timbre, and harmonic structure, rhythmic and cyclic patterning that were solely actions of the wire with no interruption from Lucier.66 The results of Lucier’s Music on a Long Thin Wire can be understood by comparing the findings of the researchers at Lisboa to Lucier’s findings with Music on a Long Thin Wire. When Lucier describes how the wire changed sonically without any interaction on his part he is describing the nonlinear behavior of a vibrating string that arises from the fact that the tension of the string is not constant due to the varying length of the string throughout the oscillation of the

65

Alvin Lucier, "Album Notes: Music on a Long Thin Wire," • Lovely Music •, accessed November 2, 2010, http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes1011.html.

66 Ibid.

Freyermuth 24 wire.67 The researchers’ describe compressional longitudinal waves that take place at the driving frequency and travel in opposite directions as well as the phase difference that occurs between the driving plane and the transverse plane. These factors are responsible for the changes in the rhythmic and cyclic patterning of the sound Lucier produced through the wire.68 The research that scientists conduct using electromagnets and strings may not be intended to directly shape the development of electromagnetic string instruments but has ended up greatly informing the design of a number of experimental electromagnetic string instruments. Along with influencing the design of electromagnetic string instruments, new scientific research into the understanding of the effects of electromagnets on the natural modes of vibration of a fixed string, the resonant frequency of strings and the ability to use electromagnets to dampen strings present an interesting opportunity to create new electromagnetic string instruments that take advantage of the recent advances in scientific research.

The third type of research involving electromagnetic string instruments applies the historical and scientific research previously discussed to create new electromagnetic devices that allow for extended playing techniques when they are used to electromagnetically prepare traditional string instruments. Research on this topic first began in the in the late 19th and early 20th century, when in 1890 a German inventor, Richard Eismenmann, used electromagnets in his Elecktrophonisches Klavier to induce strings into vibration and produce infinitely sustaining

67

Miguel C. Brito et al., "Observing Nonlinear Effects in Vibrating Strings," Cornell University Library, March 24, 2004, Conclusion, accessed November 22, 2010, http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0403128v1 [physics.ed - ph].

68 Ibid

Freyermuth 25 notes.69 Since then there have been a number of electromagnetic instruments and devices that have been used to augment the sound of acoustic string instruments.

Such augmentation has been used effectively in the modern era, beginning in 1983 with American composer Stephen Scott’s piece for bowed piano Resonant Resources, in which the sounds are made by an electromagnetic piano bowing device that uses electromagnets to stimulate the strings to vibrate. According to Stephen Scott in a 2005 interview with Daniel Verela for Perfect Sound Forever, the device he used to vibrate the strings was similar to an ebow, which is commonly used with electric guitars, and Resonant Resources was the only piece that he used the device on.70 Even though Scott only used his electromagnetic piano-bowing device for one composition the results were met with such high praise that it would eventually go on to inspire other experimental music composers to research the possibility of using electromagnetic devices to extend the compositional possibilities of composing with a piano.

In 1995 American experimental music composer Alvin Lucier wrote Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings for Lois Svard.71 In composing this piece Lucier considered the history of his own works and calling on the success of his 1977 piece, Music on a Long Thin Wire, he employed the use of strings and magnets again for composition purposes. With Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings, Lucier experimented with the placement of 5 e-bows, small electromagnetic devices used by guitar players to vibrate strings, inside the piano and discovered that if he placed them over strings and waited long enough that certain strings would begin to

69

Robert Palmieri, Margaret W. Palmieri, and Igor Kipnis, Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments, vol. 3 (New York: Garland, 1994), pg. 350.

70 Stephen Scott, "Stephen Scott," interview by Daniel Varela, Http://www.furious.com/perfect/stephenscott.html, March 2005, accessed April 20, 2011, http://www.furious.com.

71 Alvin Lucier, "Album Notes: Theme," • Lovely Music •, Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings, accessed November 2, 2010, http://www.lovely.com/albumnotes/notes5011.html.

Freyermuth 26 sound.72 The score that Lucier presented to Svard outlined that she should “freely position and reposition five e-bows on the piano strings, creating strands of sounds of varying density and texture.”73 Lucier’s composition examined many of the same principles that Stephen Scott looked at when composing Resonant Resources.

Following in a similar vein to the work of Scott and Lucier, in 2001 sound artists, Maggie Payne composed Holding Pattern, for piano and three e-bows.74 Payne uses e-bows to stimulate the strings to vibrate and sound. Like Resonant Resources and Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings, Maggie Payne’s Holding Pattern was a slow moving and evocative composition, which had subtly developing and evolving harmonics that seemed to rise out of the body of the piano.

Another characteristic shared by the three pieces is the considerable lack of sounds with defined transients. There are occasional moments in Resonant Resources where there are some sounds with strong transients but as a whole the three compositions would be considered either ambient or droning music with an ethereal quality. These three compositions illustrate an aesthetic criticism of instruments that use electromagnets to create vibrations in strings. Because of their use of electromagnets as a method for stimulating the strings to vibrate, all of the sounds created by these instruments are almost void of transient activity. This is because of the lack of the initial mechanical impetus that is responsible for the transients plucked or hammered string instruments does not apply to electromagnetic string instruments. Similar to bowed instruments electromagnetic string instruments This is an important component of the sound of electromagnetic string instruments because it is this lack of transients that help to free

72

Ibid.

Ibid.

74 "Major Works," Maggie Payne, accessed May 29, 2011, http://www.maggipayne.com/.

73

Freyermuth 27 electromagnetic string instruments from historical associations with plucked or hammered string instruments.

In 2005 at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, CCRMA, Per Bloland, Stephen Backer and Edgar Berdahl began their research into creating a magnetically-prepared piano that differed from the previous experiments of Stephen Scott, Alvin Lucier and Maggie Payne.75 They sought to develop a magnetically-prepared piano that was more then just using e-bows to stimulate vibrations in strings or to sustain vibrations in strings.

They wanted to achieve a level of control that had yet to be attained in previous incarnations of electromagnetically-prepared pianos. To do this they examined the history of electromagnetic string instruments dating as far back as 1890.76 In their research into the history of electromagnetic string instruments and electromagnetic modifying devices, one of the major problems of using electromagnets to excite or alter the vibration of strings laid in the lack of technology that was available at the onset of the 20th century. They realized that when Melvin Severly and George Sinclair were developing the choralcelo they had to overcome the problem of building thousands of small mechanical devices that operated on precise timers in order to perform the precision actions needed to have the electromagnets excite the strings for the proper amount of instances per second in order to have the correct note sound. Severely and Sinclair were working without the aid of integrated circuits,

75

Edgar Berdahl, Steven Backer, and Julius O. Smith, "If I Had A Hammer: Design and Theory of an Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano," in If I Had A Hammer: Design and Theory of an Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano, proceedings of International Computer Music Conference, Spain, Barcelona, September 5, 2005, pg. 1, accessed October 26, 2010, https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~eberdahl/Papers/ICMC2005.pdf.

76 Per Bloland, "The Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano and Its Compositional Implications," in Proceedings of the 2007 International Computer Music Conference, proceedings of 2007 International Computer Music Conference, Denmark, Copenhagen, pg. 1, accessed October 27, 2010, http://www.perbloland.com/?p=Publications&ms=m4&l=en&.

Freyermuth 28 solid-state electronics and computer processors. They were forced to design an instrument that worked entirely with mechanical devices.

The electromagnetically-prepared piano designed by Bloland, Backer and Berdahl at the CCRMA was the culmination of their research into the historical development of electromagnetic string instruments, and the compositional implication that a fully functioning and highly controllable electromagnetic string instrument would provide them. With their design, they sought to improve on the construction of devices and techniques that came before them.

Unlike Wade Jenkins and Edith Borroff, that sought to repair and preserve electromagnetic string instruments by restoring old instruments to proper condition. Bloland, Backer and Berdahl sought to design a new instrument that was an improvement on past developments and would provide composers the opportunity to write music for piano in a fashion which had never been attained before.

With this project Bloland, Berdahl and Backer sought to develop an electromagnetic device that would allow them to have direct control of the piano strings.77 After a substantial amount of research into the historical development of electromagnetic string instruments and a number of experiments with different configurations of magnets and their placement in relationship to the piano strings Bloland, Berdahl and Backer decided on a design that they felt would be feasible to make and still provide the amount of control over the strings that they required. The design they chose is described on the CCRMA website as follows: By positioning a rack of transducers above the piano's strings - but never in physical contact with the strings - electromagnetic waves in the air gap create vibrations and sound from each of the piano's many naturally oscillating strips of steel. These transducers, a 77

Per Bloland, "The Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano and Its Compositional Implications," in Proceedings of the 2007 International Computer Music Conference, proceedings of 2007 International Computer Music Conference, Denmark, Copenhagen, pg. 1, accessed October 27, 2010, http://www.perbloland.com/?p=Publications&ms=m4&l=en&.

Freyermuth 29 combination of electromagnets and permanent magnets, all connect to the soundcard output of a personal computer, where audio output signals can specify through any arbitrary software interface. The net effect, captivating as both a sound and an idea, is the ability to play the piano without felt hammers, plectrum, fingers, or any other traditional method of physical excitation. Notes can simply be played from the keyboard of a laptop.78 What separates the electromagnetically-prepared piano developed at the CCRMA from Lucier, Payne and Scotts work with preparing pianos with e-bows is that each magnet is controlled by its own external audio signal, resulting in increased control over the pitch and timbre of the strings that are effected by the electromagnets.79 This allows for the individual control of the harmonic content of individual strings. With this degree of control the researchers at the CCRMA have been able resonate strings at any of their first ten partials.80 The research done at the CCRMA in regards to the development of and experimentation with the electromagnetically-prepared piano represents the culmination of research into the history of electromagnetic string instruments and the application of the knowledge gained through that study to create new instruments that are rooted in the rich tradition of electromagnetic string instruments. This research represents what can occur when lessons from the past are approached with tools from the present. The only thing lacking in the research occurring at the CCRMA is the development of a new electromagnetic string instrument instead of the continued development of devices used to prepare traditional acoustic string instruments.

78

"Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano," Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics | CCRMA, What is it?, accessed November 13, 2010, https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~sbacker/empp/index.html.

79 Per Bloland, "The Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano and Its Compositional Implications," in Proceedings of the 2007 International Computer Music Conference, proceedings of 2007 International Computer Music Conference, Denmark, Copenhagen, pg. 1, accessed October 27, 2010, http://www.perbloland.com/?p=Publications&ms=m4&l=en&.

80 Ibid, 2.

Freyermuth 30 At the Drexel University Music, Entertainment, and Technology lab, MET, similar research to that done at the CCRMA during the development of the electromagnetically-prepared piano is taking place. At the MET lab in Drexel University Andrew McPherson and Youngmoo Kim have developed the magnetic resonator piano, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument augmenting the grand piano through the use of electromagnets to induce the strings to vibrate, allowing the performer to continuously shape the sound of every note.81 The magnetic resonator piano shares much of the same lineage as the electromagnetically-prepared piano developed at the CCRMA, but differs in a few key areas. The key differences between the two instruments is the number of electromagnetic actuators used to induce the strings to vibration, the magnetic resonator piano uses 48 electromagnets while the electromagnetically-prepared piano uses only twelve electromagnets. The greater number of magnets used provides the performer with a greater degree of control over a greater number of strings.

Another key difference between the two devices is in how the electromagnets interact with the performer. In the case of the electromagnetic resonator piano the electromagnetic actuator waveforms are generated by a computer, like with the CCRMA design, but in the case of the magnetic resonator piano the computer responds to the actions of the human performer.

The magnetic resonator piano is also able to control a greater number of notes utilizing fewer audio output channels then the CCRMA design.82 Through the research done to develop the electromagnetically-prepared piano and the magnetic resonator piano it has been demonstrated that through the combination of historical and scientific research new electromagnetic string instruments can be developed that utilize new

81

"Magnetic Resonator Piano | Music. Entertainment. Technology," Music. Entertainment.

Technology | MET-lab, accessed May 18, 2011, http://music.ece.drexel.edu/research/mrp.

82 Ibid.

Freyermuth 31 technology and new materials that allow them to avoid the problems that earlier incarnations of electromagnetic string instruments were faced with. What this examination of the current research into the field of electromagnetic string instruments illustrates is that there is not much research investigating the history of electromagnetic string instruments and the research that is being done is focused on preserving their legacy and not on developing new and improved electromagnetic string instruments. What this examination of research currently occurring in the field illustrates is that there is a vast opening in the research of the development of new electromagnetic string instruments.

Freyermuth 32

METHODOLOGY

The lack of the development of new electromagnetic string instruments provided the author with the opportunity to investigate the history of these instruments. By applying the knowledge he gained in his examination of the history and development of these instruments the author developed a new electromagnetic string instrument that utilized new materials and new technology in order to overcome the problems that are traditionally associated with electromagnetic string instruments. The author is interested in investigating the potential of electromagnetic string instruments to provide him with the opportunity to make an instrument that would allow him to compose with spectral material that is usually viewed as inferior musical material. He is interested in the development of acoustic instruments that can be controlled with the precision of electronic instruments. Electromagnetic string instruments, as illustrated by the work of researchers at the MET lab at Drexel University and their work with the magnetic resonator piano, provide the author with potential acoustic instrument that could be controlled with the same precision as an electronic instrument.

The electromagnetic string instrument developed by the author is twenty-one feet and seven inches long. It consists of for 21-foot long sections of music wire. The reason for this length is to be able to approximate the results of Hermann Helmholtz’s experiments with the examination of the upper partials of string instruments. For his experiment Helmholtz used a 22.97-foot long very fine iron wire and was able to isolate up to the eighteenth partial tone.83 The reason for the author’s decision to build an instrument of such an extreme length is to be

83

Hermann Von. Helmholtz and Alexander J. Ellis, On the Sensations of Tone: With a New Introd. (1954) by Henry Margenau (New York: Dover Publ., 1954), pg. 80.

Freyermuth 33 able to isolate the partial tones that lie above the eight partial and are only separated by a whole tone and then from the fifteenth partial, which are separated by less then a semitone.84 The musical instrument is two feet wide and stands three feet off of the ground. It consists of four wooden pedestals that are three feet tall, two feet wide and sixteen inches deep.

The pedestals are constructed from pine 2x 4’s and birch plywood. Three of the pedestals are two sided and are connected with two sets of pine 2x6’s. The fourth pedestal is covered on three sides and is used, as a control station were the performer plays the instrument. The author’s choice of wood was strictly chosen done out of budgetary concerns. The author did not have to create a soundboard or take the ability of the wood as a resonator into consideration when developing the instrument because unlike the early electromagnetic string instruments and the magneticallyprepared piano from the CCRMA, the author’s instrument uses piezoelectric contact microphones attached to the Indian rosewood bridges to capture the vibrating strings through their contact with the bridge.

The pedestals are used to hold up the four 21-foot long sections of music wire that are used as the sound creating materials for the instrument. When considering different approaches to choosing the diameter of the wire used in the instrument, the author took into consideration, many different possibilities. He decided to use steel music wire because of its tensile strength, its availability and the fact that it is a ferromagnetic material85. In regards to the thickness and material used for the strings, the author found through researching the work of Hermann 84

Ibid.

Ferromagnetic materials have a large, positive susceptibility to an external magnetic field.

They exhibit a strong attraction to magnetic fields and are able to retain their magnetic properties after the external field has been removed. Ferromagnetic materials have some unpaired electrons so their atoms have a net magnetic moment. They get their strong magnetic properties due to the presence of magnetic domains.

"Magnetic Materials: Ferromagnets," Boston University Physics, July 20, 1999, accessed May 3, 2011, http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py106/MagMaterials.html.

85

Freyermuth 34 Helmholtz that very rigid strings will not form any of the very high upper partials, because they cannot readily assume inflections in opposite directions with very short sections.86 But because of the extremely large sections of string used in the author’s instrument it will allow for the use of rigid strings that are still able to produce high upper partials, which they are normally unable to reproduce. This greatly informed the author’s decision-making process for the development of his instrument and his choice of strings. In the end the string scaling resulted from the choice of three strings that all have doubled diameters to show how string diameter and mass affect frequency.

The forth string was the thinnest available string of music wire. The reason the author chose to have two very thin strings, one medium string and one thick string is to be able to carefully examine the effect of diameter and mass on the vibrational frequency of strings.87 When choosing the string scaling for his instrument the author considered a number of variables outside of the rigidity or the string. He also considered the linear density, the length of the string and the intended pitch he wanted the string to be centered on. When considering his scaling options he sought to find the best values for length and linear density for the strings to have appropriately high tension at the strings intended pitch. The final element that was considered in selection of string scaling was the attempt to have uniform tension across all of the strings to help ensure that all of the strings are in agreement in timbre. The author did not take into consideration how the strings feel in relationship of their tension to one another because when the instrument is played the performer never touches the strings. The author settled on using four different gauges of music wire using music wire 1 with a diameter of .010 inches, music wire

86

Hermann Von. Helmholtz and Alexander J. Ellis, On the Sensations of Tone: With a New Introd. (1954) by Henry Margenau (New York: Dover Publ., 1954), pg. 80.

87 Bart Hopkin, Musical Instrument Design: Practical Information for Instrument Making (Tucson, AZ: See Sharp Press, 2005), pg. 119.

Freyermuth 35 12 with a diameter of .029 inches, music, wire 19.5 with a diameter of .044 inches and music wire 23 with a diameter of .050 inches.

For this instrument, the author chose to use low bridges, which according to instrument designer and author Bart Hopkin, “are used in most plucked lutes, zithers, hammered dulcimers, pianos and harpsichords.�88 When choosing a bridge design the author chose to use slightly rounded blocks of wood to prevent any extra wear on the thinnest diameter wire. In making his decision on the type of bridge that would best suit his design, the author gathered most of his information by experimenting with different types of materials and by analyzing the design of other instruments and their bridges.

For the bridges of the instrument the author tried a number of different options before he decided to use Indian rosewood carved into seven in blocks that are a half inch thick and two and one quarter inches wide. He chose Indian rosewood for his bridges because it is a type of wood that is frequently used in the construction of bridges for classical acoustic guitars, which are usually recorded via contact microphones. This is the same method that the author’s instrument uses for recording and playback. The ability of guitarists to get high quality recordings of their guitars through contact microphones placed under the rosewood bridge was a major influence on the author choosing rosewood for his bridges. Other materials that the author tried and ultimately discarded were seven-inch long sections of inch high angle iron, seven-inch long sections of three-quarter inch in diameter rebar and seven-inch long 2x2 inch sections of pine and oak.

The tuning mechanism for this instrument went through a number of different changes before it was eventually determined that the most effective system relied on the use of four half inch by five inch hex bolts as hitch pins and four number four, two and three eighths inch long 88

Bart Hopkin, Musical Instrument Design: Practical Information for Instrument Making (Tucson, AZ: See Sharp Press, 2005), pg. 127.

Freyermuth 36 piano tuning pins. Before the author decided to use piano tuning pins he experimented with the use of guitar and bass tuning mechanisms. He ultimately decided to use piano tuning pins because he could not get the guitar or bass tuning mechanisms to be able to handle the high tension levels needed to keep the instrument in tune. Overall the author has faced an number of issues regarding the tuning mechanism, especially relating to the break down and set up of the instrument as piano tuning pins are not designed to be continually installed and removed.

The instrument also consists of eight neodymium bar magnets, which are laid out so that on magnet is placed beneath each wire, and another magnet is placed above each wire, secured to a block of wood. The magnets are placed so that they are attracting each other and the wire sits three quarters of an inch away from each magnet passing through the magnetic field created by the magnets attraction. The four wires that intersect the magnetic fields created by the eight permanent magnets are connected to the binding posts of a four channel power amplifier. One end of the wires is connected to the positive binding post and the other end of the wires is connected to the negative binding posts. This creates a circuit and when the power amplifier is turned on and accepts input, it sends an alternating electrical current through the wire that is analogous to the signal that the power amplifier is receiving.

When current is passed through the wire and the wire intersects the lines of magnetic force created by the permanent magnets the flow of electrons in the wire creates a second magnetic field around the wire whose polarity is dependent on the direction of current flowing through the wire.89 As the two magnetic fields interact, since the permanent magnetic field is fixed, the interaction of the two fields causes the wire to move. If the flow of the current in the

89

Gary Davis and Ralph Jones, The Sound Reinforcement Handbook (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard, 1990), pg. 5.

Freyermuth 37 wire is reversed the wire will move in the opposite direction.90 If the direction of the current is repeatedly reversed, the wire will move back and forth within the field of the magnet. The motion of the wire will be a physical representation of the alterations of the current. This is the general principal by which electromagnetic motors work and is the principle that causes the wire to vibrate in the author’s instrument and in Alvin Lucier’s Music on a Long Thin Wire. Lucier’s work was a major influence on the author’s design of the instrument. In both instances the wires move in the magnetic field in a pattern based on the alternating current that they receive from the power amplifier. This is true until the level that is sent to the wires has sufficient amplitude at which point the wire will begin to exhibit nonlinear effects.91 It is the wires’ movements within the magnetic field that creates the vibrations, which are picked up by the contact microphones attached to the bridges. The resulting audio signal is then is then transmitted to a power amplifier and played back over a set of loudspeakers.

Aside from the eight permanent neodymium magnets the author has included eight electromagnets that are suspended with 23 gauge music wire from the pine 2x6’s on the instruments body. Four of the electromagnets are suspended perpendicular to the four main wires so that they sit a quarter of an inch beneath them. There are two electromagnets that are located one fourth of the distance of total length of the wire and two electromagnets located at one third of the total length of the wire. The reason for the placement of these electromagnets is to be able to emphasize different partials produced by the string when it is struck at these nodes or when it is struck and dampened at these nodes. According to Helmholtz the plucking of the string at one fourth of its length will emphasize the third partial tone and deemphasize the even numbered 90

Ibid.

Miguel C. Brito et al., "Observing Nonlinear Effects in Vibrating Strings," Cornell University Library, March 24, 2004, conclusion, accessed November 22, 2010, http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0403128v1 [physics.ed - ph].

91

Freyermuth 38 partials. Plucking the string at one third the total length of the string deemphasizes the odd partials and emphasizes the even partials.92 Along with the four perpendicularly placed magnets, there are four electromagnets that run parallel to the wires on the opposite side of the center pedestal. Each of the four wires has a movable electromagnet that can be swept along the length of the wire to place emphasis on partials of the performer’s choosing.

Each of the eight electromagnets consists of a soft iron core93, which measures a half inch in diameter and six and a half inches in length. Each of the soft iron cores is tightly wrapped in coils of 20 gauge copper magnet wire. Each electromagnet was hand wound and consists of over two hundred feet of magnetic wire. The electromagnets are powered by either a Pyramid twelve volt/ three amp DC power supply or by two six volt batteries wired in a serial connection. Each magnet can be turned on or off by a light switch which is located on the control pedestal. By tuning the electromagnets on and off the performer has the ability to manipulate the instrument to bring out an interesting array of tones by manipulating the spectral content of each tone.

The electromagnets can also be used to pluck the strings at different nodes by rapidly turning the magnet on and off until it stimulates the wire to vibrates. A problem that the composer has noticed with this system is that the different gauges of music wire have different intensities in which they are attracted to the electromagnets and as a result when the electromagnets are placed under the higher gauge wires the y are rapidly snapped down and actually come into contact with the wire, introducing a transient that that author did not intend in his initial design of the

92

Hermann Von. Helmholtz and Alexander J. Ellis, On the Sensations of Tone: With a New Introd. (1954) by Henry Margenau (New York: Dover Publ., 1954), pg. 76-77.

93 The author chose to use a soft iron core because it is a ferromagnetic material that has a higher number of available molecules to become magnetized and therefore make for a stronger electromagnet that magnetizes and demagnetizes quickly.

"Magnetic Materials: Ferromagnetism," Boston University Physics, July 20, 1999, accessed May 3, 2011, http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py106/MagMaterials.html.

Freyermuth 39 instrument. When the electromagnets are placed under one of the lower gauge music wires the effect of the magnet on the wire is barely visible and scarcely audible. These were two issues that the author had never considered and is now forced to deal with in the instrument’s current insubstantiation.

The signal that is sent to the wires from the four-channel power amplifier is originated by means of an oscillator created in the software programs Max/MSP. This is similar to methodologies employed in the electromagnetically-prepared piano at the CCRMA. The author’s instrument then directs this digital audio signal out to a digital to analogue converter and on to the power amplifier. The types of input signals that are used to drive the wire are either sine waves or white noise. During a performance of the instrument the frequency of the sine waves can be swept and the volume of the sine waves and white noise can be altered for each of the four strings allowing the performer to carefully tune each string and then modulate the volume of the oscillator to alter the amount the string is driven. The instrument can be controlled switches, knobs and faders or it can be fully automated to run on its own by programming its included Max/MSP patch.

The signal sent to the four wires can be altered by two permanently axially magnetized neodymium magnets that are mounted on two continuous rotation servo motors located behind the four bar magnets. The speed and degree to which these magnets rotate can be controlled through a Max/MSP patch utilizing the maxuino servo control patch and an Arduino sketch running the firmata 2.2 servo library. The servo motors are powered by two nine volt DC power supplies and communicate with the computer via serial information sent from the computer to an Arduino Uno microcontroller outfitted with a motor shield. The effect that these two rotating magnets have on the sonic output of the instrument is quite substantial. The rotating magnets exert their magnetic

Freyermuth 40 force on the permanent magnetic field that the four wires pass through, thus changing the shape of the magnetic lines of force of the eight permanent magnets, which alters the response of the wires carrying current as they pass though the once static magnetic field. This causes the wires to vibrate in a different pattern then their initial input signal determined. When the two magnets on the motors move they covert the kinetic energy used to move them to electrical energy, which then reacts with the current in the four wires and the magnetic field created by the eight permanent magnets.

Development of this instrument proved to be far more difficult then the author had anticipated. The massive size of the instrument became a difficult hurdle to overcome and presented the author with numerous problems that caused him to alter his design for the electromagnetic string instrument. Like electromagnetic string instruments that came before the author’s instrument it was prone to overheating, breaking down and required a great deal of maintenance. But like electromagnetic string instruments of the past the author’s instrument produced evocative and ethereal tones that the performer could alter and manipulate to their heart’s content. Like the choralcelo, the author’s instrument is capable of creating interesting and complex sounds but, similar to the fate of many historically significant electromagnetic string instruments, it may prove too unwieldy to be practical.

Freyermuth 41

ANALYSIS

In researching and developing his own electromagnetic string instrument the author encountered many of the problems that plagued the early pioneers of electromagnetic string instrument design. He had to deal with a number of problems including the matching of different mechanical resistances and electrical resistances. He also had to deal with the overheating of different components including batteries, the four channel power amplifier, the computer, the electromagnets and the four wires used to produce the sound of the instrument. Like Melvin Every and George Sinclair, the inventors of the choralcelo, the author found that the massive size of his instrument, although necessary to produce the desired sonic results made life very difficult when altering or moving the instrument. He also found that designing and implementing electromagnets was far more difficult then anticipated. Through the many difficulties that the author faced designing and constricting his instrument, even with all of the technology and tools available he gained a new sense of respect for the innovative power and determination that the early pioneers of electromagnetic string instruments must have possessed.

Through the development of his own electromagnetic string instrument the author has sought to fill the gaps in the current research of electromagnetic string instruments. The author has presented new research into the development of a new instrument and applied techniques he learned during his research of the rich history of the subject. Along with presenting new research for the design of a new electromagnetic string instrument the author showed that through the use of new materials and new technology, like computers and stable batteries he was able to overcome a vast array of problems that stalled the development of early electromagnetic string instruments.

Freyermuth 42 Like the researchers at the CCRMA and the MET lab at Drexel University the author used a computer to control the input frequency that caused the vibrations to occur within the instrument. What differs between the design of the author’s instrument and the designs of the CCRMA and the MET lab is that the CCRMA and MET lab used an AC current to modulate the electromagnets and the author used it to send electric current to a wire that begins to move when it enters a magnetic field. The approach used by the author to send electric current to the string is a direct descendant of the methods used in physics labs to investigate the vibrational modes of strings and the same method that was used by Alvin Lucier in his piece Music on a long Thin Wire.

Another way the author’s findings differ from the work done at the CCRMA and the MET lab is in the sound produced by the instruments. The electromagnetically-prepared piano and the magnetic resonator piano both contain many of the distinguishing timbral characteristics that are associated with pianos. Out of the two instruments the magnetic resonator piano has a fuller and more substantial tone than the electromagnetically-prepared piano. The sound of the author’s instrument shares little in common with these new instruments and instead shares a far greater sonic link with Lucier’s Music on a Long Thin Wire. The reason for the lack of a sonic cohesion between the enhanced piano instruments and the author’s instrument has to do with the build of the different instruments. The electromagnetically-prepared piano and the magnetic resonator piano project their sound acoustically using the piano’s sound board to amplify the instrument. The author’s instrument lacks the musical associations that the quality of tone of the piano instruments suggests. Its sonic output more closely resembles the sound of an additive synthesizer. This is partially due to the fact that the author’s instrument uses loudspeakers to reproduce its sound and instead of a soundboard.

Freyermuth 43 The instrument designed by the author faced problems with keeping a consistent tuning during long performances. The author found that as the wires of his instrument were heated by the interaction of the AC current running through the wire with the electromagnetic field the strings slowly drifted out of tune. After a series of experiments the author determined that as the wires heated they slightly expanded and no longer held the tension that was applied when he tuned the instrument. This problem was not addressed in the work of the researchers at the CCRMA and the MET lab when they reported on their findings. In the case of Music on a Long Thin Wire, Lucier embraced the slight detuning of the string due to its increased length and welcomed it as part of the characteristics of his instrument. To combat the problem of tuning the author has determined several possible solutions. To compensate for the wire expanding when heated the author will determine the amount that the strings length is altered when it is heated and tuning the instrument slightly sharp so that when the wire heated up it would be in tune.

Another possible solution is to look into using a different material for the wires that is not an efficient conductor of heat but is still ferromagnetic.

The author’s instrument excels at creating long sustaining tone clusters that are constantly shuffling but never falling on a specific note. The description of the instruments sound is similar to the “movement of sound-masses, shifting planes of sound” described by Edgard Varèse in his collection of essays, The Liberation of Sound.94 The interesting and continually evolving tones generated by the instrument have to do with the fact that the vibrations of the four strings are summed at the bridge, captured by a piezoelectric contact microphone, and played back over loud speakers as a single mass of sound. What causes the fluctuations within the sound masses is

94

Edgard Varese, "The Liberation of Sound," comp. Chou Wen-chung, Perspectives of New Music 5, no. 1 (Autumn 1966): pg. 13, accessed September 20, 2010, http://www.jstor.org/stable/832385.

Freyermuth 44 the expansion and contraction of the different wires, at different times as they heat and cool dependent on the amplitude of the input signal they are receiving from the power amplifier.

Since each wire has its own independent input it is possible to continually alter the input level to the different strings causing them to independently and continually expand and contract.

When the strings on the author’s instrument are plucked, by the activating and deactivating of the electromagnets under the strings, the instrument explodes with an array of inharmonic tones that quickly dissolve into evolving droning tones. By using electromagnets to pluck the strings by pulling the string into contact with the soft iron core of the electromagnet and then disengaging the electromagnet causing the wire to snap into place provides the author with the ability to create sharp transients that are according to Per Bloland, are unable to be attained on the electromagnetically-prepared piano and magnetic resonator piano without engaging the use of the piano hammers.95 The electromagnets on the author’s instrument can be used to excite the strings to vibration without coming into physical content with them. This is done by rapidly engaging and disengaging the magnets causing the wire to be pulled towards the magnet with the same frequency that the electromagnets are turned on and off. The author developed this function of the instrument as a continuation of Hermann Helmholtz electromagnetic tuning fork instrument.

The compositional implications of the author’s electromagnetic string instrument are that it allows composers to have direct control of the vibrations of strings. It gives the performer the ability to shape the tones of the vibrating strings in ways that were once only possible through signal processing. This instrument provides composers and performers with a tool to be able to 95

Per Bloland, "The Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano and Its Compositional Implications," in Proceedings of the 2007 International Computer Music Conference, proceedings of 2007 International Computer Music Conference, Denmark, Copenhagen, Conclusion, accessed October 27, 2010, http://www.perbloland.com/?p=Publications&ms=m4&l=en&.

Freyermuth 45 shape the harmonic content of vibrating strings in real time during a performance It provides composers and performs with a new sound source that will allow them to write music for an instrument that is not bogged down by the weight of the associations that the audience carries with them in relationship to traditional musical instruments.

Freyermuth 46 Conclusion Inspired by research into the history of electromagnetic string instruments the author designed and fabricated his own instrument that is capable of creating unique and interesting sounds through the utilization of electromagnets. These sounds range from subtle shifting chordal patterns to masses of inharmonic notes. This instrument allows for detailed and precise control over the harmonic contents of the notes played, opening the door to new and exciting possibilities in the field of music composition.

The fabrication of this prototype was time consuming and required extensive research of materials, as well as magnetic and electrical theory. Substantial financial resources were necessary to acquire materials. The finished product is cumbersome, difficult to transport and takes up a significant amount of space. As a result, the electromagnetic string instrument, designed and fabricated by the author, at this stage is not commercially viable.

Despite drawbacks, there is a place for the electromagnetic string instrument in future music composition. Further collaboration, research and development, with both electrical and mechanical engineers will lead to the production of a viable instrument that will draw from the past in order to enrich the future of music composition.

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