((PKG)) EARTH HARP
((Banner: Earthly Sounds))
((Reporter/Camera: Mike O’Sullivan))
((Adapted by: Bronwyn Benito))
((Map: United States / California / Malibu))
((NATS))
((William Close, Earth Harpist))
The original Earth Harp, in a way, was almost an environmental piece.
((NATS))
The first time I created it, I set it up on one side of a canyon, to put the chambers, and ran the strings to the other side. The idea was, let’s turn the earth into an instrument.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: William Close))
I’ve strung it to the top of skyscrapers, Grand Theatre in Shanghai. I think it’s really emotional for people. I mean, it’s a string sound, but it’s also just encompassing. People love it.
It’s almost like having a string section at your fingertips. It’s very symphonic sounding, but there are more high-end harmonics in it I find, so it’s different than a violin or a cello. It’s got a unique quality to it.
((NATS))
The last 20 years, I’ve been inventing instruments, close to a hundred instruments, some of which work a lot better than others.
The reason it’s sort of the first of its kind is because the technology had to exist in order to make strings that are literally hundreds of feet long.
((NATS))
This uses what’s called a longitudinal vibration, or a compression wave is another version of it. Basically, if you can imagine a slinky, a very long one, and you were to push that slinky out and pull it back, you’d see a wave that would go through the slinky, and that’s what’s happening with these strings.
((William Close, Earth Harpist))
I’m activating the molecules of the material. It’s different from a plucked string or a bowed string. It’s kind of like running your finger around the edge of a wine glass.
((NATS))
Here in the studios, the strings are going from the bridge behind me, and they’re travelling out an opening in the architecture, and up to the side of a mountain.
The rain has actually helped it. It oxidizes the strings slightly and that mellows the tone, and so it actually makes it a little richer sounding. And these strings have been in place, some of them have been in place now for 7 years.
((NATS))
