Long Wire Instrument
Employing 18 wires spanning, each spanning 32 metres, the Long Wire Instrument (LWI) produces a unique complex of harmonic colour. First built in 2002 by Sean Bridgeman, the first LWI utilised longitudinal vibration in steel spring wires. To play the instrument, players move up and down the wires, exciting compression waves with their hands stroking the wires along their length. The instrument’s tuning is flexible, can involve multiple players, and can be built to respond to the architecture of a specific space.
Initial inspiration for developing the Long Wire Instrument came from American artist Ellen Fullman’s Long String Instruments. Fullman has been building and presenting numerous versions of her long string instruments since the early 1980s. Having read all the available information on Fullman’s work between 1998 to 2001, it wasn’t until 2002 that Bridgeman first had the opportunity to build his own version of a long wire instrument at the School of Contemporary Arts, University of Western Sydney.
instrument construction
Essentially the LWI requires one thing: straight line space. Just about every other element of the instrument’s construction can be tailored to suit different spaces and playing conditions, but not straight-line space. The reason for this is that the longitudinal waves travel at a very high speed, and a good length of wire is needed simply to make the longitudinal vibrations audible.
At one end the instrument uses a resonator. The resonator could potentially be anything, depending on such things as the type of sound and quality you’re looking for, the space you’re working with, the amount of wires being used, tuning, level of amplification needed. The options for resonators are really quite endless, from drink cans and paint tins, to large steel resonators, wood, or naturally occuring crevaces and holes in the space you’re using.
At the other end of the instrument (for version 1 this was 32 metres away), the wires are threaded through galvanized ratcheted wire fencing tensioners (also known as permanent wire strainer) that are normally used for wire fences in paddocks. Each wire is then wound on with roughly the same level of tension.
tuning
Unlike conventional stringed instruments, which utilise transverse vibration, the amount of tension on the wires for the LWI does not affect the rate or speed of the longitudinal waves passing along the wires, and therefore the frequency or tuning of the wires. Instead tuning is achieved by altering the distance by which the longitudinal waves must travel. The easiest way to do this is to stop or terminate the wires at various lengths, similar to placing your fingers along a fretboard.
Bridgeman has followed Ellen Fullman’s lead in using small g-clamps to set the length of each wire, and therefore the distance the longitudinal waves will travel. So long as the clamp (or any other object) has a greater mass than the wire, then the longitudinal waves will be reflected, altering the resulting pitch. The open wire is the lowest frequency, and all other wires (with clamps) will produce frequencies above that open wire.
Tuning the instrument is one of the absolute pleasures, and dramas, of the longitudinal wire instrument. Tuning now concerns not only the sonic quality and character of different tunings, and any theoretical concerns that might go with this, but also a visual, even architectural activity. Different tuning sets will change the appearance of the instrument, as the arrangement of the g-clamps will very accordingly. So too if you used multiple resonators, multiple wire sets, or arranged the wires in various different shapes and configurations. Added to this is the possibility for tuning the instrument to harmonically relate to the environment it is constructed in, for instance a large room, warehouse. This harmonic adaptation to fit the environment is an important concern for almost everyone who has constructed large wire instruments, in particular Fullman and Panhuysen in their own ways.
So instrument design, tuning configuration, and space all come in to play when building a new long wire instrument. Paul Panhuysen, who has always been particularly concerned with the sculptural and architectural elements in his work, continues to build his instruments into, and in response to, each particular environment. Put simply, Panhuysen’s long wire instruments are built site-specific.
Having said all of this, for version 1 of the instrument Bridgeman generally fell back on using 17 equal divisions of the first octave – built on the open wire frequency. This was mainly due to the fact that the cavenous space housing the instrument was impossible to tune to. Bridgeman also had a fairly rudimentary knowledge of other tuning systems, in particular the preferred use of just intonation – something which later LWI versions will utilise. Other than that it was just too damn hard to settle on any one particular tuning.
Version 1 of the long wire instrument was dismantled in November 2002.
version 2
Version 2 of the Long Wire Instrument may soon materialise! Having shelved the project for several years, Bridgeman is now looking to build a new version of the LWI in Melbourne during 2009, provided he can find enough space.
The next instrument will explore using various types of resonators, different types of metal wires, and possible methods for automating part of the instrument (to simulate sympathetic resonance) – although the LWI will always be a hands-on instrument!
further reading
Further information on the instruments of Ellen Fullman and Paul Panhuysen can be found here:
- Hopkin, Bart (ed.) Experimental Musical Instruments Journal, Vol. 1, No.3, 1985. Nicasio, California.
- Hopkin, Bart Orbitones, Spoon Harps & Bellowphones: experimental musical instruments Ellipsis Arts, Roslyn, New York, 1998.
- Hovancsek, Mike ‘Ellen Fullman’s Long String Instrument’ in Experimental Musical Instruments Journal ed. Bart Hopkin (ed.) Vol. 13, No.3, June 1998. Nicasio, California.
- Peer, Rene van ‘Paul Panhuysen’s Long String Installations’ in Experimental Musical Instruments Journal, Bart Hopkin (ed.) Vol. 14 No. 3, March 1999. Nicasio, California.
- Peer, Rene van ‘Instruments of Paul Panhuysen’ in Partitas for Long Strings, Paul Panhuysen, XI Records, XI 122.
>> Experimental Musical Instruments site
>> Ellen Fullman’s site
* audio of the Long Wire Instrument will be available again soon