Actually an English
street musician - particularly a "one man band" - the Busker is an appropriate
name for this piece of sound sculpture. It owes its overall shape to a clothes rack
Ken purchased at a going out of business sale. Ken envisioned the chrome spiral
festooned with objects which could be struck, plucked, scraped, and otherwise played by a
percussionist.
At the top - mostly likely to first catch the
eye - is a conical steel resonator, providing a witty visual "hat" while it
coloring, focusing and amplifying the sound of the other elements. The resonator
tops a 20" bicycle wheel with tuned spokes, which has cardboard pieces aligned to
make ratchet noises when the wheel is spun. Below the wheel are 4 PVC tubes that are
played with 3-inch styrofoam ball mallets. Next are 3 aluminum chimes, a large
spring stretched to about three feet, and a 6-sided aluminum star that has many overtones.
Continuing down there are tin drums, an 11" vibraphone bar, and a 5"
fine-toothed metal gear, a 12" aluminum disc with a long-lasting midrange pitch.
Then come 2 pan-shaped discs with short but distinct pitches, and an exhaust pipe
from a kerosene heater that gets a guiro sound when scraped and a bell sound when struck.
The 14" x 2-1/2" drum in the Busker has a steel top head and a cardboard
bottom head; Like many other of Ken's creations, it is connected to a
footpedal-operated bellows to get pitch changes. Finally, the Busker has a
"skirt" made of 23 copper chimes in graduated lengths.
The Busker is currently on display at the Sonart Gallery
in Mt Tremper. |
