Materiality of Instruments - Co-op Vegetable Instruments

Hanae Garrison 

For my final project for ETHN 212: Music and Ecology, I constructed several instruments out of Co-op vegetables and gourds from the J-house garden. I wanted to address the materiality of instruments and how they are often made with endangered and problematic materials.

Instrument Making Process

• A few of the instruments I made include the carrot whistle, carrot-cucumber-bell pepper trumpet, and gourd güiro.

 Carrot Whistle 

Process of constructing instrument

- Acquired large carrot from Keep co-op

- Cut off the ends and saved pieces for later

- I used a whittling tool to hollow out the inside of the carrot from both ends until I could see all the way through.

- Made a cut about an inch down from the end, an inch deep

- Cut a wedge one inch backward from the previous cut to create a triangular hole resembling the mouthpiece of a recorder

- Using the end pieces cut off earlier, I carved one of them down to form a plug that fit into the hole in above the incision. I cut it in half to form a semi-cylindrical piece and inserted with the flat side facing up towards the incision.

- Used the other end piece to create a plug that fit into the end

- Using a thinner curved whittling tool, I cut two holes into the carrot and it was done!

A Partial Success!

- My first attempt at the carrot whistle was successful, it produced sharp, high pitched notes that sounded fairly similar to a train whistle with a few possible notes.

- My second and third attempt to make longer carrot whistles with more possible notes didn't turn out as well. I think I made the mouthpiece holes a bit too big and I had trouble making the semi-cylindrical piece fit without it being too loose or too tight.

Gourd Clapper & Güiro

 

Process of constructing instruments:

- Cut gourd in half using the whittling tools       

- Hollowed out the gourd

for the Gourd Clapper:

- created clapping sound by clanking them against each other to a rhythm

for the Gourd Güiro:

- created a gourd instrument resembling a güiro, a Latin American percussion instrument consisting of a hollow gourd with parallel notches cut into one side. Played by rubbing a stick along the notches, or bumpy ridges in my case.

Carrot - Cucumber - Bell Pepper- Trumpet

 

Process of constructing instrument: 

Cucumber: 
- Hollowed out using whittling tools
- Carved five finger holes in a line
- Made the bottom narrower to fit inside the

Bell Pepper:
- Chopped off the bottom
- Cut out insides
- Traced circumference of cucumber and cut out

Carrot: 
- Cut off piece ~ 2 inches long
- Hollowed out
- Rounded one side to make the edges narrower
- carved the other side to a size that would fit in the cucumber center

The cucumber and bell pepper was much easier to carve compared to the carrots. I discovered that when I played just the cucumber-bell pepper instrument without the carrot mouthpiece, the sound produced was much deeper. With the added carrot mouthpiece, the notes were higher pitched and slightly more challenging to produce. I have never played a trumpet or wind instrument so I had to look up how to play a trumpet-like instrument using the buzzing lips technique to create a vibrating column of air through the vegetables. 

Overall, the sounds produced by my instruments were quite successful. By making these instruments, recording their sounds, I hope to get people thinking about the materials used to make instruments and hopefully motivate them to opt for more sustainable instruments in the future.  

Here is a link to my Sound Cloud where you can listen to the sounds produced by my Carrot Whistle, Gourd Clapper & Güiro, Carrot-Cucumber-Bell Pepper Trumpet (with carrot mouthpiece) and Cucumber- Bell Pepper Trumpet (without carrot mouthpiece): 

SoundCloud Link

Why this project??

Trumpet

Güiro

Wooden Whistles

Pictured above are examples of the man-made instruments I based my vegetable instruments off of. While these specific instruments are not typically made with endangered materials, a plethora of other instruments are. 

For example, Brazilian rosewood is an endangered wood often found in guitars that are desired for its pleasing tonal properties. Rosewood is an example of a tonewood, a wood from a certain number of species of trees that have musical and aesthetically pleasing tonal properties (Errede, 2002 – 2013).  In order to protect the limited wood, The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) made it so that guitars made with Brazilian rosewood after 1992 could not be imported or exported without a CITES permit (Greenberg, 2016).  

Ivory is a problematic material made from elephant tusks that have led to massive poaching for the ivory trade. It can be found in all sorts of instruments, like in the tips and frogs of bows, tailpieces, piano keys or even whole instruments like the Shamisen pictured below. 

Shamisen, an old Japanese lute instrument with three strings is typically made with a combination of wood, ivory, calfskin, silk twine, cloth, and plastic. The ivory is used to make the three pegs and the plectrum, used to pluck the strings, is also commonly made of ivory. 

Another example of endangered materials being used in instruments is ebony. This dense hardwood that despite strict regulations is found in all kinds of instruments like the fingerboards of string instruments or for black piano keys. 

Next time you are around an instrument, hear one played, or purchase one, think about the materials used to make it! 

Inspiration for Project

Recycled Orchestra of Cateura

A Paraguayan group of adolescents that plays instruments that are made entirely out of garbage. Their beautiful music brought them into global spotlight allowing them to travel around the world to perform and share their story.

Vegetable Orchestras

There are several Orchestras from around the world that play music entirely made from fresh vegetables. In the picture to the left, some musicians are shown playing a carrot whistle, and carrot-cucumber-bell pepper trumpet just like the ones I made!

Sustainable Alternatives
So what are some alternative materials that can replace endangered and or problematic materials??

Vegetable Ivory 

Vegetable ivory, also known as tagua is a sustainable substitute for ivory. It comes from a palm-like tree that grows in the rainforests of Ecuador. When this tree becomes mature at 15 years, it produces fruits that fall to the ground that contain tagua nuts. Since the ripe fruits fall to the ground, the trees themselves do not need to be cut or harvested. The center of these nuts can be easily carved and died, making it a sustainable alternative to ivory (Tally, 1).

Alternatives to Animal Skin

There are also alternative materials to using animal skin in instruments. Synthetic, man-made materials are just as effective and can be used to make the covering over the wooden box. These include canvases, cloth, thick paper, plastic, natural latex rubber, etc. FiberSen is an advanced synthetic waterproof material that can be stretched further and produces a sharper and brighter sound that is similar to natural sound.

Grow a Sustainable Supply of Wood

Old growth wood that is traditionally used for soundboards of instruments such as violins or pianos is a rare natural resource that we are quickly depleting. Illegal logging and changes in climate due to global warming and climate change bring uncertainties with the supply of tonewood. Managing the last few standing forests for the purpose of producing sought after resonance wood will provide a sustainable source of desired wood (Trifković, 2016).

Bibliography

Allgood, B., & Townsley, G. (Directors). (2015). Landfill Harmonic [Video file]. USA.

Greenberg, James B. 2016. “Good Vibrations, Strings Attached: The Political Ecology of the Guitar” Sociology and Anthropology 4(5):431-438.

Errede, Steven. Lecture Notes For UIUC Physics 193 POM Physics of Music/Musical Instruments: “Sustainability and Musical Instruments” Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. 2002 – 2013. All rights reserved.

Stanko Trifković, 2016. “Sustainable Supply of Wood for Musical Instruments” International Journal of Sustainable Future for Human Security 4(1):11-16.

Shamisen :: Roderic C. Knight Musical Instrument Collection. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dcollections.oberlin.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/knight/id/1376/rec/2

Tally, C. (2017, December 18). Vegetable Ivory: A Humane Alternative to Elephant Poaching. Retrieved from https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/The-Eco-friendly-Taqua-Nut

The Vegetable Orchestra. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2019, from http://www.vegetableorchestra.org/instruments.php

Abbott, L. (2019). About Shamisen Materials- Bachido Store. Retrieved from https://bachido.com/store/about-shamisen-materials