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The Springboard: The Joy of Piezo Disk Pickups for Amplified Coil Springs

Eric Leonardson

ABSTRACT

The Springboard is a do-it- yourself instrument made from he Springboard is an electroacoustic instru- Nearly any material and object in readily available materials: An T amplified soundboard makes the ment that I have performed on almost exclusively since 1994 the everyday environment has the [1] (Fig. 1). Its invention was inspired by a desire to make new physical ability to vibrate in the au- vibrations of coil springs and a variety of other small and and unusual sounds with coil springs and other materials not dible frequency range. Once am- nonprecious objects audible. normally considered to possess musical or even sonic poten- plified, its potential for art-making Thanks to a simple piezo tial. Using the piezo disk contact microphone [2] was key to is just a matter of the time required contact microphone, the Spring- bringing the Springboard to life, and the mic is now a com- to become familiar with the range board’s humble constitution belies the richness of its mon tool for any practitioner of experimental music, instru- of behavior of the sound. sounds, a signature of the ment inventors and most of my students. Part of the beauty of the piezo author’s activities in live and contact mic lies in its ability to allow recorded works across many art the sound explorer a way to get disciplines. NEW WAYS TO MAKE SOUND around the engineering and design My entry into the world of sound began as a visual arts student challenges that a “proper” acoustic interested in ideas and creative opportunities offered by con- instrument presents, the interre- temporary art, music and—at the time—new electronic me- dia. Setting aside the manual tools of pencils and paintbrushes for the nonmanual ones of video, audiotape and sound syn- Fig. 1. The Springboard, a self-built electroacoustic instrument thesis presented a challenge. Over the years, the loss of im- made from coil springs, a walker and a wooden soundboard mediacy in producing audible and visual results continued to amplified with a single piezo pickup. (Photo © Eric Leonardson) frustrate me. The promise of technology to make things never heard or seen before possible was failing, or at least inhibited by what traditional tools could do in an immediate and natu- ral fashion. Initially, there was the problem of cost. As sec- ondhand computers became affordable in the early 1990s, I sensed that the obstacle was not my failing but that of the in- terface. Its limited possibilities for real-time generation and manipulation of sounds kept me dissatisfied, whether I was working in the studio or in a live context. Art-making was lit- erally out of my hands. On meeting composers Nicolas Collins and Elliott Sharp in the late 1980s, I gained an appreciation for self-built instru- ments and hardware controllers. As I lacked the knowledge required to build and program relatively complex electronic hardware and software, it was not until I participated in Hal Rammel’s first instrument invention workshop at the Experi- mental Sound Studio [3] that I found my answer in two sim- ple devices: the inexpensive piezo disk contact microphone and the horsehair bow. This lo-tech marriage of the acoustic with the electronic served as a rewarding if not brilliant point of entry into a new world of possibilities in the exploration of the inaudible and seldom heard potential of nonmusical materials and their use in a wide range of live and recorded works across the art dis- ciplines and diverse communities of free improvised music, radio art and theater.

Eric Leonardson (artist, educator), 421 N. Drake Avenue, Chicago, IL 60624-1368, U.S.A. E-mail: . Web site: . Sound examples related to this article are available at .

©2007 ISAST LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, Vol. 17, pp. 17–20, 2007 17

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lated material properties of resonance, impedance, mass, etc. Once one has a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, the price of a piezo contact mic is negligible, and its ability to act as an aural micro- scope into unknown sonic yet entirely physical aspects of any object or material is truly exciting, if not amazing. The Springboard came to be in a heuristic effort to unlock these poten- tials, and as long as one accepts them on their own terms, this assemblage of thrift- store finds and everyday detritus offers the immediacy of an acoustic instru- ment’s sound and physicality, producing a sound that some believe to be synthe- sized (Fig. 2).

CHOICE OF OBJECTS Enduring the same quip after many a performance—“Did you swipe that [walker] from some little ol’ lady in the street?”—I matter-of-factly explain that years ago my neighborhood had an abun- dance of thrift stores where second-hand walkers sold for $5–10. Thus, in true starv- ing-artist fashion, I made use of a very af- fordable and portable stand on which to place the amplified board. The walker serves its function better than heavy and expensive drum hardware. When I am asked how I came up with the idea for this instrument, my story be- gins with a list of aural encounters: omi- nous tones caused by brushing against Fig. 2. A cartoon drawing of the Springboard documents an early stage of its development, the large coil springs that help raise and revealing parts such as a large can that were later discarded in favor of objects that proved to possess greater playability and sonic variety. (Illustration © Eric Leonardson) lower garage doors, the use of everyday kitchenware and automotive parts in art- music percussion ensembles and the dis- tinctive sounds of a coil spring reverb Fig. 3. The author playing the Springboard with two cello bows for the —especially when given a hard knock. Synapse Electronic Arts Festival kickoff party at Sonotheque, Chicago, 2007. (© Eric Leonardson. Photo © Charlie Simokaitis.) HOW TO BOW A SPRING A coil spring is similar to a free bar that can be excited at many different points along its length all at nearly the same time. My typical method for activating the spring relies on the use of a cello bow. This is a third element I employ to produce a sound that is distinctly dif- ferent from the familiar “boing” and “sproing” sounds of coil springs being hit or shaken: Bowing enables tones or drones to be produced that with practice can be rich and varied, similar to yet un- like any cello the listener has heard be- fore. Fans of Robert Rutman’s instrument the Steel Cello [4] or of those rich gran- ular synthesis sounds may enjoy the dense timbres and slowly shifting formants, which can evoke vocal choruses and trom- bone-like drones.

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Bowing is my preferred approach to abling bittersweet melodic passages to be and increasing interest in spite of its odd coil springs over percussive techniques made, while a sweep of the bow across the sound, appearance and humble consti- because it excites and sustains sounds span of the spring shifts the pitch down tution. over a longer time with richer harmonic to the lower fundamental(s). Modulating content. Bowing at any angle other than the bow pressure during a bow stroke transverse avoids jamming the bow be- varies the frequency response. When one AUXILIARY OBJECTS tween the coils. More rosin and pressure hand is free while the other bows, the AND EFFECTS than one normally uses on a cello string spring can be held in various ways to In addition to bows, I have found friction works best. dampen it and emphasize more definite mallets made from rubber balls and With practice, one can vary the inhar- pitches. wooden skewers do a wonderful job on monic tones produced by bowed coil With the board serving as a small table- the quasi-daxophone [5] (e.g. paint springs with changes in bow pressure and top and all its other myriad parts, the sticks) part of the instrument. Here are direction, along with manual muting and Springboard produces a multitude of three strips of wood that, thanks to the manipulation of the spring. The tones sounds, tones and textures that enable warp of the board’s top surface, can be can range from an agglomeration of me to play the roles of musician and Fo- pressed down upon to vary their pitch as pitches to an indefinitely pitched drone, ley effects artist both at once or one I bow their edges, eliciting high-pitched often with a large amount of low-fre- against the other. With my interests in squeals with an eerily vocal quality. With quency content. With five stretched radio, electroacoustic music and live per- the friction mallets on these sticks, I can springs providing six spans, each with its formance, I seem to have found the de- produce moans and what some refer to own fundamental, it is not difficult to use vice—or assemblage of devices—that as “whale song.” two bows at once, one in each hand (Fig. enables me to make sounds that work in The Springboard’s parts include eye- 3). Bowing close to the supports as with all these diverse but related fields. Over bolts, a thick 2-x-6-in board, an aluminum a sul ponticello (near the bridge) tech- the years it seems that the productive ef- walker, small flat wood sticks, plastic nique brings out the higher partials, en- fort has begun to pay off with recognition combs, a grill, four narrow coil springs,

Fig. 4. Close-up view of Springboard shows the coil springs, grill, weathered wood surfaces, sheet-metal resonator and wood slats that produce the “daxophone” sound. (Photo © Eric Leonardson) Also pictured are auxiliary objects used for making various sounds, including a large rubber band stretched around the eyebolts and grill, a friction mallet, a music box mechanism and a metal box that houses a 20,000-ohm potentiometer.

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one large detachable coil spring and may seem inconsistent with the character the Springboard is simple in construction a metal box that houses a 20,000-ohm of its sound output. Audience members yet rich in its potential for complex potentiometer. This last item does not sometimes marvel at the simplicity of the sounds simply made. produce a sound itself. It controls the instrument after experiencing its rich “feedback level” on an Oberheim Echo- sound in performance. Absence of visual References and Notes plex Digital Pro™ [6] that I use in occa- enhancements maintains it as a sort of di- 1. An introduction to the Springboard resides on- sional solo performances. dactic tool that demystifies its creation, line at ; an earlier article was first published in Ex- perimental Musical Instruments 11, No. 4, 22–23 ( June to sample, loop and overdub the sounds are required to begin making instru- 1996). On-line audio examples are at . formances with Plasticene [7]. It is a an invitation to do so. In contexts where 2. Two excellent “how-to” books for making piezo simple foot pedal, consisting of a row of the aesthetic effects of advanced tech- disk pickups are Nicolas Collins, Handmade Electronic eight momentary switch pushbuttons, nology, high craftsmanship and an aura Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking (New York: Rout- ledge, 2006); and Bart Hopkin, Getting a Bigger Sound: so it provides hands-free control of its of fine, precious materials are valued or Pickups and Microphones for Your Musical Instrument functions. I use it in occasional solo per- even exalted, the Springboard’s humble (Tucson, AZ: See Sharp Press, 2002). formances, too. In free-improvised en- origins and deep sonorities stand as a 3. Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) is a nonprofit semble situations, I avoid the Echoplex, somewhat contrary aesthetic comment, organization in Chicago, founded in 1986 for the pro- because the musical flow never war- a reminder of what can be accomplished duction and promotion of innovative approaches to the sonic arts. The mission of ESS is to make audio rants a continuously repeating sound, es- without a big budget. technology accessible and affordable, as well as to en- pecially when performing with high- courage the creative process . caliber instrumentalists who shift, halt AGING AND THE 4. Robert Rutman (b. 1931) is a visual artist and in- or change directions faster than I can ventor of the Bow Chime and Steel Cello, instru- clumsily locate and step on a button with PRECIOUS JOY OF ments made of wire, steel rods and sheet metal. NONPRECIOUS MATERIALS Audio samples can be heard on his web site: . gaged. In addition, given the sensitivity Use of nonprecious materials means that of the pickup, the Springboard does some practical concerns regarding theft, 5. The daxophone is an instrument invented by Hans Reichel that enables its player to amplify the vibra- amplify external sound. When that hap- damage and loss are reduced. What is ir- tions of bowed, or otherwise excited, thin wooden pens to be another musician’s playing, replaceable is the amount of time com- sticks of varying shape and species. Its surprising sounds and the music made with it can be heard in echoing or looping his or her sound mitted to acquiring the skill to play it well. Reichel’s recordings and at his humorous Flash-ani- is not always welcome or musically ap- Having a set of traditional drumming mated web site: . propriate. skills [8] helps immensely, while my bow- 6. The Oberheim Echoplex Digital Pro™ is now a Other auxiliary objects I use on the ing technique is competent, having per- Gibson product and still considered a high-end, Springboard include a pocket radio with haps even a certain degree of virtuosity multi-featured, real-time sample loop device. a piezo disk plugged into its earphone according to some admirers. 7. Plasticene is a Chicago-based physical theater com- output and used as a lo-fi speaker, large The Springboard has improved with pany founded in 1995 and recognized as one of the rubber bands stretched around the eye- age, gaining not only its worn surface city’s foremost experimental theater companies . bolts and grill, a music box mechanism, patina but a fuller bass sound that a pewter goblet, a vibrating massager and negated the need for the equalizer in its 8. As a teenager I learned rudimentary drumming and gained my early performance experience in the a bead chain (Fig. 4). first 2 or 3 years of service. One of my Vaqueros, a local drum and bugle corps. graduate students, J.C. Leowe, noted that the wood “opens up” because vibrations Manuscript received 2 January 2007. APPEARANCE FOLLOWS made to the wood actually change its res- FUNCTION Eric Leonardson is active in Chicago’s exper- onant properties. Aside from changes in imental improvised music community and is Leaving the visual appearance of the moisture content, I found no scientific a composer and sound designer for Plasticene. Springboard unadorned preserves its explanation for this phenomenon, al- He was a founding member of ESS and cur- utilitarian origin, offering information though all or most stringed instrument rently teaches at The School of the Art Insti- on the nature of its sound that for some players attest to it. What I can attest is that tute of Chicago.

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