Drone ensemble

I've joined the Drone ensemble, a newly formed experimental sound group that make and perform extraordinary instruments that hum and wheeze, grunt and bark, shimmer and cascade. 

The group consists of a mixture of artists and musicians, but no experience of playing a musical instrument is necessary. 

We will meet every Monday evening and create instruments that make sound which we will then play.



I began by looking at some of the instruments that Joe has already made. He showed us a wonderful range of what looked and sounded like some form of steel drum. Another percussion instrument had been made by cutting a gas cylinder in half and making 4 tongues of different sizes on each half of the cylinder. The sound produced varied depending on the length of the tongue.



We then began making a kind of bagpipe/flute instrument using household pipes and inflatable yoga balls. Getting the mouthpiece right was rather difficult, and mine did not make much of sound, but as a team we managed to make a couple of organs, each with 4 pipes making 4 different notes.

On Friday 4th March we will be playing our first concert to an audience. A number of artists videos will be played alongside the improvised sound piece.

Please come along to the XL Gallery in the Fine Art Building, Newcastle University at 7pm on Friday 4th March for an exciting audiovisual experience.