Field of Flowers - sound sculpture

Invented by Daniel Schmidt & Paul Dresher for the music theater work Schick Machine, the Field of Flowers is a collection of custom designed wood blocks (with a large ball bearing or golf ball inside) placed atop two spring steel rods. When pulled back and released, the wood block oscillates back and forth and the ball acts like a bell-clapper, playing the wood block. Each “Flower” has a different pitch and period of oscillation.

[@driftliketokyo34ftw35]

This is how drummers hear the metronome.

[@paulwhitelaw7131]

singers more like lol

[@3xAudio]

Thanks for sharing. Really like this sculpture. Going to use it as inspiration for my own projects.

[@humanbeing6294]

Wow! great work! ... "stunning"! 🌟

[@dreadthedreads]

Oh God yes

[@arashamiri9150]

❤❤❤

[@lexandre1351]

❤❤❤❤

[@Box-br9yq]

I would like to know about the materials of this device, including wood, balls, iron pillars and I would like to know the design concept

[@pauldresher2007]

The "flower" itself is made from 5/16" multi-ply birch plywood with a 3/4" base of the same plywood. The legs are made from steel rods, spring steel being the best but other steel alloys work as well. (You cannot use aluminum or brass rod, it bends too easily). The thickness of the legs can range from 5/32" to 7/32"" (3/16" is most typical) , with thicker yielding a faster oscillation. Length of the legs are highly variable, from around 22" to 46", longer legs = slower oscillation. The balls on the inside can be a hardwood ball (1" - 1 &1/4" diameter), steel ball bearings (1") or delrin balls (1").
In order to have the ball strike the sides of the "flower" in an optimal position, we construct a "track" that raises the ball up so that it strikes the flower near the top. This track can be made of wood or aluminum but is a little hard to describe in words. The track sits on a post that if wood, is glued into the flower base, or if threaded rod, is bolted through the bottom of the flower (none of those are in this video, that was a later design improvement. The track's job is to allow the ball to smoothly roll back and forth, striking the sides near the top, which is the optimal place in terms of sound production. If you want a slower oscillation on a given length of leg and mass of flower, if you symetrically add weight to the bottom of the flower, you slow down the oscillation. We typically do this with rectangular brass pieces.
The trickest part of the design is tuning the flower. The important task here is to cut a slot on the widthwise sides of the flower in order to bring the mechanical vibration frequency of the flower into a 2nd or minor third of the resonant frequency of cavity inside the flower. We have never figured out a formula for this but probably Helmholtz did back in the mid-19th century. We do it by trial and error, gradually cutting the slot deeper into the sides (typically a little past the half way of the depth of the flower) until the flower becomes sonically "alive". There isn't a better way to describe it. If you cut too deep and go past the resonant area, you can cut off the TOP of the flower, raising the pitch of the mechanical vibration of the flower.
I hope this helps.

[@Box-br9yq]

​@@pauldresher2007 Thank you very much for providing this information. This sound device is really interesting. I will try to make one if I have a chance!

[@AnkurPandeyef]

Thanks for this excellent and generous sharing, and ofc the beautiful creation ​@@pauldresher2007 🙏🏽❤

[@happyinspite]

Kinda reminds me of "Nero's Day At Disneyland - Stretched Linen Over Contorted Bodies" :/

[@spielergarve6981]

juas juas

[@middventas1387]

No sabo inglish

[@LucarioredLR]

_do you know da wae_

[@driftliketokyo34ftw35]

Nice

[@dergeistliche2006]

Clickers