02/25/08 - Music majors to present project at international conference in Spain

Music majors Brian Davidson, Njekwa Beasnael and Chris Harper.

“These sound art objects are interdisciplinary creative works,” said Jeff Morris, assistant lecturer in music and faculty advisor for the students. “They are not concert compositions, musical instruments, mute sculptures, or static installations—instead they combine all of these things into a new form.”

The project uses two wooden boards painted with chalkboard paint and piezoelectric sensors fed through a digital delay, then through a small amplifier and speaker. Sounds made by drawing on the chalkboard are prolonged in time through digital delay.

“The name ‘vests frottoir synesthetique’ is a take on the metal vest frottoir played in Zydeco music, but its nature as a chalkboard extends it into a ‘synaesthetic’ instrument, combining the sights and the sounds of the sketches into a single multi-sensory whole,” said Morris. “Students at Texas A&M are already known to excel in technology-related skills. Now, they (and the world) are beginning to see how they even can incorporate those skills in their creative expression.”

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Contact: Holly Lambert, hollyalyselambert@libarts.tamu.edu, 979.862.4879