Silk Threaded Ear Harp

Another experiment with the ear harps, this time trying out silk thread as the string instead of nylon. The reasoning is that a lot of far eastern instruments use silk strings and I have found no way of getting them in this country, or even if they are used anymore.  I approached a company that makes silk thread and asked for a strong thread that might be used to string an instrument, they sent me some samples and I tried them out, yes they were strong enough and yes they produced sound.  So whilst waiting for my next project to surface I thought I would have a go with the silk threads and making my own wooden tuning pegs at the same time, carved in oak, they are okay, not perfect but they do work although they crucify my tennis elbow that is causing so much grief at the moment.  The sound is very pure it doesn't have the richness and depth of the nylon but produces it's own unique sound, very clean.  The wood is ash with lichen and moss on it for added interest and the stand also acts as the listening spur although of course you can hear sound anywhere on the wood.

Film of Romancing the Gibbet

Here is the link the my vimeo site for a film and voxpop of the Over Stowey performance.
https://vimeo.com/112999438

The Gibbet has been Romanced

The 'Being Human' Festival has finished, Professor Poole and the Gibbet Boys have completed their tour and the equipment has been stowed away.

The events at Over Stowey Village Hall and Warminster Library have proven to be a wonderful success.  The Over Stowey presentation of 'The Ballad of Johny Walford' had an attendance of around 75 people on a saturday morning at 11o'clock which was terrific.  Professor Steve Poole kicked off events with an absorbing talk on gibbeting and hangings which the audience devoured and then asked many a question in the Q&A.
Then poet, writer, performer Ralph Hoyte and I performed our artistic interpretation of events that lead up to the murder of Jane Shorney by Johny Walford, the murder, the trial and the hanging, 45 minutes of sounds from the Gibbet Cart and words from Ralph, again the audience where spellbound by the event, another Q&A and that was that.  Part of the performance was filmed and vox pops at the end, this I will post onto my vimeo site soon and I will notify when.

The event the following saturday again at 11.00 was held in Warminster Library as near as we could get to the hanging site.  The story of George Carpenter and George Ruddock was very different, the murder much darker and evil.  Again Professor Poole started proceeding with his lecture and again it provoked lots of questions.  Ralph and I performed our set, very different this time, still the Gibbet Cart but a more menacing evocation.  Audience appreciation was again manifest and these two events have proved extremely popular and a thought provoking way of dealing with a tricky but enthralling subject matter.  We would love to take this further and research more Gibbet sites and do more gigs/events.  Please contact me if you would be interested in putting on such an event.

The working of the Gibbet Cart

Michael and Ralph during Q&A

A still from a film that Nathan Hughes will be producing about the Ballad of Johny Walford

Romancing the Gibbet

As promised details of the two performances

Numbers for Bottle Kiln Court

So the jobbing work is completed and all the numbers are finished for Bottle Kiln Court in West Brierley, in the West Midlands.  The numbers will go onto the houses and flats and the bronzes into the paving.  It is always good to use artists to create something unique for these housing ventures and it takes foresight from the companies in this case Lioncourt Homes.  We need more enterprising companies using the skills of artists in our society that seems to be depleting artists from their normal source of income ie just creating art, because less we forget art is fundamentally important in a healthy society.

Being Human Festival

 'Being Human' Festival with Ralph Hoyte, Professor Steve Poole and myself will be talking and performing  our piece: 'Romancing the Gibbet' at Over Stowey Village Hall on the 15th of November more details to come and in Warminster on the 22nd November.  The Over Stowey performance relates to the hanging of Johnny Walford, Professor Steve Poole will enlighten people as to what happened and Ralph Hoyte will be creating a ballad, and I will accompany on my new Gibbet Cart Instrument.
This is an event not to be missed and free to the public, more details soon, check on Facebook.

Tick Tock Trebuchet

Tick Tock Trebuchet is the prototype for the 'Ballad of the Paddled Ore' but instead of having a piano at the base it has two wire strings that sound as the pendulum strokes them. The beaten copper wings are blown by the wind or a person to produce the movement which activates the sound.
Link to the video:  https://vimeo.com/107493378

Two stones screwed to the base for weighting the pendulum

Enclosing the strings

Checking the movement of the pendulum

The top added

The beaten copper wings