SOUND WORLD AT KEW
Recently SOUND WORLD was commissioned to make three bamboo sound-sculptures for the Japan Festival at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The sculptures were installed in the bamboo gardens. The three installations comprised an ANGKLUNG, a bamboo XYLOPHONE and a giant WINDCHIME. All three instruments use Japanese scales and constitute an hommage to the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) and in particular to his composition 'A Flock Descends Into The Pentagonal Garden' (1977). The instruments will remain in the gardens after the Japan Festival for the foreseeable future.
For more sound sculptures created by Sound World, see the Gallery
WINDCHIME (4.5 metres tall)
This windchime,(taller than two people!) actually has two windchimes of 6 notes each, one pitched an octave above the other (and positioned above the other).The Japanese characters read 'TAKE' - Bamboo.
The windchime prior to putting on the roof
The windchime in the bamboo gardens prior to installing the chimes
Installing the strikers for the windchime.
ANGKLUNG (3m high, 3m wide)
An angklung is a tuned bamboo rattle, with each rattle comprising the same note in different octaves. This one has 8 rattles each comprising 6 octaves, forming a Japanese scale. It is sounded by thumping the white pads with your fists - not the usual way of playing an angklung but necessary when the lowest note is as tall as a person!
XYLOPHONE (3 metres wide)
The xylophone at Kew uses 24 bamboo tubes each about 100 cm. in diameter (which is nearly as big as bamboo gets) to form a 2 octave chromatic scale. The frame is about as tall as a person. The tubes are tuned by cutting a slit so that a sounding bar is formed with its own resonator. 
HANDMADE MULTICULTURAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS