LOOK AT
THE SOUND
Thesis
by Ieva Valule2014
3.1 “Instruments” for music performance visualizing
Initially a color organ was a mechanical device or “music” instrument, which was built already in the 18th century to represent the sound in a visual medium during a concert. Nowadays this medium remains to be electromechanical.
The first theories about a colorful light accompaniment to music derived already in ancient Greece. Aristotle believed that there must be a correlation between the musical scale and the rainbow spectrum, like there would be an analogy to the number of notes in a musical scale and the number of colors in rainbow. A lot of inventors and artists later on were fascinated by this idea. Thereafter also Leonardo Da Vinci produced light shows for court festivals based on this theory of Aristotle.
3.2 Ocular Harpsichord
How ever I came across one particularly interesting example of a "light show" accompanied by music. It was created by Father Louis Bertrand Castel (1688-1757). "Ocular Harpsichord" was a realization of an idea of an imagined instrument. It consisted from 2m2 square frame that was placed on the top of a normal Harpsichord (a string instrument similar to pianos). The main difference that can be seen between the piano and harpsichord is in the use of their strings. While hammers are used to strike the strings of the piano, the strings are plucked in a harpsichord. The frame consisted of 60 small different color windows. Each window was attached by a string to one specific key. So that each time someone would strike the particular key a curtain would lift briefly to show a flash of colored light (Figure 7).
This instrument was groundbreaking and the society was absolutely dazzled. Later on also an improved model was released. It was upgraded with 500 candles with reflecting mirrors to provide enough light for a larger audience. It is interesting to compare our electronic advantages compering to that time practical solutions. We clearly can imagine that it was rather hard to control this instrument that could easily cause a fire hazard. We also have to keep in mind that most likely it was awkward and noisy, since the use of ropes and little curtains. Also 500 candles produced a lot of heat. Nevertheless, the factor of a clumsy technology was something that inventor couldn't overcome or improve. Even though Castel predicted that every home in Paris would own an Ocular Harpsichord; when in fact no physical and original machines have survived till nowadays.
Despite technical limitations, many inventors experimented with the clumsy machinery, including ones using colored liquids and filtered daylight through colored glass in a darkened tent.
Despite technical limitations, many inventors experimented with the clumsy machinery, including ones using colored liquids and filtered daylight through colored glass in a darkened tent.
Figure 7. Author: Charles Germain de Saint Aubin
A caricature of Louis-Bertrand Castel's "ocular organ".
3.3 Tireless Inventions
Anyhow inventors and artists were restless to do more experiments with this particular model. Colored liquids, light filters, different tints of a colored glass etc. were meant to improve it. Alexander Wallace Rimington [17] , who was heavily inspired by Castel’s ideas (Figure 8) made one of the most successful improvements of Castel's "ocular organ".
Also "Victorian Era" came with their unique tools to illustrate music like the chronotope slides (Figure 9) zoetropes (Figure 10) with abstract drawings and also early animation devices like phenakistoscopes (Figure 11) and praxinoscopes (Figure 12).
It seems to be that only sustainable tools to accompany music performance were invented by the time of the innovation of the electricity. This innovation opens new possibilities of using projection lights and moving lights. One of the pioneers of the electromechanical color organ was A. Wallace Rimington in 1915. In one of his shows he wanted that everyone in the audience wears white clothing, so the projected colors would be reflected on their bodies and the whole room. In 1920 world really experienced the revival of the color organ. By that time a group of theosophists wanted to build a color organ to demonstrate spiritual experiences. It was called the art of color-music projections - Lumia. It was fluid streams of lights slowly metamorphosing. One of the group’s members, Thomas Wilfred (1889-1968), built "lumia boxes" (Figures 13 and 14) that would look like a TV sets. They could play for days or months without repeating the same imagery motion. The trend of "Lumia" was a prominent art activity. By that time even a special institute of "Art of Light" was established in New York.
Also "Victorian Era" came with their unique tools to illustrate music like the chronotope slides (Figure 9) zoetropes (Figure 10) with abstract drawings and also early animation devices like phenakistoscopes (Figure 11) and praxinoscopes (Figure 12).
It seems to be that only sustainable tools to accompany music performance were invented by the time of the innovation of the electricity. This innovation opens new possibilities of using projection lights and moving lights. One of the pioneers of the electromechanical color organ was A. Wallace Rimington in 1915. In one of his shows he wanted that everyone in the audience wears white clothing, so the projected colors would be reflected on their bodies and the whole room. In 1920 world really experienced the revival of the color organ. By that time a group of theosophists wanted to build a color organ to demonstrate spiritual experiences. It was called the art of color-music projections - Lumia. It was fluid streams of lights slowly metamorphosing. One of the group’s members, Thomas Wilfred (1889-1968), built "lumia boxes" (Figures 13 and 14) that would look like a TV sets. They could play for days or months without repeating the same imagery motion. The trend of "Lumia" was a prominent art activity. By that time even a special institute of "Art of Light" was established in New York.
In 30's and 40's. Charles Dockum (1904-1977) begins building “Dockum's MobilColor Projectors” (Figure 15). It was a rather large and clumsy device that could produce crisp or soft imagery from the prepared images. In 1935 he began the first experiments towards the development of Light Projection; as a fine artist he was combining knowledge of music and the graphic arts with his previous training in the electrical and illumination engineering. There is not much evidence of this device left, but in materials that are preserved it is possible to see that it really did perform complex layered imagery (Figure 16). Dockum spent most of his life improving the first model of the MobilColor and composing about 15 minutes of the material that is still possible to perform. This composition shows three diverse types of imagery - geometric shapes, vibrating patterns and soft lines.
[17] British painter (1854 - 1918)
Figure 8. Alexander Wallace Rimington built a Colour Organ
Around 1885 the painter Alexander Wallace Rimington built a Colour Organ in his home, it was over 3m high according historical notes and looked like a standard church organ. Coloured keys were arranged above a conventional keyboard, connected to a lens-and-filters system, allowing colours to be played. Various pedals changed the quality of a light, allowing dissolve-like effects.
Around 1885 the painter Alexander Wallace Rimington built a Colour Organ in his home, it was over 3m high according historical notes and looked like a standard church organ. Coloured keys were arranged above a conventional keyboard, connected to a lens-and-filters system, allowing colours to be played. Various pedals changed the quality of a light, allowing dissolve-like effects.
Figure 9. Chromatrope - Magic Lantern Mechanical Slide
The glass discs are painted in blue, red, yellow and black arcs and their rotation produces a dazzling kaleidoscopic effect.
The glass discs are painted in blue, red, yellow and black arcs and their rotation produces a dazzling kaleidoscopic effect.
Figure 9. Chromatrope - Magic Lantern Mechanical Slide
The glass discs are painted in blue, red, yellow and black arcs and their rotation produces a dazzling kaleidoscopic effect.
The glass discs are painted in blue, red, yellow and black arcs and their rotation produces a dazzling kaleidoscopic effect.
Figure 11. Phenakistoscope set.
The phenakistoscope uses a spinning disc attached vertically on a wooden handle. Around the center of the disc a series of pictures is drawn corresponding to frames of the animation; around its circumference is a series of radial slits. The user spins the disc and looks through the moving slits at the disc's reflection in a mirror, which makes the drawings seem to come to life.
Figure 12. First public performance of Reynaud’s ‘Theatre Optique" in Paris 1892.
In 1889 Reynaud developed the Théâtre Optique praxinoscope, an improved version capable of projecting images on a screen from a longer roll of pictures. This allowed him to show hand-drawn animated cartoons to larger audiences, but it was soon eclipsed in popularity by the photographic film projector of the Lumière brothers.
Figure 13. Thomas Wilfred - Lumia box - Living room Lumia
Small model of television entertainment – Lumia cabinet for living room viewing. While a small percentage of the public has seen a Lumia performance, those who have, always seemed to admire its swirling presence.
Figure 14. Thomas Wilfred - 15 Americans. New York MOMA. 1952
In the presentaion of Lumia work during this exhibition he described it a drama of a moving form and color, unfolding in a dark space.
Figure 14. Thomas Wilfred - 15 Americans. New York MOMA. 1952
In the presentaion of Lumia work during this exhibition he described it a drama of a moving form and color, unfolding in a dark space.
Figure 14. Thomas Wilfred - 15 Americans. New York MOMA. 1952
In the presentaion of Lumia work during this exhibition he described it a drama of a moving form and color, unfolding in a dark space.
3.4 Lumigraph
Another great device for a music visualization is the "Lumigraph"- Motion painting panels (Figure 17). In the late 40's Oscar Fishinger (1900-1967) patented it. Like any other inventors who have been busy with a concept of the "color organs", also Fishinger hoped that "Lumigraph" could be a commercial success. But again this was just a project that never become a trend or widely used. Basically this device was a canvas installation for real time motion painting with your bare hands.
The instrument produced imagery by pressing against a rubberized screen so it could illuminate into a narrow beam of colored light. The reach of the performer limited the size of the screen. Two people were required to operate the Lumigraph — one to manipulate the screen to create imagery, and a second one to change the colors of the lights.
Figure 17. Lumigraph - Scene from The Time Travelers. 1964
This is a how the music of year 2071 was envisioned by film makers of 1964, as depicted in 1964's The Time Travelers starring Steve Franken and Delores Wells, Hence is was portrayed as ”love machine" that allows people to vent their sexual urges in a harmless sensuality.
3.5 Peculiar Explorations
I find it hard to believe in the quantity of energy that has been spent to create these devices that unfortunately have not remained in significant amounts. Commonly the color organ builders hoped that their inventions would be used by children for play and artistic training and by adults for recreation and party games.
As far as we care to look back in history it is interesting to observe this tremendous urge to visualize performance and execute countless “out of the box” ideas. Why “out of the box”? Now most likely all methods of visualizing and performing music is not imaginable without the electricity. Inventors and artists had to experiment with a hand and candle operated equipment before electricity was widely accessible in 1900s.
These machines were, arguably, the origins of the electronic visual music, as we comprehend it now. One of the most fascinating research links is to review the way how these inventions encoded the sound in to color. There is a theory that Castel based his instruments color scheme on Newton’s “Optics” [18] and Aristotle’s “De Sensu” [19]. Though a lot of other instruments are based on the coincidences or mapping that is purely aesthetically driven.
As far as we care to look back in history it is interesting to observe this tremendous urge to visualize performance and execute countless “out of the box” ideas. Why “out of the box”? Now most likely all methods of visualizing and performing music is not imaginable without the electricity. Inventors and artists had to experiment with a hand and candle operated equipment before electricity was widely accessible in 1900s.
These machines were, arguably, the origins of the electronic visual music, as we comprehend it now. One of the most fascinating research links is to review the way how these inventions encoded the sound in to color. There is a theory that Castel based his instruments color scheme on Newton’s “Optics” [18] and Aristotle’s “De Sensu” [19]. Though a lot of other instruments are based on the coincidences or mapping that is purely aesthetically driven.
More modern types of color organs are more concentrate on fluid and ambient atmosphere. Most likely these examples illustrates music by fluid streams of color slowly metamorphosing.
Many times during this research it was possible to observe coincidences between inventors and artists. Why is it that similar notes are represented by the same colour across different systems (Figure 18)? Also visual output of old-fashioned technology, which has been developed in the previous century, is still topical, but only achieved by nowadays electronic music visualizers and media player software (Figures 19 and 20). Hence these correspondences can be described as a collective synthetic experience or eventually it says something more about the human’s perception of visual music.
Many times during this research it was possible to observe coincidences between inventors and artists. Why is it that similar notes are represented by the same colour across different systems (Figure 18)? Also visual output of old-fashioned technology, which has been developed in the previous century, is still topical, but only achieved by nowadays electronic music visualizers and media player software (Figures 19 and 20). Hence these correspondences can be described as a collective synthetic experience or eventually it says something more about the human’s perception of visual music.
[18] The book analyses the fundamental nature of light by means of the refraction of light with prisms and lenses, the diffraction of light by closely spaced sheets of glass, and the behavior of color mixtures with spectral lights or pigment powders.
Newton, Isaac. (1721), Opticks, Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. London: Printed for William and John Innys
[19] One of the short treatises about the nature by Aristotle.
Aristotle, and J. I. Beare. “On Sense and the Sensible. Blacksburg”, VA: Virginia Tech, 2001.
Newton, Isaac. (1721), Opticks, Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. London: Printed for William and John Innys
[19] One of the short treatises about the nature by Aristotle.
Aristotle, and J. I. Beare. “On Sense and the Sensible. Blacksburg”, VA: Virginia Tech, 2001.
Figure 18. “Pitch to Hue” concepts that have been proposed and some were built into light instruments.
Figure 19. VLC open source multimedia player visualizations based on audio. 2014
Figure 20. Lumia box - screen “Recorded Lumia”. 1950