Kinetic Sculpture and Musical Instruments

Small Sculpture

Sculpture in Motion

Medium Sculpture

Sculpture in Motion

Large Sculpture

Sculpture in Motion

Wall Sculpture

 

Sculpture in Motion

 

About the Work

Kinetic Sculpture by Don MacLane

My work is interactive kinetic sculpture that invites you to explore and alter the rhythmic interplay between their moving parts. I am interested in the interaction between viewer and sculpture; the variation in motion patterns and the work’s relationship to its constraints. Exploration starts as the viewer pushes the piece for the first time then continues with successive pushes at different the initial angles and speeds. These changes result in variation in the rhythm as energy is transferred between the elements as they alternate between kinetic and potential energy states. Most pieces allow interaction on another level with provisions that allow the viewer to alter the frequency of one or more of the elements. For example, changing the length of a pendulum or curvature of a rocker will alter their natural frequency and change the piece’s pattern of motion. The periodic motion of the pieces typically cycle between progressive reduction of amplitude then gradually increasing movement. Pushing can also introduce harmonics that make the pieces appear to quiver as if illuminated with a strobe light. While the movement will stop after a few minutes, curiosity often leads the observer to adjust and push a sculpture again before it actually comes to a full stop.

There are quite a number of issues represented in these pieces. The granite base of a rocking piece is a surrogate for an idealized plane. Its surface reflects an image of the sculpture resting on it. The contact between the sculpture and the plane occurs at only two places and the lack of a third contact dictates that the sculpture is only conditionally stable. Its position and attitude is a balance of gravitational and inertial forces acting on the elements of the piece. For wall-mounted pieces, clearance to the mounting surface and between the moving elements take on the role played by the granite of rocking pieces. Large outdoor pieces are wind driven and the clearance between moving elements is the subject.

Without motors, the pieces spend most if time at rest. Therefore their form must be pleasing in that state. Gentle transitions in section and curves are influenced by curve forms found in the art of native inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast and curves and details seen in typography. The stone weights are of an ovoid form common in Northwest Coast art. The stone weights are intentionally reminiscent of Stone Age tools and provide a contrast to the space age technology of the welded and machined stainless steel. The pieces also draw on the aesthetic of old scientific instruments.

The observer can interact with the smaller pieces at several levels. As with all sculpture one can view it from different positions. With these pieces the viewer can also touch and set them in motion with a gentle push. Beyond that there is the possibility for experimentation. Changing the initial conditions (angle and velocity) of the individual elements when they are set in motion or changing the adjustment of a weight’s position will lead to different patterns of motion. The observer is challenged to recognize the pattern – what just happened? Waiting to see if it will repeat a sequence creates a tension for the observer. Different adjustments result in different patters or moods of the motion. Some patterns are simple and slow others more complex, jerky or fast. My favorite patterns are the ones where one element gradually looses amplitude, comes momentarily to rest and then steadily gains amplitude before that cycle is repeated. It is this counter-intuitive cycle that first caught my attention and has sustained me over years making these kinds of systems.

Some of the pieces are marked so that you can easily find adjustments that result in frequency relationships between the elements that are related to each other by integer ratios. Those ratios are the basis for construction of musical scales. At these settings the motion patterns are analogous to musical intervals. Other pieces have a few stamp marks to indicate adjustments that have resulted in interesting patterns. One can use a sharpie  marker to make marks to indicate adjustments that resulted in compelling patterns of movement. Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol can be used to remove the marks.

The motion results in a constantly changing form and relationships between the parts. Clearance is important and carefully controlled. Finally the motion of a rocker against the granite makes a satisfying sound that is reminiscent of sharp scissors cutting cloth.

The Hammered Mbira

The hammered Mbira is a tuned percussion musical instrument based on the combination of a hammered dulcimer and the Mbira (often called a thumb piano). I made my first hammered Mbira over 20 years ago. I wanted an instrument that played the same as my hammered dulcimer but would be easier to travel with and would not require regular tuning. Over the years I have built over 50 of these instruments. Each one served to advance my understanding of the instrument and improve and evolve the design. The Mbiras shown here represent my latest work.

 

Two Bridge Hammered Mbiras

The high note rods extend from the right side of a bridge near the left end of the soundboard. The lower note rods extend both left and right from a bridge near the center of the soundboard. Those rods are played by striking the on either side of the bridge and result in notes a fifth interval higher on the left relative to the note on the right. These two bridge Mbiras are available in 16-16, 13-13, and 10-10 sizes (number of rods on the treble and bass bridges respectively).

The soundboard is made of solid Padauk (dark reddish brown hardwood) with routed out recessed areas to provide clearance for the vibrating rods. This form of soundboard is similar to those found on the Shona Mbira. These are quite rugged and have a pleasant tone quality.

The soundboard has a flat back while the front is carved out to allow for movement of the vibrating rods. The soundboard is about .8” thick under the bridges and its thickness tapers to about .3” at the ends and in between the two bridges. Smaller double bridge models, 13-13,10-10 and 8-8 have the same .8” rod spacing and soundboard form. The numbers refer to their number of rods in each bridge. Their fewer rods just make them smaller and lighter.

Previously I made the bass bridge inclined at the right and a perpendicular treble bridge to the left with notes extending left and right. While that design more closely resembled the traditional bass and treble bridge layout of hammered dulcimers, I believe this new design, with the high treble notes mounted in an inclined bridge at the left and the lower treble notes projecting to the left and bass notes projecting to the right of a more centrally mounted perpendicular bridge gives better acoustic results and still plays with the same hammering patterns that I use on the older hammered Mbiras and dulcimers.

 

Two Bridge Hammered Mbira with 16-16 tuning layout:

The zeros (0) in the diagram are points that are typically marked with white delrin bridge caps on hammered dulcimers. I use bright stainless screws to clamp those rods and blackened stainless screws to clamp the other rods (|). This helps keep track of where you are when playing.

Two Bridge Hammered Mbira with 13-13 tuning layout:

Two Bridge Hammered Mbira with 10-10 tuning layouts:

 

 

Since each instrument is made to order, I am happy to work with you on a custom configuration.

 

A comment on size

Most experienced hammered dulcimer players seem to be ordering the 13-13 or may prefer the new 16-16. This is likely because these come closest to the range that they are used to and allows the embellishments and playing in most of the keys that they have on their HD. Personally, I mostly play the melody of Celtic tunes and find that the smaller 10-10 models allow me to play all the tunes that I know. These smaller sizes come close to my original goal of a rugged low maintenance traveling instrument that plays like a hammered dulcimer. To get even closer to that goal, I have started making simple 9 rod single bridge hammered Mbiras.

Single Bridge Hammered Mbiras:.

This instrument is the result of experimentation and a desire for a minimalist traveling instrument. I wanted something that would play Celtic tunes in their common D and E minor keys. I find that the notes available are sufficient to play all the tunes I know. Even though I am not a multi instrumentalist, this single bridge tuning and hammering pattern is close enough to my conventionally tuned two bridge hammered Mbiras and dulcimers that I can easily make the shift to this instrument. These are smaller and lighter than the two bridge instruments and thus are easier to carry when traveling.

 

This 9-rod single bridge Mbira with A3 and the lowest note is my current favorite travel instrument. I play it with the soundboard resting in my lap so there is no need for a leg or stand.

 

Tuning layout for Single Bridge Hammered Mbira with 9 Rods:

This tuning can also be made an octave lower with D3 as the lowest note or slightly higher with D4 as the lowest note:

The length of the soundboards will depend on the range chosen with the D4 about 14”, the A3 about 17” and the D3 about 19” long. All three are built with 0.8” rod-to-rod spacing and the soundboards are about 8.5” wide

Small strips of rubber grip applied to the bottom surface of the soundboard allow the instrument to rest securely on your knees for playing while seated. The result is a traveling instrument that fits in my carry on and plays in E minor and D.

16-Rod Single Bridge Hammered Mbira

Here is a larger single bridge instrument that I made based on how much fun I was having playing the large 16-16.

 

 

 

Tuning for Single Bridge Hammered Mbira with 16 Rods:

A comment on soundboards:

It turns out that the rods are very high impedance elements thus they work best with a high impedance soundboard. So I have discontinued making instruments with spruce soundboards in favor of stiff heavy soundboards made of Padauk.

 

Construction:

All instruments are constructed as follows. The bridges are machined out of 360 brass and polished. Each rod has a small brass weight near its end to facilitate tuning and improve tonal color. The rods and screws are stainless steel. Bright stainless screws contrast with black finished screws to mark notes traditionally marked with white and black delrin on hammered dulcimers. The soundboards are carved from solid Padauk and finished with polyurethane. Each instrument comes with two pairs of hammers with head faces chosen to provide different tonal colors. All instruments, except the 9-rod models, come with a playing leg.

 

Ordering and schedule:

Each instrument is custom built. I communicate with the customer via e-mail to settle on model, tuning layout, any special details and a projected schedule. I require 50% down when I start building and the balance plus shipping, insurance and the package cost when the instrument is received. Start to shipping typically takes 4 weeks.

 

Hammered Mbira Background:

I got my first hammered dulcimer nearly 35 years ago. I enjoyed learning to play it but found the size and time spent tuning it made it difficult to travel with. I subscribed to a journal on African instruments and to the Journal of Experimental Musical Instruments. I also saw an advertisement for a marimba like dulcimer in Dulcimer Player’s News. I set out to combine a number of ideas and make an instrument that was rugged, small, light, did not require tuning and that played they same as my hammered dulcimer.

The resulting hammered Mbira is a tuned percussion instrument based on a combination of the Mbira, a traditional instrument of the Shona people of Zimbabwe1, with the hammered dulcimer. As in its African forbearer, the sound of the hammered Mbira comes from vibration of metal rods clamped to a soundboard. While the Shona Mbira rods are plucked, the hammered Mbira rods are struck with small hammers with playing technique identical to that used on a hammered dulcimer. The rods are tuned to a western scale and arranged in a note pattern identical to contemporary hammered dulcimers. Thus the hammering patterns of the two instruments are identical. So it is easy to shift between the hammered dulcimer and hammered Mbira.

Hammered Mbiras are typically smaller and more rugged than hammered dulcimers. Since their rods vibrate according to their length rather than tension, the Mbira tuning is less sensitive to changing environments. For those reasons, hammered Mbiras make ideal traveling instruments. They are easy to carry along and you can play them whenever you have a few minutes.

Here is a short recording made on my I-phone of a simple tune played in increasingly higher pitches up the two sides of the right hand bridge then up between the two bridges of a 16-16.

 

I made a hammered Mbira for Ken Kolodner.

Ken’s instrument is a 13-12. You can see him playing it on several YouTube videos. Just search YouTube for Ken Kolodner Mbira

1. Berliner, Paul F., The Soul of the Mbira, Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1981

Don MacLane Bio:

I have been making objects since childhood. I built toys in our basement woodshop and then, as a teenager, a small sailboat. In high school, I took an evening class with Roger Bolomey who traveled up each week from New York City to teach sculpture.

At Antioch College, I spent two terms working for a cabinetmaker making custom hardwood furniture. I studied sculpture with John Ritterscamp who had been an assistant to George Rickey.  John introduced me to welding. Then I spent three terms as a resident sculptor at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art’s Act Workshop working along side sculptors John Weidman, David Philips and Mac Beal. Returning to finish up at Antioch, I made my first kinetic pieces.

On graduating, I continued making kinetic work and studied sculpture with Paul Buckner at the University of Oregon. My welding skills steadily improved and lead to summer employment first making steel buildings then heavy equipment

After completing an MFA at Oregon I returned to Boston to work with the friends from the Act Workshop. I had a small studio shop in New Hampshire and spent summers helping a friend there move and reconstruct old timber frame barns.

After four years on the east coast, I moved back to Oregon and worked as a welder before enrolling in the mechanical engineering program at Portland State University. I alternated between periods of full time study with periods of full time  welding. I finally received a BSME and went to work developing color printers for Tektronix then Xerox.

As a student then engineer, I had little time for sculpture but started to play the hammered dulcimer. I began to study the science of musical instruments, finding that their vibrations are remarkable close to the oscillations of my kinetic sculpture. I started making instruments. The first was a hammered dulcimer. I played it nearly daily however it was not very portable. When a work assignment sent me to Japan for weeks at a time, I needed an instrument that I could take with me. An idea to make a hammered dulcimer like instrument with clamped cantilever bars like a thumb piano lead to development of my Hammered Mbira instruments.

I must have made a dozen different versions of the hammered Mbira before early retirement from Xerox allowed me time to make both sculpture and instruments full time. All the years as a welder, engineering student and engineer provided skills and knowledge useful for making instruments and kinetic sculpture. Over that time I had built up a well-equipped studio. Retiring from Xerox in 2006, I picked up making kinetic sculpture right where I left off years earlier.

 

You can watch an interview made for Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Art Beat:

https://www.opb.org/television/programs/artbeat/segment/sculptor-don-maclane/

 

Current Galleries:

The Freed Galley

6119 SW Hwy 101

Lincoln City, Oregon 97367

541-994-5600

 

The Art Project Gallery

151 Winslow Way East

Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

206-842-3132

 

Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery

1237 SW 10th Ave.

Portland, OR 97205

503-224-0674

 

The Allison Inn and Spa

2525 Allison Lane

Newberg, OR 97132

503-554-2525

 

Time Line:

Sculptor & Luthier, Portland, Oregon, 2006 to present

Mechanical engineer: design and development of color printers, for Tektronix and Xerox, Wilsonville, OR 1984-2006

BSME, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 1984

Steel fabricator and engineering student, Oregon, 1979-84

Blacksmithing and timber frame construction, Harrisville, NH,1975-78

Member, Sculptor’s Workshop, Somerville, MA, 1974

MFA, Sculpture, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 1973

BA, Sculpture, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, 1971

Artist in residence, ACT Workshop, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, 1970

Apprentice to Simon Watts, Cabinetmaker, Putney, VT, 1968