I've always believed that art has the capacity to re-enchant this disenchanted world. As part of a larger artwork called Persistent Echoes I dreamed that I could play the Brooklyn Bridge like a piano, a 14,680 ton musical instrument. So yesterday, early in the morning, I whacked the tension cables of the bridge with a plastic mallet and recorded the strikes with these custom clamp piezoelectric microphones made by this guy named Crank Sturgeon. Initially, I was disappointed that I could hear no discernible tone, but when I watched the cables vibrate I marveled that they looked like vibrating guitar strings.
So last night I pitch shifted the cable strikes, just a simple pitch shifter no bell filter, and voila I was able to compose a simple piece that sounds like a undersea xylophone. You can hear the vibrations of the wind and the cars on the roadway. It's noisy and sounds like sonar yet miraculous nonetheless. I'm in awe of all of the possibilities for discovery that surround us.

Playing the Brooklyn Bridge like a piano

Ted Riederer