Harry Partch's Spoils of War

For some musicians, the instruments you can get at a music store, learn in a conservatory or even plug in to a computer just aren't enough. These are artists who see a relationship between sound and form. They want to create instruments that look aesthetically pleasing as well as making sounds like you've never heard before. In the 20th century, composer and instrument inventor Harry Partch created cloud chamber bowls, the Spoils of War and countless other instruments to realize the music he heard in his head. And even in these days of synthesizer and digital technology, there are still artists looking for a tactile relationship with their sound making, but with sounds you can't get anywhere else. Over the years on Echoes, we've taken you into the studios and workshops of these inventors. Here's a few of them.

Harry Bertoia's Sound Sculptures (1990) Harry Bertoia created exotic sound sculptures out of metal alloys that looked like they grew out of some organic metal forest. In 1990, we visited the Pennsylvania home of the late sculptor and talked to his wife Brigitta and son Val, who carry on the Bertoia tradition. listen>>

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The guitars of luthier William Eaton look like ancient instruments from an alien world. He has created guitars with 33 strings, exotic variations of the harp guitar, lyre, the koto-harp and even a guitar synthesizer. Since his first solo album, Tracks We Leave, he’s been combining styles from around the world in atmospheric, melodic compositions. We met William Eaton in 1990 and he demonstrated his strange creations and talked about the music they can make. listen>>

William Eaton: Ancient Designs, Future Music (1990)

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Uakti   (1994) Uakti is a Brazilian group who build their own instruments from gourds, bird calls and PVC pipe. Their creations look like mutant plumbing but sound like the lost relics of an alien culture. In 1994, upon the release of their third album, I Ching we talked with Uakti and heard instruments such as the glass marimba and the Trilobita.

Emmett Chapman and the Chapman Stick     (1992) In 1992, we spoke with musician and inventor Emmett Chapman, and he demonstrated his unique creation, the Chapman Stick. It resembles an electric bass guitar and is often used like one, as Tony Levin did in the group King Crimson. But the ten-stringed Stick has the range of both the bass and guitar, and it's played by tapping the fretboard, so percussive elements are added in as well. We also heard from Stick devotees, including Belgian player Daniel Schell and Trey Gunn, who collaborates with guitarist Robert Fripp.

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