Watch the NEW YORK TIMES VIDEO HereSupport Bridge Music HereJoseph Bertolozzi's Bridge Music is a site-specific sound art installation created for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge (The Mid-Hudson Bridge), a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York.
The installation consists of two components: [1] audio speakers mounted at two Listening Stations on the bridge's towers that play Bertolozzi's original music on-demand at the touch of a button, and [2] an FM stereo transmission 24 hours a day on 87.9FM within the parks surrounding the bridge.
To create his composition, Bertolozzi used various mallets to strike the bridge's surfaces (guard rails, spindles, girders, suspender ropes, etc.), and sampled them into a computer. The resulting sounds were categorized by location and note/sound value and then digitally linked to music notation software files. As Bertolozzi composed the music, these notation files were used to trigger the sampled sounds upon playback, turning the bridge into a virtual instrument. The music contains no other sounds than those of the bridge itself.
The project will be unveiled during the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage up the Hudson River. The launch date is June 6, 2009.
Using the railings, spindles, fences, trusses, panels, cables, suspender ropes (those cables which suspend the bridge’s deck), and in fact any part of the bridge except the roadway (which will be left open to traffic) he will compose vibrant, site-specific music, expanding the boundaries of known music-making while integrally incorporating one of New York’s landmarks, using the river and mountains themselves as his theater.
FINAL NOTE
The bridge’s designer, Ralph Modjeski, was a highly skilled pianist (he was a classmate of the famous Polish virtuoso Paderewski). He ultimately chose engineering as his profession and became one of the 20th century’s greatest bridge designers. Both as a pioneering engineer and a musician who loved the music of his own time, he would be intrigued to experience this boundary-shattering synthesis involving his beloved bridge and the music of our time.
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Great to make the connection, thanks for kind words. I really enjoy the mix of man made objects (portions of bridge in this case) and man made musical instruments. I had spent a few years doing this type sound integration in real time and using sampling back in late 80’s to early 90’s. Your stuff sounds very fresh and meaningful in a playful way.
hey - heard you, here in the UK, on the bbc on saturday night, good luck and I look forward to seeing the event in 2009, for sure i will make the journey! seb
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