What is it?
The Porcelain Gamelan is an instrument made of a set of porcelain pieces that you play by hitting or bowing. During the Opus Tutti project we built a “collective musical instrument” / sound sculpture with hundreds of pieces of porcelain, earthenware, stoneware and crystal for the show Um Plácido Domingo (A Peaceful Sunday) in the gardens of the Gulbenkian Foundation. The results were amazing and the Porcelain and Crystal Gamelanwas shown in several other contexts, which led us to think of simple ways to bring this experience to more people by setting out the principles that could help people build simpler versions of the instrument.
The basic idea is to put together a set of porcelain or ceramic pieces and organize them so they can be easily played. Some of the pieces have very defined fundamental frequencies and sound like conventional instruments, whereas other have more complex frequencies and sound like bells or electronic instruments. This combination allows music to be made in an exploratory, creative way without the need for formal musical experience. But it also allows innovative, sophisticated ideas to be developed from the point of view of musical composition. There are three versions of the Porcelain Gamelan in this project: the super easy, the very easy and the easy.
How to make it
Materials and Tools
To make a Porcelain Gamelan you need porcelain or ceramic pieces and, depending on which version you are making, a few other materials and tools.
The Super-Easy Version
To make the Super-easy Version, arrange the ceramic pieces on a surface (e.g. a table) supported by pieces of foam, and the instrument is ready to be played (with beaters made from chopsticks and corks, for example, or doorstops). You can build it in a few minutes, basically the time it takes to arrange the pieces. If you choose the pieces with more deliberation then it takes a bit longer, and it is much easier if you have access to a china shop which sells seconds, which are often very affordable (pieces with visual defects sound just as good as perfect pieces).
The Very Easy Version
To make the Very Easy Version, suspend the pieces in a frame. Suspending the different pieces is the bit that can get quite complicated. You can use cotton or other types of thread, but the trickiest part is to drill a hole in the center of each piece, or to fix suction cups to the pieces so they can be suspended on a thread. Drilling ceramic pieces is a delicate and laborious process.
Earthenware is easier to drill than porcelain, but for any type of ceramic, you need to use a low drilling speed and must cool the drill bit by placing water over the hole that is being made.
Alternatively you can stick suction cups to the pieces with silicone or superglue. It takes about 24 hours to dry.
Once the pieces have a hole or a suction cup you can suspend them from a frame.
The frame can be simple or complicated so we offer two possible solutions, both of which can be easily dismantled. One is made with wooden boxes and a hoe handle and the other is a set of fixings that is simple but a bit laborious.
And that’s it. The Very Easy Version is ready to use.
The Easy Version
In the Easy Version the pieces are screwed to a wooden surface. The pieces must not sit directly on the wood but on a washer or rubber stop. You can use any shape for the wooden surface and it can be assembled in various ways.
The model shown here is the same as the one used for a very easy version. The sides of the frame have a slot that allows the two parts to be joined together. This is an interesting solution if there are two people.
And that’s it. The Porcelain Gamelan is ready to use. These photos were taken near Vista Alegre, our partner in this adventure.
How to play it
The Porcelain Gamelan can be hit with beaters or bowed with a violin or cello bow etc.
Some original compositions
Capela
Surf Martenot
InCerâmica
Transparência I
Transumância
Transparência II
Instructions
You can print instructions to refer to when you are doing this project.
Click here to download instructions on how to make a Porcelain Gamelan..