WAVES become MATTER: Improvisation for Flute and Rubens Tube
Channel: Alyce Santoro
Date: 22/06/2011

Interdisciplinary artist Alyce Santoro demonstrates a simple apparatus that makes visible the effect of sonic vibration on compressed gas. Rubens Tubes are used in physics classrooms to demonstrate the oscillating pressure that sound waves exert on matter. 

Flute with an electric pick-up installed in the head-joint is played through pitch shifter effect. Lowering the pitch of the flute one octave brings the sound into a range that produces the most dramatic effect with a Rubens Tube of this length and diameter. This excerpt was played in the Masonic Hall in Marfa, Texas - a large, cathedral-like room with a lot of natural echo. 

This performance was one element in "The Synergetic Omni-Solution", a weekend of multi-media happenings by Alyce Santoro hosted by Ballroom Marfa as part the 2011 Texas Biennial. More info at https://www.ballroommarfa.org/program/texas-biennial-with-alyce-santoro/ and https://www.alycesantoro.com/sound-visual/projects-for-prepared-ear