Visible Sound
The word Cymatics derives from the Greek 'kuma' meaning 'billow' or 'wave,' to describe the periodic effects that sound and vibration has on matter.
The study of the patterns produced by vibrating bodies has a venerable history. One of the earliest to notice that an oscillating body displayed regular patterns was Galileo Galilei, who wrote in his 1632 book, "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems":
As I was scraping a brass plate with a sharp iron chisel in order to remove some spots from it and was running the chisel rather rapidly over it, I once or twice, during many strokes, heard the plate emit a rather strong and clear whistling sound: on looking at the plate more carefully, I noticed a long row of fine streaks parallel and equidistant from one another. Scraping with the chisel over and over again, I noticed that it was only when the plate emitted this hissing noise that any marks were left upon it; when the scraping was not accompanied by this sibilant note there was not the least trace of such marks.
By generating specific frequencies and/or my music and transmitting these vibrations into water, the surface of the water is set into resonance and creates various imges from symmetrical structures to irregular patterns. For more detailed documentation on my work see my film and photos:
DVD - Message of Sound
- my research in making sound visible resulted in photos and the film on DVD - Message of Sound - a real-time registration of sound resonance in water.
See some images on these following pages:
Sound resonance in water
Cymatic photo's - symmetric patterns
Cymatic photo's - asymmetric patterns
Cymatic films
Cymatic photo's in tibet bowl
You can order cymatic photo's as posters, also printed on alluminium or canvas
at http://www.klank-en-vorm.eu
( English and dutch version )
Cladni patterns
the most basic way of making sound visible is the creation of Cladni sound patterns ....
take a metal plate, a violin bow and sand ...
