Visible sound:
CLADNI SOUND PATTERNS
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.
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 plate – sound 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 … and have patience while creating a steady sound …. then slowly the patterns appear depending on the pitch of the sound that you create.
The following are some examples of the Cladni Sound Patterns, using sand and salt.
Vibrational movement of a string:
The vibrational movement of a string, often fixed at both ends, creates standing waves at resonant frequencies, resulting in harmonics and a musical sound. When the string is disturbed, traveling waves reflect off the ends and interfere with each other, producing nodes (points of no movement) and antinodes (points of maximum movement). The specific vibrations are determined by the string’s length, tension, and density, with the lowest frequency being the fundamental.
The next step of making sound visible is Cymatic experiments. Sound is projected into water and from above we see the vibrational patterns created by the sound. Here below three photo’s and below that fragments of a film where you see vibrational patterns in water when I sing undertones.
