Did You Know? Types Of Wood Have Different Sounds You Can Hear

Here is something you might not know: Thanks to Bartholomaus Traubeck and a specially-designed piece of turntable equipment and computer software, will translate each different type of wood into the form of piano notes. The textures of the tree rings that produce different  “sounds” also vary greatly due to the type and strength of the tree. The overall rate of growth of the tree will also have an impact on the way the music is relayed to us.

Speaking on the creation of “Years” this is an excerpt of an interview posted from anobiumlit.com awhile back:

[quote author=”Bartholomaus Traubeck”]The concept itself took some work to make it into a working physical prototype, but after some time of playing around with a wide range of input mechanisms, and having to experience a lot of setbacks, I had something that almost worked like I wanted it. Finding an aesthetic form (visually and aurally) for it was rather hard because I wanted to avoid any implications supporting tendencies like emotional kitsch or esotericism, which wood is prone to do when presented in a certain way – especially when the combination of wood and music (which is emotional) already supported this notion. So I tried to build something very reduced and formalistic around it. I painted it completely in black to draw the focus to the matter itself: the wood and its structure.[/quote]

You can also hear 7 different types of wood (such as Oak, Maple, Ash, Walnut, and more) being played separately here. It’s hard not to appreciate a unique take on music-making, especially outside the boundaries of what’s considered “normal.” In the end, even nature knows how to create its very own beautiful music.