Bespoke Musical Installations
for festivals, galleries and events
The Sonic Balloon
at Machynlleth Comedy Festival 2017
Concept
Roll up, roll up, roll up for the most ginormous, magical, spectacular musical coconut shy in the world!
The Sonic Balloon is a fun, interactive musical installation incorporating music technology, multi-instrumental composition, six three-foot helium balloons, and three buckets of bouncy balls.
at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff 2017
Interact
You, the audience are invited to take over the ‘orchestra’ and conduct a miniature symphony of brass, strings, piano, guitars and drums.
This piece was created by Timothy Tate, musician and composer in collaboration with Jay Harrison, electromechanical music technologist, commissioned by LLAWN Arts Weekend 2016.
at LLAWN Arts Weekend, Llandudno 2016
Play
No rehearsal, practise or musical expertise required . . . Step right this way and let the fun and music commence!
The Sonic Balloon has been installed at:
LLAWN Arts Weekend, Llandudno
Machynlleth Comedy Festival
The Lost Weekend, Exeter
Wales Millennium Centre
The Sonic Balloon is a unique and fun interactive musical installation for all ages.
It encourages musical exploration from audience-participants who conduct the virtual orchestra of five instrumental sections, represented by five huge helium balloons, with buckets of bouncy balls.
Like a coconut shy from the future, hitting a balloon brings instruments in and out, altering texture, dynamic and instrumentation of an original 9 minute composition for piano, strings, brass, guitar and drums.
Take a handful of rubber bouncy balls, bounce them off the floor and try to hit a giant helium balloon to bring in a section of the ‘orchestra’.
Connected to each balloon are sensors which trigger a musical track which can be brought in or silenced at any time. As conductor, you shape the texture, dynamics and instrumentation, all the while experiencing music in a whole new light.
from the Comments book…
“Amazing idea and great fun way to interact with different parts of music. Thanks!”
“It’s great to have original and interactive ideas to bring art to everyone! Loved it!”
“Fantastic, what great interaction for the children, back next year!”
“Brilliant idea, excellent for public engagement for all ages. A really interesting idea, displayed attractively.”
“Like a kid again. Age 75 yrs.”
“Really really fun and good.
-Millie, aged 3”
Hear it below in full
The music was created for the slightly fantastical ensemble of piano, brass and string sections, guitars and drums and follows the structural form of the Classical symphony as developed by Haydn in the 18th century.
It is made up of three concurrent miniature movements: the first medium tempo in sonata form followed by a slow movement in triple time ternary structure, finishing with a faster final movement in rondo form.
Within this guiding framework the five instrumental sections take us along a whimsical cinematic journey with syncopated Pop rhythms playing to a Jazz swing beat beneath a medley of good-time earworms as buoyant and bouncy as a fairground balloon.
I hope you enjoy the ride.
Contact
Timothy was also a finalist in the application for a major commission for an interactive installation on the island of Portland to create a huge interactive lithophone from hanging bars of Portland stone, mixing user-created pitches and archive recordings of mining and miners.
To discuss a commission, please contact Timothy by email, at the button below.