“The Springboard: The Joy of Piezo Disk Pickups for Amplified Coil Springs” is now published in Leonardo Music Journal, Volume 17 on The MIT Press.

Abstract

The Springboard is a do-it-yourself instrument made from readily available materials: An amplified soundboard makes the vibrations of coil springs and a variety of other small and nonprecious objects audible. Thanks to a simple piezo contact microphone, the Springboard’s humble constitution belies the richness of its sounds, a signature of the author’s activities in live and recorded works across many art disciplines.

Contributors & Online Supplement

Along with my article, this year’s issue offers a wealth of articles by Bert Bongers, David Toop, and Peter Blasser, with artists’ statements by Richard Lerman, Brett Ian Balogh, César Dávila-Irizarry, Vic Rawlings, James Fei, Neil Feather, Robert Poss, Kyle Lapidus and Tali Hinkis, hans w. koch, Laura Emelianoff, among many more. Due to the overwhelming response to the call-for-articles an online supplement has been added to accommodate submissions that could not fit within the print version (90 pages) of the journal.

The journal’s companion CD compilation, “The Art of the Gremlin: Inventive Musicians, Curious Devices” curated by Sarah Washington, features 17 tracks by over 18 electronic artists and instrument inventors. Among them are Norbert Möslang, Haco, Leonardo Di Crappio, Rhodri Davies, Knut Aufermann and Tetsuo Kogawa, and Toshimaru Nakamura.