Last month, on the same stage where the Concert of Electronic Music will be performed on Wednesday, Professors Peter Hulen and Martin Madsen teamed up for a demonstration that was nothing short of electric.
Hulen played his composition 'Buzz Feed' on a singing Tesla coil—a solid state Tesla coil modified to produced musical tones by modulating its spark output.
The Tesla coil was loaned by the Wabash Society of Physics Students and set up by physics Professor Martin Madsen and physics Technician Matt Roark.
The Tesla coil in Salter Hall.
Luke Walker ’17, the College's first electronic music minor, showed up for his lesson and learned something completely different than what he expected.
Professor Madsen sets up the 'cage' that surrounds the coil.
Matt Roark helps set up the cage.
Due to a shift in the coil's base, it took a while to get it all working. Here Madsen tightens the top or 'toroid' of the coil.
Madsen finds out the coil isn't working.
The complete set-up, with computer to be played by Hulen (left), the coil in its cage, and Madsen working on the electronics that regulate the coil.
A music-physics collaboration in troubleshooting!
The plastic crumhorn Hulen plays on 'Buzz Feed—for Electronic Fixed Media, Digitally Processed Crumhorn, and Tesla Coil.'
'It was like composing for a harpist,' Hulen said. 'I treated the tesla coil just like any other instrument with its own possibilities and limitations to be considered when composing for it and when integrating it with other parts, including collaborating with an expert who knows the instrument in ways that go far beyond what my composer's perspective provides.'
Madsen 'tunes' the coil. 'I was mostly working on adjusting the power output of the coil,' he says. 'If we ran too much current through the solid state electronics, we could damage them. So I monitored the current and made adjustments to keep the tesla coil happy '
'Because this was the first time we've played that piece on the coil, there were a couple of adjustments that needed to be made,' Madsen says. 'First, the higher notes draw more power, so when Peter had the coil play a fast burst of high notes, that was a problem. So he was ok cutting off one octave off the top of his score to keep the power down. From there it was mostly working on providing the right level of power to get enough sound out of the coil to balance the speakers.'
Hulen plays the coil.
'There's no way anyone could do something like this without all the work and expertise that Martin and Matthew bring to it, or the support of the whole Physics Department, since they are onboard with using the Tesla coil in this way.'
'It feels like a lot of fun to me because it is so novel, and I think they feel that way, too, so it's something fun and kind of funny we can share.'
'But, it's also a lot of work: I set up and tore down all that audio equipment, and they hauled the tesla coil over, set it up, and did all the troubleshooting. I hope it was worth it for them, too.'
The Wabash Department of Music enters “the dawn of a new era” Wednesday as the College presents "Soundscapes," its first Concert of Electronic Music, in Salter Hall in the Fine Arts Center at 7:30 p.m.
The concert features student, faculty, contemporary, and historical soundscapes, including pieces by Luke Walker ’15, the College’s first electronic music minor.
Composer and Wabash Professor Peter Hulen celebrates the upcoming concert with a sampler from the work of Walker and others during an interview on this week’s Wabash On My Mind podcast.
“There’s been a studio on campus for 20 years to make this music,” Hulen says, “but we’ve never had the ability to properly present it to an audience. The College now has state-of-the-art equipment to perform it—in multi-channel surround sound—and I hope this Wednesday will be the dawn of a new era in electronic music.
“Wabash is one of only three schools in our consortium with any emphasis whatsoever on electronic music—I’m looking forward to adding our star to that constellation.”
With electronic dance music the fastest growing genre worldwide, student interest has been on the rise.
“Like clockwork, students in electronic music classes every year ask, ‘Is there any way I can major or minor in this?’” Hulen says. “Several years ago I decided to do something about that, and that is where the new courses and equipment have come in.”
Walker had taken all the electronic music courses the department offered but was still one short of a minor. He petitioned the College to do a “self-created minor”
“They said, ‘yes,” Hulen recalls, and Walker is working with his teachers to help create that course. “I’m not sure what this last course will look like yet, but it will be performance based and will use this new equipment.”
Walker and Ian Callecod ’17 are among the students whose soundscapes will be performed, and Hulen plays samples from both during the podcast interview below.
The College’s first Concert of Electronic Music begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Salter Hall and is free and open to the public.