Pipes and reeds

A river is the main way that our on-land environment transports water from one place to another. During our visit to the sewage treatment plant in Göteborg, Gryaab, I noticed very forcefully the very obvious fact that the human transport of water – of fluids in general – is done through pipes, which linked itself in my mind to the circulatory systems of the human body which is a web of tubes and pipes.



This idea attached itself – rather like phosphate particles in sewage exposed to iron sulphate – to the idea that had been forming in my mind of making musical instruments from things I might find in the river (this idea in turn was triggered by seeing bone flutes in the museum in Lille Edet, a town a little way upstream on the Göta Älv from Göteborg).



I had collected reeds washed up in the harbour in Göteborg, with the intention of making small whistles. This turned out to be much harder than I had thought, but using a drinking straw as a noise making reed stuck in one end of the reed stem I managed to make a kind of duck noise, which while rather ugly was at least a start. I found a bit of used pipe on the roof of the Biogas building which had been used for sludge - the remains of the organic matter that had been removed from the sewage – and asked if I could take it with me: I got an odd look but permission nonetheless. Once I’ve managed to disinfect it I think I will try and make an instrument out of it, perhaps using a saxophone mouthpiece, or perhaps cutting a hole like a flute. I’m going to try and collect some more reeds, too: maybe even cut some fresh ones, and see if I can make some more successful whistles: I will see if I can find any in London too. Our performance might involve asking the audience to play something, or I might make something they can take home with them.

Keith