Anders Piano – Lima, Peru

The pianos in Peru are not natives. As I pull apart, tune, and lovingly re-assemble them, I realize they’re like me—travelers from a different land. It makes me wonder how each one found its way here.

Both José Antonio Valdez and Hernando Torres-Fernández, mentioned in previous posts, told me about Anders Piano in Lima. They said the shop has been family-run for generations, and is something of an institution. Well, it seemed that if anyone could give me greater insight about the European instruments in Peru, it would be the owner of Anders Piano: Frank Anders.

No Instruments of War

As my adventures in Peru continue, it’s amazing to experience how our intricate web of connections continues to grow. In my previous post, Piano Ambassadors, a string of strangely serendipitous encounters led me to a local piano concert. It was there that I happened to sit next to a very nice couple, and in the midst of friendly conversation, learn that they had a piano that was direly in need of a tune up.

Piano Ambassadors

In my previous post I visited a C. Bechstein piano in Arequipa that I found for sale through OLX.com, an online classified site . My intention was to view the instrument as a possible purchase or at least as a way to get a sense of the piano market here in Arequipa. I was surprised to find that the visit transformed into a pivotal experience for our diplomatic projects here in Peru!

I will give a brief account of the previous post: With broken Spanish, after evaluating the C. Bechstein piano for sale, I explained the Ambassador Program to Luis—the piano’s seller. Me explaining the Ambassador Program was simply meant as a bit of small talk and a way for me to practice my Spanish. To my surprise he was not only interested in, but became quite enthusiastic about the project—our talk inspired him to attempt to connect me with a former classmate of his. Due to my inexperience with Spanish I was not sure whom this person was, but was excited to find out.

The First Piano in Arequipa

Read on to begin the three-part tale of how attempting to sell an inadequate electric razor can lead to a friendship with a piano playing international diplomat and a series of interconnected musical adventures.

OLX: in Arequipa, Peru and many other global locales it supersedes craigslist as the best place online to buy, sell and trade used items locally. When I was unable return an electric razor (“cortapelos”) I recently bought but did not like, I put it for sale on OLX.com.

After registering for the site I got curious about what items were listed by others. Naturally, my first instinct was to browse for pianos. While searching I quickly realized that here in Arequipa there are no real pianos for sale on OLX—only electric pianos and toy pianos for children were to be found.

However, to my surprise,

Harp Music Detour (Lima)

What do harps and pianos have in common? Quite a lot. The harp was an early predecessor to the piano: like the piano, the plucked instrument was one of the first to utilize a large set of strings stretched to various lengths. In fact, the interior cast iron plate of a piano is often referred to, and is shaped like, a harp! One day recently I headed into central Lima to get better acquainted with a piano that I had previously encountered which was made under the mark of a Frenchman named Sébastien Érard. On my way to this piano I got sidetracked by the enchanting sounds of harp music and was drawn into an exploration of a harp maker’s workshop. Interestingly, Érard, known for his technological advancements to the piano was also an accomplished harp manufacturer. Soon I will post an account of my return to the aforementioned Érard grand piano located at Libreria El Virrey de Lima bookstore. However, this post is about the harp shop that I discovered on my way there.

What Happens When You Tune an Outdoor Piano?

There’s two main responses you could have to a request to tune a crusty old piano just acquired by a vagabond band of young hooligans and being carelessly carted around in the back of a truck: “no thanks, that sounds like a disaster” and “let’s rock and roll!”

DJERASSI ARTISTS’ RESIDENCY – THE FIRST 10 DAYS (DAY 2)

Djerassi is a residency program in Woodside California that hosts artists in groups of twelve for one month sessions. The program takes place on a several hundred acre property that rests peacefully in the Santa Cruz mountains. Nearby, brainy technophiles populate Palo Alto, the home of Standford University and  startuplandia. This month’s session, playfully titled Scientific Delirium Madness, is special. A selection committee has chosen a group of art/science integrators to share this experience. They are hoping we find interesting ways to collaborate and that our creativity will flourish at this remote retreat. I plan to keep a strict daily schedule: early rising, 4 hours of science, 4 hours of making things. Each day I look for ways to create something meaningful. I hope my output will do justice to this opportunity.

Wednesday, July 1: Last night—my first at Djerassi—I slept hard. I have commenced recovering from my dissertation defense and the frantic last-minute preparations for this trip. The first item on day two’s list is meditation. I attempted to plan big for this month. Ideas on what to work on while here had been filling my brain until they leaked out my ears. But I couldn’t really know what to do until I arrive.

The plan includes a tentative schedule:

6:00 AM—meditate; 6:30—walk; 8:00—shower, eat, prep for the day; 9:00—four hours of science; 1:00 PM—lunch; 2:00—four hours of creativity; 6:00—dinner; 7:00—free time, socializing, winding down, reading, writing, etc.; 10:00—bed.

I don’t even know if this schedule will enmesh well with the natural rhythm of things here. Today I do what I can. After the morning greets my meditating with acceptance, I try my walk.

A map will guide me into the art covered hills.

The morning light dances with the shadows. They interact rhythmically.

Sculpture installations emerge from nature and greet me as I walk. Brittany Powell has carved away moss from trees to create a pattern that still echoes loudly after two years. The periodic stripes of moss evoke the shape of a guiro—the Latin American percussion instrument.

On my walk the early light through the dewey trees creates a rhythm that enamors me. I’ve been studying rhythms of the thrush nightingale in my research. I record a video on my walk. I run my hand through the light and shadow, creating a one dimensional slice of luminosity through the complex patterns. It evokes sonic rhythms in my mind. This is some of my art for the day: light rhythms.

After my walk and after breakfast I get to work on my science—I extend a hand out from this gentle landscape to bustling New York City and converse with my mentor. I dive into revising our manuscript, readying it for publication. I accomplish quite a bit. I’m in the zone right away!—I am hoping to submit two papers before I leave Djerassi. Quickly my schedule faces a glitch though. The staff will stop my science time short. Soon this first full day fills up with orientations and getting to know the fellow residents. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll successfully institute my precious schedule.

In the meantime, I participate in the planned activities. The staff assure us that we’ll soon have time to get things done—we all reluctantly enjoy the hell out of a guided tour of the sculpture grounds.

The docent, Dennis, guides us through the hills and forests.

The sculptures intrigue and fascinate us. For example, James Chinneck has left mysterious plaques along the trails here—“State Certified Fact” plates. This plaque tells the tale of a rusty old truck found in a ravine:

Frank faithfully delivered fine sausages from his store at 974 Howared Street to the loggers in the mountains.

One of the loggers, Chuck Malone, had an issue with Frank: The sausage man was having a love affair with Malone’s oldest daughter, Mary-Anne.

On November 8, 1937 Chuck Malone fired 18 shots at Frank’s sausage van. Tragically for Malone, Frank was not driving the van that day; Mary-Anne was. Upon realizing that he had shot and killed his own daughter, Malone turned the gun on himself.

Frank never delivered sausages again.

I love Chinneck’s imaginative project and I reflect on how important stories are. They add meaning to chaos. I want to create things here that tell stories.

Later, representatives of Leonardo—the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology—meet with us. They are collaborating with Djerassi to host this special residency where artists and scientists reside together. We learn that there is an open house on the 19th—just over two weeks away: 250 outsiders will pay to enter the grounds and to find out about us and what we will have done. The meeting is fun—and we are reminded that we have the amazing gift of time with no obligation here. However their presentation to us highlighting the upcoming open house reinforces a mild pressure for us to produce something impressive to show for our time here…

Visit our blog, hosted by Leonardo, the journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology to find out more about our experiences with art and science collaboration at the Djerassi residency.

Quantum Dots Music at Djerassi

I am currently at Djerassi, an artists’ retreat in the Santa Cruz mountains of California, participating in a residency for artists and scientists. On Saturday I went on a morning run with fellow resident and physicist Guillermo Munoz. As a result of a conversation about our respective fields of interest we decided to make a collaborative piece using music to explore the topic of quantum dots. I suggested that I would improvise some music which I thought might sound like quantum dots and then ask him how to adapt it to better fit his own understanding. The idea was that the process of collaborative composition could be a tool for learning about this topic from him. Watch the video of this interaction and see the outcome of this experiment.

My conception of the piece was to play a series of staccato, random pitches. Each tone was discreet and precise. Guillermo immediately loved the characterization! Though I was not aware of this before, he explained that quantum dots are small groups of atoms—hundreds or thousands. They are known for their ability to emit discrete wavelengths of light. This is in contrast to large groups of atoms that would emit light broadly across the spectrum. He liked how the staccato notes reminded him of the discrete peaks in the emission spectrum that quantum dots produce.

Visit our blog, hosted by Leonardo, the journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology to find out more about our adventures in art and science at the Djerassi residency.

A Cool Gift for Musicians and Composers!

Check out this cool gift I got from my brother and sister in law for Christmas! It’s a tiny little music box that you can create your own music for. The music is made by punching holes in special paper on a grid that looks much like a musical staff. You feed the paper into the music box and the holes in the paper pluck the tines in the music box.

The contraption that makes the music does not come with a box, but as you can see I made my own box by affixing it to an old metal container using a few small screws. The box helps amplify the sound and provides a way to handle the mechanism more easily.  Holding the machine against a table or large surface can also help it resonate.

You can watch this video to hear two compositions I made. I play them slowly first and then later you can her them a little louder because I set the box on top of the piano and faster because I ran the crank a bit quicker.

It’s a cool little gift! I highly recommend it! Here’s a link I found to get it online. It’s made by Kikkerland.

Does Google Glass have GPS? It can, and here’s what’s great about it

This vignette mimics what a person sees while wearing Google Glass; there is a small display in the upper-right-hand corner of your field of vision

Google Glass is a new and unexplored technology, and it remains to be seen how it will fit into people’s lives. I recently decided to purchase my own Google Glass, and have been spending time finding ways to work with it.

I’m a piano tuner, and in the summer time, I like to ride my bicycle from one appointment to the next. Given my busy schedule, I’m often pressed for time trying to figure out where a new customer lives, and the best way for me to get to their location on a bike. Before Glass, I would use the Google Maps app on my phone for navigation. But it’s difficult and time consuming to keep stopping to consult with my handheld device about each next step. While it’s sometimes tempting to hold the phone with one hand while biking, it’s too dangerous to be practical.

With Google Glass, however, I can have access to maps and navigation in a manner that’s hands-free. First you pair your Glass with your smartphone using Bluetooth, so that Glass can access your celular data plan. Once it’s connected, you can do the rest through Glass. You give Glass the voice command “Ok, glass, get directions to…” and say the intersection or the address to where you want to go. After you say the destination, you may be directed to open your MyGlass app on your smartphone, which will share your current location with Glass. Voice commands and a visual display for turn-by-turn directions should begin. If you tap the touchpad, you can select between directions for driving, public transit, biking or walking.

Using Glass in this way, I can focus on safely navigating traffic and arriving on time without being distracted, as I listen to a voice offering me turn by turn directions. If I need it, I can quickly consult a little map in the Glass display. It’s like driving a car with GPS, except that on a bike, I’m not burning fuel, I’m getting exercise, and I’m enjoying the summer sun. Because Glass also has its own camera, it’s possible to film a video in a hands-free way. Below, you see a video I recorded while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.