Sound Play Outdoor Musical Instruments - A Woodworking Q&A with Bond Anderson

Q: Is there any maintenance required on the instruments to keep them in top playing condition?

A: The usual maintenance for any outdoor product made with wood will help the instruments last longer: applying a weather resistant stain at least once a year and sanding any splinters or rough spots on the case of the instrument. The tension on the cables strung through the bars may need to be adjusted, but the tone bars themselves should only be stained, not sanded, as that will alter their tuning.

Q: With the unique sounds that these instruments create, are you aware of any commercial recordings that have been made using (at least partially) your instruments?

A: I don’t know of any that would show up at Barnes and Noble. I sold a few instruments to a fellow in Athens, GA who had a blues band, but I don’t know if they have used them in the recording studio. I was commissioned to build a custom instrument for the Centennial Celebration of Georgia College. It has a 31 tone equal tempered scale (31 pitches in an octave instead of the more familiar 12 pitches) and a composer, Clyde Tipton, was commissioned to write music for the instrument. Performances were recorded and a brief feature made it to National Public Radio.

Q: A number of these pieces are in public locations. Have you had any special requests for the security of the instruments when these were installed?

A: No, we haven’t been asked to modify the instruments for security, but we have had many discussions with clients determining which instruments are most appropriate for their site and the best placement to help reduce risk. Vandalism is extremely rare, only 2 instances in the last 25 years; I think people just have so much fun playing them that being malicious doesn’t cross their minds. We do occasionally receive calls for additional mallets to replace those that have gone “walk about”.

Q: When a customer orders one of your playscapes or instruments, I assume that there is at least a bit of assembly that must be done once the shipment arrives. Is there any level of expertise to assembling/installing the instruments, or can any relative beginner install them?

A: Our instruments are shipped completely assembled and ready to install for most orders. Installation involves attaching the feet of the instruments to the surface with stainless steel lag screws; a hammer drill or drill/screw gun and an impact driver or wrench can get the job done.

Q: Although anyone can order one of your creations, it appears that you have installed quite a number of your instruments in public parks and museums. Any other locations that are "naturals" for your playscapes?

A: I also work with communities, schools and other organizations to build the instruments on site with the help of volunteers or students, in the case of school residencies. It takes a good bit of planning and organization, but the result is literally “more bang for the buck.”

Q: In closing, have there been any particularly unusual requests or amusing anecdotes that you’d like to share?

A: It’s immensely rewarding to build instruments that we know are going to be played and shared with lots of people; it reinforces my “mission” as a kind of musical Johnny Apple Seed. Our instruments are often put to therapeutic use, as many of our installation sites are schools that work with children who have behavior disorders or institutions that help with recovery from addiction, children’s hospitals and homes for medically fragile children. The music therapists on staff at one site requested some new ensembles, and I immediately thought: “soprano, tenor” and “wood, metal”. No; they were thinking “anger management”, not the first thing that came to my mind.

I circumvented some public embarrassment for a playground committee on the west coast when they asked me to design a baby seal drum for their playground “tot lot”. I wanted to give them a chance to rethink their choice, so I brainstormed with them for a little bit about how large a mallet the children could handle for beating the baby seal. The silence on their conference phone was almost deafening and we had an instant design change.

To learn more about Sound Play's playscapes and outdoor musical instruments, visit www.soundplay.com.