Gadgetoff 2009, Staten Island, NY

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Summertime/House of Rising Sun

It’s a long story how I ended up heading to NYC with Steve Mann and his hydraulophone team a couple of weeks ago for Gadgetoff 2009.

I first met Steve about 15 years back at one of U of T’s Sunday afternoon public swims at the Athletic Center, where I couldn’t help but notice this guy in the corner of the wading pool tinkering with an early prototype of one of his ‘water pianos’. In reconnecting with Steve earlier back in the Spring, I was fascinated to learn that his unique musical invention had really taken off in the intervening years, and that he had a FUNtain factory-showroom on Dundas Street, directly across from the newly renovated AGO.

So it was back in June that I dropped by and jammed with Steve as described here.

Based on that enjoyable collaboration, and with the realization that the Hydraulophone could serve perfectly as a water-based keyboard, I suggested that a ‘Salon Concert’ be organized in the FUNtain showroom. What I had in mind was an informal Schubertian-style chamber music recital, but what transpired was even better somehow: every Wednesday throughout the summer, several of the Hydraulophones – including the whimsical Nessies as seen on the Gadgetoff stage above – were set up out on the sidewalk, and through the afternoon into the evening musicians would drop by and perform together, improvising and running through some of the ‘standards’ as can be heard in this rehearsal before our performance at the conference. We had cellists and violinists, including Dr. Draw and his band, drop by and some weeks the sound of Native Drum and Didgeridoo could be heard wafting along Dundas Street along with my flute and the mysterious, watery organ-sounds of the Hydraulophone.

We truly had instruments that represented the three states of matter – Solid, Liquid and Gas – not to mention representing diverse eras and cultures, and came up with the name H2Orchestra!

Inevitably passersby would crowd around to watch and listen in amazement. When they were invited to try the instruments themselves, expressions of curiosity and puzzlement turned to laughter and joy as they discovered for themselves just how wonderfully easy it was to cover the jets of water and make music….and get a little wet in the process!

A superb, sculptural, stainless-steel version of the hydraulaphone is on permanent display in front of the Ontario Science Centre. Steve Mann’s Hydraulaphone is also up for nomination in the Smithsonian Institute’s prestigious People’s Choice Design Award. Read more here, and please take a minute to place your vote!

Gadgetoff 2009 was a huge success, and our performance was unique in a showcase featuring some of the most leading-edge applications of technology in the world today.