Listen to the Bottle Organ Sound Installation

This Bottle Organ is the first sound installation at the Mad Composer Lab site in Joshua Tree, CA. Its purpose is three fold. One, to acknowledge and give thanks to the element of Wind. Two, to capture the wind in the bottles allowing for a vibration offering and blessing of the land and the space around it. Three, to observe wind direction and intensity which will inform other experiments in music therapy and pyschoacoustics.

Generally, these bottles are for liquids, but work well at capturing gases like air, especially when forced in by strong winds. To install these bottles, I began with deciding on how many, what size, and shape. Once I knew how many I grouped them accordingly, making sure that each group had at least one gallon jug, three to four 12-16 oz bottles, and either a wine or whiskey bottle. The option to use clear bottles was so that they “disappear” and are virtually unnoticeable. That is until the sun hits them just right creating a luminance which captures the eye and entices the spirit to investigate.

So the layout is 31 bottles, aligning with the Japanese Poetry form called tanka. Up close you can see that they are group 5 7 5 7 7 for a total of thirty one. Additionally, there are 17 others representing the Haiku form, but further away from the initial setup.

These bottles were set in small mounds created by the water and wind. To do this, I waited until the wind was mighty and strong between 17-20 mph. I had previously observed that most of the winds came from the South at that particular time, so most of the bottles are south, southwest facing. I knew that intense winds would provide enough pressure to cause the bottles to resonate with sound. This is the same concept of what happens when blowing into a bottle, but the only difference here is that the air is supplied by geophysical wind, not breath. As the winds provided a consistent air supply, it allowed me to carefully place each bottle securely in the sand and adjust it to the appropriate angle for activation. In total this process took several hours, but the result was more than I could ask. Not only were these bottles resonating with sound, but the sound waves were carried by the wind to my body and surrounded me in uplifting sound waves and vibrations for another hour. Interestingly, I only made decisions about the size and number per grouping. I did not expect the tones to be consonant, but as it turns out, the pitch essentially centers around D and its overtones. Fascinating.

Others have been invited to share in this experience and the take away was the same. We all were enveloped and swept away to a place of gratitude and peacefully lifted in spirit.

The bottle organ was installed from May 2021- July of 2023, and only required minimal maintenance as the wind dislodged a few bottles. The installation will be reset in the Spring of 2024 during the next cycle of experiments.

The Mad Composer Lab desert site was made possible through generous contributions by MCL patrons and supporters. It was sponsored and facilitated by Eva Soltes founder of the Harrison House Music Art & Ecology. GRATITUDE.