For Organ Pipes

For Organ Pipes is a sound installation that produces a self-modifying set of tones from scattered organ pipes. Each pipe contains a cellphone that picks up sound from outside the pipe, compresses the dynamic range, and amplifies it through the resonant tube of the pipe. Sound produced by each pipe is captured by the microphones in the other pipes, resulting in a continuously evolving system.

In this work, the evolving sonic structure has no fixed point of origin. Each pipe functions simultaneously as a resonator, transmitter, and receiver, and the overall behavior of the work emerges over time from their interaction. The piece examines how musical structure can arise from feedback and interdependence rather than from composition or centralized control.

The Pomona College Festival of Electroacoustic Music, Claremont California. February 2024.