On Thursday, SCADshow in Atlanta will transform into a giant, resonating chamber as William Close and the Earth Harp Collective stretch 1,000-foot harp strings from the stage to the rafters.
“The audience is literally sitting inside the instrument,” said Close, who will be performing a ticketed show for the first time in Atlanta in more than a decade.
The California-based installation artist, instrument inventor and finalist on Season 7 of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” is visiting SCADshow for the holiday-themed performance, which will feature both classical and invented instruments — most notably, the earth harp.
Credit: Courtesy of William Close
Credit: Courtesy of William Close
The earth harp earned its name in 1999 when Close first conceived of the instrument as an outdoor music installation. He stretched massive harp strings across a valley, turning the landscape into a natural resonating chamber.
The earth harp’s debut earned such praise, Close kept reinventing it for new spaces — building new bridge designs made of marine-grade plywood, crafting new hardwood resonators and devising new string arrangements.
In the last quarter century, Close has created roughly 30 different models of the earth harp, each made specifically for site installations around the globe. His earth harps have been attached to the Space Needle in Seattle, ancient temples in Vietnam, canopies in the Panamanian jungle, the Roman Colosseum, the Kennedy Center and Brazil’s Theatro Municipal in Sao Paulo.
Close has been a featured musician at festivals including Coachella, Burning Man and Lightning in a Bottle. One of his earth harps was installed in Cirque du Soleil’s iconic Las Vegas show “KÀ.”
“I try and explore something new every time,” said Close. “I often look to instruments like the cello or upright bass or piano and look at those shapes (for inspiration).”
One version of Close’s earth harp earned a Guinness World Record as “the world’s longest playable stringed instrument.” That model was designed to be strung to the top of a residential skyscraper in Singapore where Close played it during the building’s grand opening celebration.
It is that record-breaking model that Close will play in Atlanta.
“At SCAD, the strings are going to be spectacularly spread out over the audience,” Close said.
Thursday night’s musical set has been curated exclusively for SCAD, Close said. It will feature a mix of epic ballads, such as “Requiem for a Dream,” and holiday classics, such as “Silent Night.”
“We’re trying to pick holiday pieces that are very emotive,” Close said. “The nature of the sound of the instrument is so symphonic and resonant that it’s a very emotional sound … there’s a lot of beauty and harmony in the show.”
Close will be on stage, dancing between 24 strings as he stretches his arms over each while wearing cotton gloves coated with violin rosin. As he runs his hands along the strings, he creates vibrations with deep, cello-like tones.
Credit: Courtesy of William Close
Credit: Courtesy of William Close
The roots of his inventiveness
The earth harp was not Close’s first musical invention; he devised roughly 100 instruments before it. His inventiveness, he said, is rooted in his childhood growing up in a small town in Westchester County, New York, which offered him experiences in both the countryside and the city.
His mother was an architect, his father worked in finance and his family spent much of their leisure time aboard sailboats.
Close still remembers the way the ship’s taut lines and riggings would vibrate, turning the body of the boat into a resonating chamber. He remembers admiring the boat’s architecture and how his mind began making connections between form and sound.
“Early on I saw sailboats kind of like musical instruments,” Close said. “… (and) I really started to look at musical instruments as pieces of architecture, too.”
This fusion has long fascinated Close, who often quotes the words of German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Music is liquid architecture; architecture is frozen music.”
Close’s ability to see such connections led him to take a multidisciplinary approach in college at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied architecture, music, sound design and sculpture.
While in school, he invented many instruments — the first from an old exhaust pipe his art school girlfriend gifted him for his birthday.
“It was a very art student thing to do,” he said, remembering the gift.
He strung the pipe with strings and transformed it into what he called an “exhaust pipe harp.” He learned to play his invention well enough to join a live band and began showing off his musical ingenuity.
“It was sort of the beginning of the idea that I could create an invented instrument that actually was pretty cool,” Close remembers. “From there, it just sort of took off.”
Since then, he’s invented instruments including the drum cloud, a floating arrangement of drum pads and some wearable instruments, such as a percussion jacket which features drum pads built into fabric.
“It’s sort of like wearing an electronic drum kit,” Close said. “It’s a really fun piece. It’s got some humor involved. I love little elements of humor in music.”
Both the percussion jacket and the drum cloud will be played during Thursday’s performance.
Grayson Wambach, executive director for SCADshow, said Close’s imaginative mind and immersive approach made him an appealing guest performer.
“At SCAD, we encourage our students to explore and create immersive experiences with their art and design,” he said. “William Close and the Earth Harp Collective have transformed music through innovation and imagination, demonstrating how a creative vision can reshape the way audiences engage with sound.”
Add a dash of holiday spirit to the mix and, Wambach added, “you get a wholly unique concert experience in the heart of Midtown.”
If you go
7 p.m. Thursday. $25-$45. SCADshow, 1470 Spring St. NW, Atlanta, 912-525-5050. scadshow.com/events.
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