Ice Music: Performing Pieces On, And For, Literally Frozen Instruments

“Carved instruments can be either completely made of ice, such as horns and percussion, or hybrids, like harps, in which the main body is ice with metal strings attached. … By studying and intricately blending materials — such as homemade clear ice and carbonated water, plus crushed mountain snow — [a master crafter] can make instruments like violins and tune them as close to perfect as nature allows.” And once the performance begins? “Ice is always in motion; expanding, contracting and sublimating away into the atmosphere. Warm bodies melt instruments. Audiences increase temperatures because they are breathing. Instruments need to be re-tuned differently. Some drop several notes, others rise.” – National Geographic

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