BETWEEN MUSIC: AQUASONIC

Photo: Ambra Vernuccio

ABOUT THE BAND

11/4/2019

Between Music: AquaSonic consists of five individuals who submerge themselves into tanks filled with water, hydrophones and each of their customised instrument. Together they tour the world with their underwater concerts and are the only group in the world to do so on such a big scale.

Who would have even thought making an underwater band was possible? Luckily they did, and after many years of having to overcome all the obstacles that followed, Between Music: AquaSonic succeeded in doing so.

The astonishing performance is both visually captivating and it takes their listeners on a hauntingly beautiful journey.

The members of AquaSonic say that some days they feel very comfortable while being in the tanks, like they're almost at one with the water, and other days they find themselves struggling with being surrounded by it.

It has been tricky to make all of their instruments function long-term while being submerged and although it has been hard, AquaSonic have a big appreciation for all the obstacles they've had to overcome. They all play a big part in the whole journey they have gone through in order to make such a far out idea come to life.

Nanna Bech

(Vocals, rotacorda)

Photo: Charlotta de Miranda

Morten Paulsen

(Drummer)

Photo: Katia Engel

Laila Skovmand

(Artistic director, composer, vocals, hydraulophone)

Robert Karlsson

(Innovative director, violin, crystallophone)

Moran Le Bars

(Percussion)

Photo: Jens Peter Engedal

Photo: Jamie Simpson

Photo: Ambra Vernuccio

THE INSTRUMENTS

Between Music: AquaSonic have been working together with deep-sea divers, instrument makers and scientists from all around the world in order to develop their customised subaqueous instruments.

Scroll down to read more about some of these unique creations.

Chrystallophone

Photo: Charlotta de Miranda

One of the instruments Between Music use is a Crystallophone, or the glass harmonica as it is more commonly called. The idea behind it is basically the same as when you play on wineglasses, here we just have many glass bowls in different sizes put together in order to have a different tune from each bowl.

Originally Benjamin Franklin invented this kind of instrument in 1761, but MIT software developer and inventor Andy Cavatorta from the US, have re-invented the Crystallophone in order to work underwater.

Played by: Robert Karlsson

Rotacorda

Photo: Charlotta de Miranda

Also built by Andy Cavatorta is the Rotacorda. This instrument functions a bit like a hurdy-gurdy, where there is a wheel which gets manually rotated in order to make stretch out the sound coming from the strings. Single notes played on the Rotacorda sound similar to those of a violin.

Played by: Nanna Bech

Hydraulophone

Photo: Charlotta de Miranda

The Hydraulophone is the only instrument to use water rather than air to produce a sound. It functions like an organ where the sounds are made by the air, but in this case the sounds come from turbulent water instead. This is also the only instrument Between Music uses that was already made for playing underwater. The first one was made in 1985 by Canadian scientist and inventor Steve Mann, and in 2014 his colleague Ryan Janzen made this new unique Hydraulophone for the underwater concerts.

Played by: Laila Skovmand

Carbon violin

Photo: Jens Peter Engedal

Between Music first experimented with a poor quality violin, which worked and survived three days of underwater experiments. After it disintegrated the team contacted a German company called Mezzo-Forte who constructed a carbon fiber violin specially made for underwater playing.

Played by: Robert Karlsson

Percussion

Photo: Charlotta de Miranda

Bell plates, gongs, triangles, darboukha and many other percussion instruments, play an important role in Between Music's compositions. The only problem is that the percussion instruments were very unstable and frequently changed pitch. They needed something more predictable, so working together with former electronic engineer turned instrument maker Matt Nolanhave, they created a series of specially tuned percussion instruments.

Played by: Moran Le Bars

Singing Bowls

Photo: Charlotta de Miranda

At first Between Music used glass bowls which produced a nice sound and pitch but they turned out to be too fragile, so they came up with a solution - asian singing bowls! Normally used in meditation, religious chanting, or funeral rituals, but they also work great as more stable underwater "drums".

Played by: Morten Poulsen

THE SINGING TECHNIQUE

Laila Skovmand and Nanna Bech are singers out of the water as well as in it. In order to sing underwater without having the air bubbles disturb the sound, they have perfected their very own technique.

First they fill their mouth with water and then sing through an air bubble, which they prevent from escaping by pulling it back in, sometimes even while singing inwards. The high pitch goes better through water than the low, therefore it is evident to use female vocals for this.

"I almost sing, well not a whole octave higher than I normally do, but I sing in a really high pitch where I don't fell so comfortable. The high sound goes best through water"

-Laila Skovmand