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Musical Stones
Others attempted to copy the Richardsons’ success, again exploiting the
special properties of the hornfels stone from Skiddaw. These included the
Abraham Brothers and Daniel Till. From the early 1880s the Till Family Rock
Band began touring extensively in Britain. Later they moved to the USA.
The Till instrument is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art in New York.
John Ruskin first encountered musical stones as an eleven year old when he
visited the Crosthwaite Museum with his parents in 1830. As a child he wrote
an epic poem, Iteriad, in which he refers to the Musical Stones.
And next we were shown, upon quite a new plan – O
A kind of a sort of a stoney piano!
Some stones in the bed of the Greta’s stream found,
Emitted, when struck, a most musical sound!
In 1884 Ruskin commissioned the Tills to build him his own rock instrument
to amuse visiting children. The idea of an instrument constructed of materials
so directly related to its surroundings appealed to Ruskin. He was a long time
collector of rocks and minerals and for him this would surely have represented
a true synthesis of art and nature.
Joseph Richardson and Sons and the Rock Bell and Steel
Band, from an engraving on show at Keswick Museum and Art
Gallery circa 1848
The Richardson Rock Bell and Steel Band on show at Keswick
Museum and Art Gallery
Image courtesy of Adam Naylor-Whalley
Image courtesy of Adam Naylor-Whalley
The Brantwood Musical Stones
Stone was never going to become the ideal material
for musical instruments. The tone to be elicited from
wood, the durability and versatility of metal, set against
the sheer impractical weight of stone, meant that these
other materials were preferred. Nevertheless, there are
still instrument builders, in different corners of the world,
drawn to the special qualities of stone.
John Ruskin’s Harmonicon. John Ruskin Museum, Coniston.
An Introduction
Here at Brantwood, in the instruments you see before you, we
have yet another innovation: Lithophones for the 21st century.
Stone has been used to make music for thousands of years. Some of the earliest playing of music involved the striking
of rocks. Ringing rocks have been discovered on various sites across the world, often in close proximity to rock paintings.
The earliest forms of tuned percussion are to be found in South East Asia, including Vietnam and China.
Scientists at the University of Leeds have used modern
technology to create these instruments but with similar
passion for the synthesis of music and nature in order to
stimulate an interest in the local landscape, geology and
music. This instrument is made with families in mind – so
pick up a beater and listen for yourself!
Tuned percussion instruments such as the xylophone were not widely known
in Britain until the middle of the nineteenth century. Yet as early as 1785 Peter
Crosthwaite, founder of the Lake District’s first public museum, began work
on a similar type of instrument using pieces of stone he had taken from the
River Greta in Skiddaw. The instrument he created, almost certainly influenced
by ones he had seen whilst travelling in Asia, was later to become known as
a lithophone.
Ancient musical stones, or đàn dá. Vietnamese Institute of
Musicology, Hanoi.
Image courtesy of Mike Adcock www.lithophones.com
Qing – A percussion instrument in ancient Chinese music
made with stone or jade chime. for more details please see
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112834/qing#
Some forty years later Joseph Richardson decided to start work on an
altogether grander version. This took him thirteen years to build after which
time he and his sons toured it extensively in Britain and Europe, including
performances for Queen Victoria.
Dame Evelyn Glennie with Dr Kia Ng testing out the new instrument before it is finished. July 2010.
Funded by:
Ruskin Rocks Team and Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music (ICSRiM), University of Leeds
A collaborative project led by the University of Leeds
Further information at www.ruskinrocks.org.uk