Wood remembers. Each grain, each trace of moisture carries a history of touch, of air, of time.

Arbrasson

Touch transforms air into sound that is spatial like a flowing river, warm in hand like a fire built from wood, and moist with memory like fog.

Performance

Femi and I play our arbrasson in an big empty warehouse. We both started walking while touching the arbrasson, feeling like we were rowing on a boat on the ocean.

I improvised with arbrasson, with gesture, pressure, sound, and space. Through the real-time computer processing in Max and with my DIY MIDI controller beneath my feet, the arbrasson sound transform into different levels of volume, texture, bodies, and spatial position.

Making an arbrasson

Arbrasson is a notched wooden instrument that sings when its carved ridges are gently caressed, resonating like a bird. This sculptural instrument was invented by magician and arborist José Le Piez in 1996.

Femi and I learned to make arbrassons from Daniel Fishkin, who met Le Piez in his studio in Bordeaux and collaborated with him on music in 2023. To make an arbrasson, we draw lines on a piece of wood, carve the notches with a saw, sand the surface, and then fine-tune the sound with a hand saw.

Hybrid

I built a hybrid version of arbrasson using a XIAO ESP32-C3, an MPU-6050, and a LiPo battery, allowing it to respond to my gestures and connect wirelessly to real-time audio processing in MaxMSP.

Daxophone

A wooden beast that stirs my guts and flesh, reminding me of my own voice.

I was playing the daxophone and arbrasson with MaxMSP at the Experiments in Electronic Sound Festival (EESF) 2025, CalArts, Valencia, CA. I played the arbrasson acoustically and only hooked up the daxophone with my computer. I wanted to start without speaker and only focus on the reflection and resonance of the space. I was thinking a lot about how my gesture and sound could make us aware of the space that we all situated.

Making a daxophone

The tongue, which is the main body of daxophone, is cut by CNC machine. The sound is different depending on the type of wood, shape, thickness, and the edge of the wood. The daxophone is attached with the wood block that has two contact mic embedded inside and hooked up with a 1/4" stereo jack, playing with the dax and a cello bow. I was working in Daniel Fishkin's studio in New York, helping with sanding and oiling the daxophone.