The reconstruction of the entire ensemble of Harry Partch’s instruments for the European premiere of “Delusion of the Fury” at the 2013 Ruhrtriennale is almost completed. These photos show how we measured the pitch of the Cloud Chamber Bowls.

We used the Audacity audio program to do a spectral analyses of each bowl. As you can see, the first overtone for the bowls is especially present. Of course it depends on the mallet, and in the end we took harder mallets that bring out the upper partials.

Then we numbered the bowls for reference and noted their frequency. I made the mistake of writing only the fundamental frequency, when in fact for some bowls when using harder mallets the first overtone is more present. I will re-test them over the summer. This will be easier though, since we now have the frame to hang them on.

Here you see the bowls hanging in the proper frame.