Amplified palette designed and built by Hal Rammel.
Pinhole photograph by Hal Rammel of welded steel sculpture by Lillian Rammel. Silver gelatin print, 8" x 10."
Careless photograph by Hal Rammel. Silver gelatin print, 6" x 6."
The Amplified Palette: A History in Pictures (Penumbra Music, 2016) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the invention and exploration of this unique musical instrument first designed and built by Hal Rammel in 1991. The amplified palette is a thin wooden board fashioned in the shape of an artist’s palette and outfitted with a contact mic and numerous vertically-mounted wood and metal rods and played with a variety of uniquely designed bows and mallets. The amplified palette produces an astonishing array of sounds as noted in Christopher Burns introductory essay: “Onomatopoeia can’t do the palettes justice: grunting, crying, keening, chiming, pealing, clanging, sawing, sizzling, and scraping barely begin to suggest the range of timbres, or to express their depth and intricacy.”
This collection of photographs, studies in complex vibratory motion, by Hal Rammel were taken using a kaleidophone, an optical toy first described in 1827 by British inventor Charles Wheatstone. The introductory essay by Hal Rammel outlines the history of Charles Wheatstone’s research and the method of these new photographs.
Photographs of wild grape vine tendrils and their shadows in winter light by Hal Rammel., 2019.
Duo improvisation by Matt Turner (cello) and Hal Rammel (amplified palette). Penumbra Music CD017.