A song for Nøkken
Once upon a time it was common for us humans to sing to the rivers, lakes and waterfalls. Those were the days when Nøkken was not the fearful character that lure folks to drowning with his beautiful music. Now with the Ypsilon Bridge built like a giant Harp it will help us to sing once more to Drammneselva and restore harmony with Nøkken.
The alchemy of art and science
From dynamic analysis data of Ypsilon Bridge we identified its 1.253 Hz torsienal mode of oscillation to be the Tonal Center of the River Harp. We scaled the note eight octave to human hearing range. This gave us a 320.768 Hz pitch which we used as the Tonic (first note) to construct a musical scale that follows the harmonic progression of an Old Norwegian Singing tradition. Along the bridge deck three-axis accelerometers are installed to monitor its oscillations. The detected signals are wirelessly transmitted to these two spherical resonators on both banks of the river. Pre-recorded notes sung by local community members are programmed to interpret these oscillation modes.
Your crossing of the bridge will affect the modes therefore the chorus. The result is a River Harp chorus that is unique to Drammen, while evoking harmonic memories of the long lost tradition of singing to the rivers and lakes.
River Harmonics
The exact diameters ow the two resonators are determined by Helmholtz resonance formula calculation. The larger is tuned to the fundamental resonant period of the H2O water molecule and the smaller is tuned to that of the ice molecule. So when the chorus sings it resonates with the water- and ice-molecules in Drammenselva, securing our communication with Nøkken through his habitat in all seasons.
