It's good to be involved

INSTRUMENTS (#1)

Revelations in the bubble organ world; I'm no longer in search of fish tank pumps.
I had been trying to figure the mechanics of making the organ work, before I started cutting and screwing; that proved to be a mistake. On reaching no certain conclusions with bubble production, I set about making a set of test pipes because I knew how to do that - consequently I made a lot of progress.

In discussion with my house-mate Sam, we concluded there was a fairly easy mathematical way to calculate the lengths. Then, wanting to get on with it, I ignored the mathematics and eye balled the sizing with the Skilsaw. I cut 4 pipes and miraculous thing occurred. They fell in tune to form a major triad and an octave. Even if that doesn't mean anything to you, listen to the video and you'll get it.

What's more, again by chance, the pipes tuning matches that of the 60Hz mains electricity in our house! So the pipes can be played along with any electrical item that hums... (unfortunately 60Hz is somewhere between an A# and a B).

Oh yes, the revelation.
On testing these pipes, I realized that the long gentle drones sound much better than the short notes, so the control of the bubbles can be fairly slow. On taking apart the fish tank pump and seeing the diaphragm, Sam and I realized a very simple solution. By cutting the bottom off of a bottle and attaching a pipe to the top, you can push the bottle into the water and bubbles come out the pipe. We drilled a hole in the side, which you can uncover to lift the bottle back up, cover the hole and push it back down. Simple.

As a musician generally only has two hands, we had to get more inventive to be able to operate many tubes at once by automating the system. Below is the sequence leading to would I hope will make the bubble organ brilliant...

This one involves pushing and a check valve, too much work.

This one has a handle with a weight on it that pivots. The weight pushes the bottle down, and the handle lifts up and down acting as a manual check valve.

The beautifully illustrated climax of this solution is below:

It is basically the same as covering the hole on the bottle and pushing down, except you let gravity do all the work. There is a weight that pushes down over the seal (like your finger covering the hole), the weight is also just heavy enough to make the bottle sink slowly into the water (like you pushing down), thus blowing bubbles out of the tube. The musician just needs to lift up the bottle when it gets to the bottom to set it going again. By lifting the handle, it opens the hole (like lifting your finger) and tadaaah, a system that works.

CHARCOT MARIE TOOTH

It's good to be involved.

Last year I went to a CMT support group for the first time. It was the first that I'd ever heard of, so I was intrigued as I had never met anyone with CMT before. I have to admit that generally I am very skeptical about support groups for a specific condition, perhaps because of betrayals in the media (such as Fight Club), perhaps with good cause. My general concern is that support groups bring together people who have time on their hands to worry about the same problem.

This is somewhat true of course, but a major turn off of approaching any organization is when you can't see yourself within its existing membership. I am writing this as an encouragement to get involved as it is the cliché that keeps the cliché. I.e. If people (like me) don't go, then people (like me) won't be there and be able to participate.

I was lucky to have found the San Mateo group (now in Los Altos) a group led by a very confident and proactive woman who now also serves on the national board of the CMTA, Elizabeth Ouellette.

As I sat down we did the ritual introductions around the room, and for the first time I not only knew the names of 20 people with CMT, but I could see who they were, what they looked like and what they thought. I was blown away by talking with a 70 year old man who's hands were just like mine, as was his walk; I had a glimpse of 20 ways this disease could pan out.

I have returned many times and my perspective and confidence around CMT has changed a lot. There have been presentations ranging from key CMTA figures (all the way up to their new CEO, David Hall) to specifically related medical practitioners. Although I have learnt a huge amount of technical knowledge, I'm surprised to admit that it is my emotional response to being there that is most remarkable.

Recently, that support group moved further South and another started up nearby in the East Bay, so I went along. I was informed that the 'support' groups had been renamed 'support and action' groups. It is a small sentiment, but the reasoning appealed to me, and here I am writing a blog and running this project. "If not you, then who?" is the CMTA's tag line on this. They are quite rightly pointing out that people with a problem should be the strongest advocates for trying to relieve it, the community should represent the community. The groups are obviously still trying to offer comfort and practical knowledge through discussion, yet their model is to find a synergy with direct action. Interestingly enough, this is where the CMTA started out.

This strategy is probably successful for the CMTA right know, because they are making great progress towards finding a cure, which results in a collective enthusiasm. However, this is all the more reason to get involved and make it happen.

I am thankful to Donna Rennie for starting the East Bay group in Walnut Creek and am sure that with her enthusiasm and all the people already involved, it will develop well. I guess this whole project is an action of that East Bay group, and will have some influence on how it forms, hopefully in a fresh and proactive manner (perhaps even a little artistic).