Serinette

Serinettes were obscure mechanical musical instruments of the family of barrel organs from the 18th century. During that time, french aristocrats used these devices to teach captive canaries to sing popular melodies.

The instrument consisted of a small wooden box containing a cylinder with metal pins and coded melodies. The cylinder was actioned by rotating a crank on the front of the instrument, which pumped air into a set of metal pipes. With the cylinder turn, the pins lifted an inner valve to let the air into the pipes, thus producing the song.

Recovering the materials and the idea of an instrument capable of generating a cyclical sequence of pitches, these new Serinettes add the possibilities of electronic sound generation. The modules represent a first step in exploring how traditional handcrafting techniques and electronic circuitry could coexist in the same object.