The geophone, now often known as the

ocean drum The ocean drum is a percussion instrument that can produce soothing ocean sounds, invented by Olivier Messiaen. History The ocean drum was originally called the geophone. It was invented by composer and ornithologist Olivier Messiaen for his orch ...

is a

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, invented by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

for use in his large composition for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

entitled '' Des canyons aux étoiles…'' ("From the canyons to the stars…") and later appeared in his other works. It consists of a drum filled with thousands of small lead pellets, and is played by swirling it around slowly so that the noise of the pellets resembles the sound of dry shifting earth.

History

Messiaen commissioned a Parisian instrument maker to construct one to his sketches, and he carried this instrument worldwide to early performances of the piece (which was given its first performance in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

). Messiaen's wife,

Yvonne Loriod Yvonne Louise Georgette Loriod-Messiaen (; 20 January 1924 – 17 May 2010) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer, and the second wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod. Biography Loriod ...

, commented that when she and the composer first collected the new instrument from the maker in her car it made a "splendid crescendo" whenever they went around a corner. It is now commonly known as the

Pieces featuring the geophone

* '' Des canyons aux étoiles…'' by

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century. His m ...

* ''

Saint François d'Assise ''Saint François d'Assise : Scènes Franciscaines'' (English: Franciscan Scenes of Saint Francis of Assisi), or simply ''Saint François d'Assise'', is an opera in three acts and eight scenes by French composer Olivier Messiaen, who was also i ...

'' by

* ''Asyla'' by

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: '' The Tempest'' (2004), ''V ...

*''These Premises are Alarmed'' by

*''…towards a pure land'' by Jonathan Harvey *'' The Sacrifice'' by

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

*'' The Sinbadventurers'' by Benjamin Gordon, referred to in the score as

s. *''Dark Sisters'' by

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras ...

. *''The Compass'' by

Liza Lim Liza Lim (born 30 August 1966) is an Australian composer. Lim writes concert music (chamber and orchestral works) as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects. Her work reflects her int ...

, also referred to in the score as

s. *''Songs of Sailor and Sea'' by Robert W. Smith, referred to in the score as

References

* {{one source, date=November 2010 European percussion instruments French musical instruments Olivier Messiaen 20th-century percussion instruments