My name is Dickon Stone. I am a British artist based in Berlin.

Whilst using moths to sequence beats in the early stages of another project (http://www.bugboxdrummachine.com), I found myself so inspired by the process of working in collaboration with insects that I decided it might be fascinating to enlist their involvement in the making of a melodic element to stand alongside the moth-led rhythms.

This blog recounts the journey I undertook in attempting to do so. From teaming up with the Berlin Summt biodiversity initiative and a portion of Berlin's bee keeping community, to learning to keep bees myself and customising a traditional Indian sitar to accommodate them and take recordings.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

QUEEN PIPING

So Queen Piping... What can I say about that? 

Well I only just read up on it, and I may as well use the description I found in this great article "Listen To The Bees" which is well worth a read"

"The bee's anatomy is very different from ours. We use the mouth for eating, breathing and talking; the bee uses its mouth solely for food. Breathing is done through 14 tubes ranged along the thorax and abdomen, two each side of the thorax and five each side of the abdomen.
Air is drawn through the spiracle openings into the tracheae, which is the bee's equivalent of our lungs. On its way it passes through a valve which can be opened and closed by a muscle as indicated. As it exhales, the bee can vibrate this valve to produce its piping in exactly the same way that a trumpeter vibrates his lips. The frequency at which the valve operates is controlled by nerve impulses which originate from the same source that controls the wings."

Great! Listen to what that sounds like below!

Posted by Dickon Stone at 14:05

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