In an in-depth broadcast on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud, host Dave Miller interviewed Sarah Tiedemann, artistic director of Third Angle New Music, about their groundbreaking concert production “People Into Trees” at OMSI’s Kendall Planetarium in Portland, presented in close technical and artistic collaboration with CymaSpace.
The program debuted a newly commissioned composition entitled “Spheres,” written for percussion quartet and three American Sign Language (DASL) performers. Deaf and Hard of Hearing audience members experienced the entire performance through specialized haptic vests provided by CymaSpace that translate sound frequencies and acoustic counterpoint into tangible, localized vibrations across the body.
ASL-First Composition & Haptic Score Translation
“I actually got this idea a few years ago while working with CymaSpace,” explained Tiedemann. “I hadn't interacted with people who communicate with ASL much, and I realized that it's a language in and of itself that deserves that same kind of respect, with this extra element of choreography to it.”
Rather than translating English lyrics into sign language after the fact, the piece was born directly in ASL. Composer Molly Joyce composed the musical score, and CymaSpace provided a haptic vest to Deaf poet Meg Day so they could physically feel the score during the writing process. Day then crafted the ASL poetry in direct physical dialogue with the musical rhythms and resonances.
The vests translate sound into physical sensations across different frequencies, mapping pitch variations and musical counterpoint across different contact points on the upper torso. This enables Deaf audiences to feel both melodic trajectories and the dynamic interplay between the four percussionists.
The production also featured full 360-degree dome projections inside the Kendall Planetarium, synchronized lighting, and composer Andy Akiho’s “Crimson,” which explores synesthesia and the visual translation of sound into color palettes — principles at the very core of CymaSpace’s cymatics mission.
To listen to the complete broadcast and read the full transcript, visit the original article on Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).