The Molly Project: Completed But Not Finished

Sometime last year I decided that I wanted to build another pipe organ. Something happened to further reinvent that goal when I was recently approached to do a project for a friend who had started an indie folk band with her boyfriend.

Her name is Molly. She uses her background as a professional dancer to provide their music with percussion through dance. His name is Chase, and he is a music teacher with the public school system here in Minneapolis.

Molly approached me with a completely unique idea, and asked me what I thought about building a portable hollow box that could act as a combination dance floor and percussion device during their recording and performance sessions.

We talked over a lot of potential design criteria, and basically settled on the following.

1. The top had to be made of oak for its resonant qualities.
2. The box had to be as light as possible so that Molly could help move it from place to place.
3. The box had to reflect my standards of fine woodworking.
4. The box had to have an access hole for a microphone.

We discussed methods for maybe tuning the box like a drum. That led me to include two outer holes on the back that could be opened or closed with tuning slides held in place with turned knobs. They actually work too. The tone of the box becomes deeper and more resonant as the slides are opened.

I completed the project this past weekend. The band now has percussion provided through dance. The band is called THE SUMMER COATS, and they are writing and recording their own music. I am excited to hear their first songs, and in addition, equally excited for them as they plan their first tour in July.

This project for me is similar to building a pipe organ in that although my part of it is competed, the project itself is not finished. It now will do something that maybe hasn't been done in some way before. It will provide listeners with a unique musical experience. That is what is so great about building a functional object no matter what it is. That it will be used to do something. That something in this case is to make new music.