Do Tree Trunks Make Music? You Betcha!

Thought the rings on tree trunks are good for just figuring out the age of the tree? Think again! A German artist has come up with an ingenious turntable that 'reads' music off tree trunk slices.

The modified music machine, called 'Years' was developed by Bartholomaus Traubeck and uses the same concept as any turntable - The only difference is that it has been overlaid with some clever technology.

The artist begins by placing a slice of bark that has been cut as thin as normal record onto a turntable. To 'read' the music, he replaced the typical needle with a PlayStation Eye, which acts like a digital camera that scans the thickness, strength, growth rate, texture and even overall color tone of the tree 'record'.

This data is fed into a computer that has been programmed with a custom software that maps it to a musical scale designed to replicate piano notes. While it may sound like most of the outcome has been pre-programmed, the artist maintains that each tree trunk produces its own unique, haunting melody - The only drawback? Each record contains just one 'song'!

Resources: Gizmag.com,treehugger.com

YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.