Marine Harps

Marine Harps is a installation concept sounding the rhythms of the ocean. A chorus of purpose‑built instruments is placed in the intertidal borderlands where sea meets land. Some harps sense the touch of moving water across their strings to create an aquatic string orchestra, while others respond to the rise and fall of the waves, forming sea‑powered bellows that draw air like an oceanic harmonica.

Temporarily installed in shallow waters, aligned with rock platforms, sea walls, or tucked beneath wharves and jetties, Marine Harps gives voice to an ancient dialogue between the ocean and the land turning the coastline into a vast living instrument.

In-development - Ocean bellow instruments

Prototype instrument building. Reed pipes sourced from a deconstructed khaen and placed within a large bamboo pipe that acts as an oscillating water column to create a wave-driven bellow. The khaen pipes have been reconfigured in a cluster and positioned in such a way that some reeds sound on the blow and others on the draw. The large bamboo pipe is designed to be partially buried in sand with large hole cut to receive ocean waves.

First field test of bamboo instrument near Cudmirrah Reef, Shoalhaven NSW Australia.

Using a PVC pipe to test whether an oscillating water column can be used to sound a wind instrument. The PVC pipe is open at the downward ocean end and capped at the upper end. The cap has 6 holes drilled into it, each containing a single ‘tuning-pipe’ reed. The reeds face alternating directions and use different pitches to differentiate the blow and draw of the water column.

Testing the PVC ‘ocean bellows’ concept at Berrara Cove, Shoalhaven NSW Australia

A wooden variant of an oscillating water column modelled on a design used for large-scale wave energy capture. The design served as a testbed for a variety of wind instruments including: bagpipe reeds, a siren whistle, kettle whistles and a bird warbler.

Prototyping a variety of flute and whistle designs on a PVC ocean bellow

In-development - water string instruments

Concept sketches for a string-based marine harp installation using fishing rods.

Testing proof-of-concept. Audio sourced from a different location to associated image. Recorded using a hydrophone taped onto the rod to create a waterproof contact mic.

Turning ocean waves to sound waves. Early concept sketches for ocean bellow and string-based hydrolian instrument designs [Jan 2026].