Joseph Bertolozzi plays the world's largest musical instrument - the Franklin D. Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge. For Joseph, a professional musician and composer, the Mid-Hudson Bridge is a myriad of vibrating surfaces waiting to be struck.
Photo Credit: Bob Rozycki, reprinted with permission, Westfair Business Publications
The composition Melt Down played on this program is from Joseph Bertolozzi's CD entitled Bridge Music, available on the Delos Label. You can learn more about Joseph's work at his web site josephbertolozzi.com.
Joseph recorded the purest tones from using contact microphones- thin Mics that picked up the vibration of the bridge without the sounds of traffic. On the left, New York State Bridge Authority laborers, Rick Warr and Dennis Haines help out by attaching the contact mics.
Blue Wings Press, reprinted with permission.
On the right, Joseph is playing the hand rails.
Bob Rozycki, reprinted with permission, Westfair Business Publications
Stay Tuned
Bridge Music launches June 6, 2009with ceremonies inaugurating the Listening Stations and the Park Radios.
Audio speakers mounted at the two Listening Stations on the bridge's towers (accessed by the northern, pedestrian sidewalk) play the music on-demand at the touch of a button. The music can also be heard 24 hours a day by tuning to 87.9FM within the parks surrounding the bridge (Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie or Johnson-Iorio Park in Highland).