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SpiderHarp is a collaboration with an NSF research group of biologists and roboticists researching how spiders detect where vibrations come from in webs. Measuring spider web vibrations is extremely complicated. Oregon State Roboticist Dr. Ross Hatton built a 4-foot artificial web and robot spider to model these vibrations. Udell joined the group in 2016 with the mission to help transform the system into a musical instrument, and in doing so, greatly improve the speed and accuracy of the device. SpiderHarp has been performed at high-profile venues including as a finalist in the 2019 GA Tech Guthman New Musical Instrument Competition, and featured on PBS, Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Field Guide October 2023, Democrat Herald 2022, and Terra Research 2019.

Clare de Toile for SpiderHarp (2019)

The title is a play on Debussy’s Clare de Lune, which is appropriated prominently in this piece for SpiderHarp. The compositional approach is motivated by a goal to demonstrate the instrumental capacities of the SpiderHarp by mashing up a few familiar tunes to the audience. The piece begins with a playful nod to itself with the melody Itsy Bitsy Spider. Clare de Lune is then quoted as the second theme and point of departure for my own musical exploration of these motifs within the web of the SpiderHarp. Comparing similarities and differences based on previous familiarity of these themes hopefully provides a point of reference to better understand the unique qualities of the instrument itself. The piece was performed as a world-finalist at the Georgia Tech Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition in 2019.