One Man's Trash

When people go to a concert in New York, whether to hear a jazz band at the Vanguard, an indie electronica outfit at Luxx or a symphony orchestra at Avery Fisher, there is an expectation that the musicians will somehow be separated from the audience, on a stage or some other clearly delineated space in the venue. At a Music for Homemade Instruments gig in their Bowery loft, people sit on the floor with the musicians.

There are usually a few folding chairs (including vintage wheelchairs scattered throughout) but the majority of people find a place on the carpet. Children of middle-aged hippies roll around the audience, and looking up above you see dozens of windchimes made—like most of the instruments being played—out of materials rescued from bins, bags and boxes on garbage day. It’s not unusual to find numbers from the fronts of houses, forks, gears and other unidentifiable jumbles of metal.

For more than 20 years, Skip LaPlante and his cohort of dumpster diggers, musicians and composers have been putting on these laidback shows that please everyone from toddlers to octogenarians with their unabashed creativity and ultimate weirdness. The instruments are both works of art and a triumph in the face of diminished recycling programs in the city. The members of MFHI claim to have mined from "the detritus of modern civilization," putting the plastic buckets played by subway drummers to shame by using pipes, water coolers, silverware, cardboard and even Styrofoam.

While part of the passion for LaPlante certainly lies in hunting for new materials (he humbly recounts the story of carting back several loads of piping from a Westside curb in the middle of the night), the inspiration is purely musical. Trained as a composer at Princeton when it was still under the hold of Milton Babbitt and his twelve-tone lackeys, LaPlante was particularly influenced by the work of groundbreaking instrument builder and half-cracked nut Harry Partch, and he quickly established himself as a mainstay in the microtonal community. When I visited the loft recently, he was excited to demonstrate the different moods of certain tuning systems. For example, the sweet smoothness of a 19-pitch-per-octave, equal-temperament marimba made from metal tubes and a Styrofoam base, followed by a 13-pitch example that is truly unsettling. (You can hear the difference for yourself during LaPlante’s piece 13-17-19, to be performed this weekend.)

His music and quirky style turn what could be exclusionary intellectualism into a welcoming vibe that should please both novices and the most hardcore music theory adherents. His excellent supporting ensemble of New York-based composers, instrument builders and performers assures quality and fun. Add to that 25 cups of tea from his kitchen and you’ll be ready to move in or, if the Doppler effect of the passing sirens that zip down the Bowery is too much for you, at least start looking at garbage in a whole new light.

This week’s performances feature works by LaPlante, Tom Chiu, Evan Hause, John Bertles, Michael Wall and David Simons performed on everything from a 96-note (per octave) harp, "the snake," broiler-pan gongs, four 10-foot-long flutes and the rest of the homemade menagerie.

The Saturday shows were originally scheduled for 3 and 8 p.m., but in typical MFHI fashion, the times changed at the last minute to 2 and 6 p.m.

"[Six o’clock] is so strange that it probably will work out ok," wrote LaPlante in an email to his listserv. "Either that or we’ll do a concert for several roaches and an empty Coke bottle. We’ll see."

Music for Homemade Instruments, Fri., May 9 at 8 p.m. and Sat., May 10 at 2 and 6 p.m., MFHI loft, 262 Bowery, 4th fl. (betw. Houston & Prince Sts.), 212-226-1558, $10, $5 st./s.c.