WAVE Sound Tools
Ten years in development, the newly released WAVE Sound Tools were brought to frutiion by Richard Cooke, the inventor of the easy to play and beautiful sounding Freenotes Xylophone line, and also the founder of Harmony Park (a musical playground company) and so much more. WAVES are incredible and indestructible sound healing tools with incredible sustain and design that makes a high impact despite its seemingly simple shape.
Created with the healing practitioner and sound worker in mind, each WAVE is easy to hold in one hand, shaped specifically to be able to move it expertly around and near someone laying down on the floor or practitioner table receiving the sounds.
The central handle also allows the player to rotate and move the instrument in the air in any direction after striking with the mallet to produce its tones. These aluminum body sound plates are ideal to utilize in group sound journeys for moving around a space with ease. We have found multiple waves played at once (if multiple people are offering the sound) to be very ethereal and dreamy. Each WAVE comes with its own a playing mallet.
Perfect Fifth Pairing
Each WAVE comes in a pair of perfect fifths: A/E (lowest WAVE), C/G, D/A, E/B, or F/C (highest WAVE). The full set of 4 WAVES spans all the notes of the C major pentatonic scale, which means you can have multiple WAVES playing simultaneously in the same space and all notes will be harmonious with each other!
Listen below to the sound of each WAVE Sound Tool. The audio recordings were done with the WAVE moving around over a mic to mimic what a receiver may experience with the sound. There is a video below this to learn more about the WAVE instruments and see how they are held and played.
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTS
Low AE Wave: 23” x 16” - 2.5 lbs
CG Wave: 21” x 14” - 2 lbs
DA Wave: 20” x 13” - 1.5 lbs
EB Wave: 19.5” x 12.75” - 1 lbs
FC Wave: 19” x 12.5” - 1 lbs
Listen
Meet the Maker
Designed by grammy award winning music artist Richard Cooke, All Freenotes are made in Durango, Colorado. Listen to Freenotes founder Richard Cooke in this short inspirational TedX Talk about his work in designing interactive outdoor music playgrounds in public spaces that remove the barriers of making music for all ages in any community.
Conformity was never in the plans for Richard Cooke. Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, he studied music through voice, piano, and trumpet, but an organized band was not his calling. He went on to attend Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where the improvisation of blues and jazz re-ignited his musical fire. The freedom of improvising and teaching himself to play new instruments by ear set Richard on a happily rambling road of adventure, musical expression, and creation.
Armed with only a 10-speed bicycle, a contrabass clarinet he picked up at a pawnshop, and an unabashed enthusiasm for the vagabond lifestyle, Richard found his way to a retreat by the famed Paul Winter of the Consort jazz ensemble. Though he had not yet played his “new” clarinet, Richard let his ear and soul guide through an experimental session. There was a joy to playing when he had no expectations of himself. He overcame the constraints of self-consciousness and reveled in the freedom of spontaneous music making.
That is where the seed for Freenotes was planted. Richard eventually traded in his 10-speed for an old Volkswagen van and moved to the otherworldly landscape of Moab, Utah. In Moab, he focused his abundant energy on building instruments that would make music accessible to novices and seasoned musicians alike. Though he was blessed with talent, his mission was to bring an experiential component to music wherein anyone could step up to an instrument and play.
Richard continues to play music professionally, including collaborating with Paul Winter on the 2007 Grammy Award-winning Crestone album. His artist’s soul and wandering spirit underscore his dedication to building his instruments. It is out in the wilderness where he finds inspiration. But it is long, focused hours in the shop where he hones each prototype until it balances the appeal, the durability and the perfect pitch that will earn the name Freenotes.
