IL VIOLINO TELA DI RAGNO
LUCA ALESSANDRINI GRADUATO GRAZIE AL VIOLINO " TELA DI RAGNO " REALIZZATO CON LA COLLABORAZIONE DI ANLAI
Violino di seta di ragno premiato a Londra
L'invenzione è dello studente Luca Alessandrini con la collaborazione dell'Anlai di Cremona
CREMONA - Uno studente italiano che ha inventato un violino fatto di seta di ragno ha vinto il premio per lo studente internazionale più innovativo di Londra organizzato da London & Partners, la società di promozione ufficiale della capitale. Si tratta di Luca Alessandrini, un trentenne di Urbino che si è laureato in Italia ed ha conseguito un doppiomaster all’Imperial College di Londra. Il giovane ha battuto centinaia di concorrenti provenienti da 49 Paesi con la sua creazione, uno strumento musicale composto da seta di ragno e resina. Quando viene suonato, la seta fa vibrare la cassa emettendo un suono chepuò esseremodificato variando in modo esatto la fusione dei due materiali. La combinazione della seta e della resina infatti produce un unico tono che può venir alterato modificando le quantità dei due componenti originali. Un grande contributo è venuto ad Alessandrini dall'Anlai di Cremona, dai maestri liutai cremonesi in particolare Elisabetta Giordano, Massimo Ardoli, Davide Sora, Federico Fiora, ma anche Giorgio Scolari, Massimo Negroni, l'Academia Cremonensis oltre ai membri del direttivo Anlai Salvatore Dugo, Roberto Villa e ovviamente il presidente Gualtiero Nicolini.
http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classical_music/violin-created-using-spiders-silk/
http://www.classicfm.com/instruments/violin/features/spider-silk/#c2CsKI8hhpFuAZUY.97
http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/news/violin-crafted-aussie-spiders-silk
http://www.labonline.com.au/content/research-development/news/a-violin-made-from-spider-silk-395329911
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/plucky-pioneer-builds-violin-from-spider-silk-b0nrs6c66
http://www.thestrad.com/cpt-latests/new-prototype-violin-made-with-spiders-silk/
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_21-6-2016-11-31-18
http://podtail.com/podcast/best-of-today/what-does-a-spider-silk-violin-sound-like/
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/unique-violin
http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2016/06/24/engineering-student-creates-a-violin-prototype-made-from-spiders-silk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36598665
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07gndw9
Prototype violin crafted from Aussie spiders' silk
Move over Stradivarius! Spider-varius instrument is made from silk spun by the Australian Golden Orb Spider.
Vibrations in webs alert spiders to captured prey, but now a postgraduate student at the Dyson School of Design and Engineering at Imperial College in the UK has harnessed the acoustic properties of spiders’ silk to create a new kind of violin. Luca Alessandrini built his prototype instrument using a composite material made from spider silk fibres mixed with a binding agent. The silk of the Australian Golden Orb spider was chosen as it is one of the strongest in the world. In addition to the silk fibres, Alessandrini’s violin features three strands of golden silk embedded in the instrument’s top side.
“The amazing properties of spider’s silk mean that it serves many purposes,” Alessandrini said “It’s a home, a net for catching food and a means of communicating – via vibrations – when prey is ready to be pounced on and devoured. Spiders’ silk has only previously been exploited as string in bows for instruments, but I’ve discovered that the amazing resonating property of spiders’ silk has massive potential uses in instruments themselves.”
Luca Alessandrini with his prototype spider violin
Differences in the way the silk fibres are mixed with the binding agent subtly affect the acoustics of the instrument, allowing Alessandrini to potentially engineer violins with a variety of predetermined tones and sonorities. Alessandrini’s research into the acoustic properties of composite materials could also have ramifications for the manufacturing of audio technology such as speakers, amplifiers and headphones.
This isn’t the first time spiders’ silk has been used in instrument making. Japanese researcher Shigeyoshi Osaki, a professor at Nara Medical University in Honshu used the silk from hundreds of Nephila Maculates (another species of Golden Orb spiders) to craft a set of violin strings in 2012. This is the first time, however, that silk fibres have been used to construct the body of a violin.
The Golden Orb Spider
Alessandrini worked with Italian violin making association, Associazione Nazionale Liutai Artistici Italiani to create his prototype. The association’s founder, Gualtiero Nicolini, put Alessandrini in touch with 20 violin makers and luthiers in the city of Cremona – birthplace of Antonio Stradivari. Alessandrini has now patented his technology and plans to use more sophisticated technologies and modelling processes to manufacture instruments. He is looking for partners in his start-up business and predicts his violins will be on the market by 2017.
He showed his prototype instrument to British violinist Peter Sheppard Skaerved. “I have been working with great violinists my entire career,” said Skaerved, “and I have been in discussions with makers and players about the limited capabilities of other manmade materials such as carbon fibre. These have not seemed to offer the organic subtleties of wood. My encounter with the prototype instrument developed by Luca has filled me with excitement. This approach offers a tremendous opportunity to move forward instrument making, using new materials in a way I have long hoped.”
Keywords
A visionary scientist has made a violin with spider silk - and it sounds extraordinary
Violin created using spiders’ silk
11:21, 21st June 2016
A new violin has been created which exploits the resonating properties of spiders’ silk.
Luca Alessandrini, a postgraduate from the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London, created a violin from a composite material, impregnating its top side with three strands of golden silk (one of the strongest in the world) spun by an Australian Golden Orb Spider.
Photo: Stuart Humphreys
When played, the spiders’ silk vibrates the violin’s composite casing (a phenomenon known as propagation velocity).
The different fibres from which the violin is made, combined with the method of mixing them together, enabled Alessandrini to engineer the instrument’s propagation velocity.
This technique could be used to customise the acoustics of any musical instruments, or applied to the manufacturing process of other products such as speakers, amplifiers and headphones.
‘The amazing properties of spider’s silk mean that it serves many purposes,’ Alessandrini said. ‘Spiders’ silk has only previously been exploited as string in bows for instruments, but I’ve discovered that the amazing resonating property of spiders’ silk has massive potential uses in instruments themselves.’
Alessandrini developed his prototype violin in conjunction with the Associazione Nazionale Liutai Artistici Italiani. Its founder, Gualtiero Nicolini, put him in contact with 20 of the world’s leading luthiers in Cremona, Italy.
Peter Sheppard Skaerved said: ‘My encounter with the prototype instrument developed by Luca has filled me with excitement. This approach offers a tremendous opportunity to move forward instrument making, using new materials in a way I have long hoped.’
Alessandrini now plans to use more sophisticated technologies and modelling processes in the manufacturing process, and is establishing a start-up business. He predicts the technology will be in the marketplace by 2017.
The violin will go on exhibit at the Imperial Final Show 2016, 6 July; ShowRCA, 26 June – 3 July and the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, 4 July – 10 July 2016.
Il violino tela di ragno costruito grazie all'Anlai
By Tim Edwards, 23rd June 2016, 09:21
Australian golden orb spiders use their silk to communicate - and now, apparently, to make violins sound beautiful.
An engineering student from Imperial College London has built aviolin with a composite that incorporates spiders’ silk. The new material could allow the acoustics of instruments and sound equipment to be customised with a degree of control that is difficult with other modern material such as carbon fibre.
Luca Alessandrini, a postgraduate from the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College, made his violin out of a mixture of silkworm silk and resin, impregnating the top side of the instrumentwith three strands of golden silk, spun by an Australian golden orb spider.
According to Alessandrini, when the violin is played, the spider silk vibrates the instrument’s composite casing, emitting a sound which can be customised by tweaking the exact blend of the material.
This flexibility means that Alessandrini’s composite material can be adjusted and used in a number of acoustic products such as speakers, amplifiers and headphones.
Listen to 'Hava Nagila' on spider-silk violins:
What do the experts think?
Alessandrini developed his prototype violin in conjunction with the Associazione Nazionale Liutai Artistici Italiani, one of the world’s most influential violin making associations. He consulted 20 of the world’s leading violin makers in Cremona, Italy, the birthplace of Antonio Stradivari, creator of the world-famous Stradivarius violin.
Peter Sheppard Skaerved, a Grammy nominated violinist and Viotti Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music in London, has high hopes for the spider web composite as an instrument-making material. Sheppard Skaerved has been unimpressed with other modern materials such as carbon fibre because they “have not seemed to offer the organic subtleties of wood”.
However, the spider web violin, he says, “has filled me with excitement”.
“This approach offers a tremendous opportunity to move forward instrument making, using new materials in a way I have long hoped.”
Want to see the spider silk violin in the flesh?
Alessandrini hopes to roll out the technology commercially in 2017. You can see the violin in the flesh at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition from 4-10 July 2016.
Alcuni lo chiamano Spiderlin, altri SpiderVarius. Non è un normale violino, ma un nuovo tipo di violino che sfrutta le proprietà di risonanza della seta dei ragni. A realizzarlo è stato Luca Alessandrini, ricercatore presso la Dyson School of Design Engineering dell’Imperial College di Londra, che ha creato il prototipo utilizzando un materiale composito a base di fibre di seta di ragno mescolate con un legante. La scelta è caduta sulla seta del ragno australiano dorato del globo, fra le più forti al mondo. Oltre alle fibre di seta dell’aracnide, il violino di Alessandrini dispone di tre fili di seta dorata incorporati nel lato superiore dello strumento.
“La seta di ragno ha proprietà sorprendenti – spiega Alessandrini – E ‘una casa, una rete per la cattura di cibo e un mezzo di comunicazione – tramite vibrazioni. In precedenza era stata sfruttata come stringa di archi per strumenti, ma ho scoperto che le sue straordinarie proprietà di risonanza hanno enormi possibilità di utilizzo per la realizzazioni degli strumenti stessi”.
Non è la prima volta, infatti, che la seta dei ragni viene utilizzata in liuteria. Nel 2012 un ricercatore giapponese aveva creato una serie di corde di violino. Questa è invece la prima volta che le fibre di seta si usano per costruire l’intero corpo di un violino.
Il modo in cui le fibre di seta vengono miscelate con il legante influenza l’acustica dello strumento, permettendo di donare ai violini una varietà di toni e sonorità ancora più ampia. La ricerca di Alessandrini sulle proprietà acustiche dei materiali compositi potrebbe anche avere implicazioni per la produzione di tecnologia audio come altoparlanti, amplificatori e cuffie.
Il giovane ricercatore ha sviluppato il suo prototipo di violino in collaborazione con l’Associazione Nazionale Liutai Artistici Italiani. Il suo fondatore, Gualtiero Nicolini, lo ha messo in contatto con 20 dei liutai più importanti del mondo, attivi a Cremona, non a caso luogo di nascita di Antonio Stradivari. Ha anche mostrato il suo prototipo al violinista britannico Peter Sheppard Skaerved, che si è detto entusiasta.
Alessandrini, che ha brevettato la sua tecnologia, ha ora intenzione di sviluppare i processi di modellazione per la fabbricazione degli strumenti, mentre è già alla ricerca di partner per la sua attività di start-up e prevede che i suoi violini siano sul mercato entro il 2017.
Dopo la presentazione al Royal College of Art di Londra, il violino andrà in mostra, fra l’altro, prossimamente, all’Imperial Final Show, e alla Royal Science Society Exhibition.
What does a spider silk violin sound like?
22 June 2016 Last updated at 13:49 BST
A violin made using materials including spiders' silk has been developed at Imperial College London.
But does it sound differe
New prototype violin made with spiders’ silk
The composite material, which uses the silk’s vibrating properties, has been developed at Imperial College London
A composite material including spiders’ silk has been developed at Imperial College London and used to make two violin prototypes.
Luca Alessandrini, a postgraduate from the Dyson School of Design Engineering, developed the material, which was used to make the violins by carbon instrument specialists, mezzo-forte Stringed Instruments and CarbonKlang. The violins feature three strands of golden silk, spun by an Australian Golden Orb Spider, in their top side.
‘The amazing properties of spider’s silk mean that it serves many purposes,’ said Alessandrini. ‘It’s a home, a net for catching food and a means of communicating – via vibrations – when prey is ready to be pounced on and devoured. Spiders’ silk has only previously been exploited as string in bows for instruments, but I’ve discovered that the amazing resonating property of spiders’ silk has massive potential uses in instruments themselves.’
The composite material of silk fibres and a binding agent can be mixed to customise different sounds and theoretically could be used to improve or vary the acoustic properties of any number of instruments.
Alessandrini developed his material in conjunction with the Associazione Nazionale Liutai Artistici Italiani. He also showed the violins to Royal Academy of Music, London professor Peter Sheppard Skaerved, who commented:
‘I have been working with great violinists my entire career and I have been in discussions with makers and players about the limited capabilities of other manmade materials such as carbon fibre. These have not seemed to offer the organic subtleties of wood. My encounter with the prototype instrument developed by Luca has filled me with excitement. This approach offers a tremendous opportunity to move forward instrument making, using new materials in a way I have long hoped.’
Grazie a un accordo con l’ANLAI, un esperimento unico al mondo per realizzare strumenti con “biomateriali” alternativi
IL PROTOTIPO DELLO STRUMENTO REALIZZATO IN SINERGIA CON DUE COLLEGE INGLESI VERRÀ PRESENTATO IL 21 GIUGNO NELLA CAPITALE BRITANNICA
di Federico Centenari
E va bene che un tempo le corde erano realizzate in budello animale. E va bene la leggenda delle corde in budello di gatto – e da qui lo strano rapporto tra il violino e i felini. Ma un violino, lo strumento in sé, è pur sempre dal legno che nasce. Più o meno pregiato a seconda del “target” cui si rivolge il prodotto, ma sempre di legno si tratta.
Con quali altri “biomateriali” possa essere costruito lo strumento che ha in Cremona e nella sua tradizione liutaria i suoi picchi d’eccellenza, ce lo dimostrerà Luca Alessandrini. O meglio, lo dimostrerà il 21 giugno
a Londra a conclusione di una sperimentazione resa possibile dall’ANLAI (Associazione Nazionale Liuteria Artistica Italiana) di Cremona.
Già, perché nasce qui, nell’alveo dell’ANLAI, il violino
del futuro, a metà tra provocazione e sperimentazione. Con buona pace dei puristi.
Luca Alessandrini è uno studente fuori dall’ordinario. Originario di Rimini e allievo del “double master” inInnovation Design Engineering all’Imperial College e presso il Royal College of Art di Londra, da tempo sogna di applicare l’innovazione più spinta alla tradizione. L’idea di coniugare l’arte liutaria alla ricerca tecnologica applicata a particolari biomateriali è stata a suo tempo approvata dai due college inglesi presso i quali studia Alessandrini.
A quel punto, a chi rivolgersi per ottenere il know-how e la necessaria esperienza in campo liutario per tradurre in realtà il progetto? All’ANLAI, realtà di importanza internazionale, nata a Cremona nel 2000 e – guarda caso – apprezzata in tutto il mondo salvo che, nella giusta misura, nella sua città natale.
Nei mesi scorsi, l’ANLAI ha stretto con Alessandrini un accordo in base al quale l’associazione, tramite maestri liutai e studiosi esperti di costruzione di strumenti ad arco così come di tecnologia del legno, «si
impegna a dare al dott. Alessandrini il supporto necessario per consentirgli di esplorare le proprietà acustiche dei biomateriali da lui ideati e con i quali giungere alla costruzione di un violino o di altri strumenti con nuovi materiali».
Dal canto suo, l’ANLAI ottiene dall’accordo la giusta eco internazionale tramite l’Imperial College e il Royal College of Art di Londra.
Ora, sull’esperimento – unico a livello mondiale – vige il massimo riserbo, come era naturale aspettarsi. Si sa soltanto che un paio di prototipi del “violino del futuro” sono già stati realizzati, ma che sarà il terzo prototipo ad essere presentato ufficialmente, insieme con i risultati della ricerca, il 21 giugno a Londra. Top secret anche i biomateriali utilizzati da Alessandrini, sebbene si sappia che per un prototipo è stata realizzata una particolare struttura in carbonio.
Al di là di questo e al di là delle battute sui puristi, resta l’importanza di uno studio che, ancora una volta, passa per Cremona e per la sua unicità liutaria. Un patrimonio che, come può suo malgrado testimoniare l’ANLAI, troppo spesso ci viene riconosciuto e valorizzato da ogni parte del mondo, salvo che in questa città. Città dalla quale, proprio perché poco considerata, la stessa ANLAI vorrebbe addirittura trasferirsi, come recentemente deliberato dal suo Consiglio.
COSA È L’ANLAI – Dal sito ufficiale dell’associazione, ecco due note sull’ANLAI. «ANLAI è stata fondata nel 2000 a Cremona dal Professor Gualtiero Nicolini con un gruppo di amici e nasce come associazione culturale per la diffusione e la promozione della liuteria italiana. Oggi l’Associazione, che annovera fra i suoi soci molti nomi prestigiosi fra maestri liutai, musicisti e studiosi, ha preso il nome di Associazione Nazionale Liuteria Artistica Italiana da quella fondata nei primi del novecento a Santa Cecilia di Roma dai più grandi liutai dell’epoca. Le attività culturali di ANLAI hanno sempre come obiettivo la valorizzazione delle scuole di liuteria italiane e la diffusione della liuteria antica e moderna sia in Italia sia nel mondo».
IL VIOLINO TELA DI RAGNO ANLAI PRESENTATO A LONDRA
A violin made from a composite material that includes spiders'
silk, which enables its acoustics to be customised, has been developed at Imperial.
Spiders’ silk is strong and elastic. When a creature is caught in a web and is struggling
to get free the web resonates or vibrates, sending the spider a message that it needs to swiftly scuttle across the web and make a meal out of its prey.
Now, Luca Alessandrini, a postgraduate from the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial, has
developed a composite material and made a prototype violin, which exploits the resonating properties of spiders’ silk. He impregnated the violin’s top side with three strands of golden silk, spun by an Australian Golden Orb Spider.
Watch: Japanese scientist creates violin strings from spider silk nt from a traditional wood violin?
Designer Luca Alessandrini, from the Dyson School of Design Engineering at the college, and violinist Johanna Burnheart put the violin to the test on the Today programme.
Luca Alessandrini and his composite violin
When played, the spiders’
silk vibrates the violin’s composite casing, which is emitted as sound. In the musical world this phenomenon is called propagation velocity. Instrument makers spend their entire lives experimenting with different types of wood and alternative materials
such as carbon fibre to exploit this phenomenon in order to improve or vary the acoustic properties of instruments.
The composite material also consists of silk and a binding agent. The different fibres combined with the method of mixing them together
enables Alessandrini to engineer the propagation velocity in his composite material. The advantage of this is that the acoustics of any musical instruments could be customised, depending on the sound that is required.
Golden strands of spiders' silk
impregnated in the casing
This approach to making composite material with customisable acoustics could also be applied to the manufacturing process of other products such as speakers, amplifiers and headphones.
Alessandrini said: “The amazing properties of spider’s silk mean that it serves many purposes. It’s a home, a net for catching food and a means of communicating - via vibrations - when prey is ready to be pounced on and devoured. Spiders’
silk has only previously been exploited as string in bows for instruments, but I’ve discovered that the amazing resonating property of spiders’ silk has massive potential uses in instruments themselves.”
Alessandrini developed his prototype
violin in conjunction with the Associazione Nazionale Liutai Artistici Italiani, one of the world’s most influential violin making associations. Its founder, Gualtiero Nicolini, put him in contact with 20 of the world’s leading violin makers and
musical instrument repairers called luthiers in the City of Cremona, Italy. Home to more than 400 instrument makers, Cremona is the birthplace of Antonio Stradivari (1644 – 1737), creator of the world-famous Stradivarius violin.
Alessandrini has
also showcased the violin to Peter Sheppard Skaerved, a Grammy nominated violinist and Viotti Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Sheppard Skaerved said: “I have been working with great violinists my entire career and I have been in
discussions with makers and players about the limited capabilities of other manmade materials such as carbon fibre. These have not seemed to offer the organic subtleties of wood. My encounter with the prototype instrument developed by Luca has filled me with
excitement. This approach offers a tremendous opportunity to move forward instrument making, using new materials in a way I have long hoped.”
The Golden Orb spiders’ silk was sourced from Professor Fritz Vollrath, from the Department of Zoology
at Oxford University. One of the main reasons for choosing this silk is that it is one of the strongest in the world.
The technology was patented in June 2016. The next steps will see Alessandrini using more sophisticated technologies and modelling processes
in the manufacturing process. He is also establishing a start-up business and is looking for partners. He predicts the technology will be in the marketplace by approximately 2017.
Alessandrini is a postgraduate who is doing a Masters course in Innovation
Design Engineering, which is run jointly by Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. The violin will go on exhibit at the Imperial Final Show 2016, 6 July 2016; ShowRCA, 26 June to 3 July and the Royal Society
Summer Science Exhibition, 4 July to 10 July 2016.
IL VIOLINO TELA DI RAGNO ANLAI
