What looks like a splash toy for kids to cool themselves down with is actually a sophisticated organ, producing deep, rich, melodious songs using cool water during the summer and warm compressed air during the winter. Part of the new outdoor Teluscape park at the Ontario Science Centre, it’s the brainchild of Steve Mann, a local Toronto technologist and artist known for his pioneering efforts in wearable computers in the 90’s.

“I got the idea from defective faucets that screech” Mann tells me while jets of misting water spurt between his fingers from ¼” holes in the main, control pipe. “I thought if you had a dozen or so of defective, screechy faucets you can make that awful sound into a concert”. The music is far from the awful sound of screeching pipes and in fact offers a surprisingly deep, rich, ambient resonance that filled the air so much we had to shout at each other just to be heard. It has the large presence and sophistication of an ancient European church organ.

It’s called the “FUNTain” but Mann explains that its technical term is the Hydrolophone when it’s switched to cycle water and a Pneumatophone when the water is turned off and compressed air is forced through its pipes instead.

The Funtain is built right into the ground of the park with a series of cylindrical organ pipes that stick out of the concrete at varying heights. Less than a foot away is the main control pipe that streams out jets of water from a series of ¼” holes to a drain at the centre of the installation. The sound comes both from the pipes (the lower bass notes) and from the end hole of the control pipe itself (the higher notes). The entire fixture is made using a mixture of Type 316 surgical steel and navy brass.

There are two Funtains that each other so that their half-circle formation of pipes work to create a circular enclosure. The Funtain that Mann was using to play his music on the day of the launch has but 12 finger holes while the other one has 45 finger holes laid out like the keys of a piano. Both have as much in common with a flute or penny-whistle as they do a church organ.

The Funtain with 45 holes is obviously the more intricate instrument. “You can play very intricate jazz chords like seven flat five,” Mann tells me, “I could play “Summertime” on this for example.”

“This is a flute with 45 holes, a penny-whistle normally has eight, this has 45 and you can partially block the holes in order to change and manipulate the notes, you can make the sound droop down and sound sad if you like, when you play a chord, say C Major, C G, and E, you can bend down any of the components of the chord (by partially blocking the hole), so you can bend down the E for example and leave the C and G the same. By changing the components of the chord you can get a very intricate, a very sad, lonesome, forlorn sound that allows you to get very expressive. More so than a piano or organ where you’re just pressing levers.”

“I call it harmelody where you can combine harmony and melody in intricate fashion. On a guitar you can bend individual notes by changing the pressure of your fingers on the frets. These are soft keys in that you can push them around in so many different ways. You have direct access to the sound producing medium, in that way its like a penny-whistle, there’s no indirection of valves, in a penny-whistle you have direct access to the fluid that makes the sound and it’s the same here. Water has a heaver, darker sound, it has a nice, rich, full sound.”

Mann has a number of portable Hydrolophones that he’s designed and made and explains that he often gets together with some musician friends to hold small concerts in his studio and occasionally plays outdoors for the public. He recently held a small concert at Toronto’s Dundas square.

Mann can play his Hydrolophone quite proficiently and expressively, which is surprising when you learn that he has no musical background, has never taken music lessons or learned to play any traditional instrument. “This is the only instrument I can play” he admits.

Considering the crowd he drew for the Teluscape launch, you’d never know it.

Like everything at the Ontario Science Centre, the Funtain is open for anyone to come and play with and as part of the Teluscape outdoor park requires no admission fees. When the Funtain is running on water, as it is right now, you will get wet, so dress appropriately.

Click here for more information on Steve Mann's FUNTain instruments and installations.