FAQs

Ginkgo is a very simple and user-friendly product. It has 3 different instruments and 3 speeds. Bamboo on the other hand is much more complete and versatile. It has 128 instruments, scales, base notes and frequencies. It also has the possibility of recording music, an audio output, MIDI output and data output.

Roberto ‘Cigno’ Secchi says that “Another very evident variation is that the same plant can sound very different at different times of the day.

Some plants seem to be more active in the evening, others in the morning, and every plant emits a different and distinctive sequence of notes that does not seem to be linked to its size or type.

Often we find that little plants in pots will sing uninterruptedly all day long with clearly noticeable differences in style depending on the time of day.

(from “Music of the Plants” book)

Salvatore ‘Camaleonte’ Sanfilippo has found over and again that given the same conditions in terms of light, nutrients and care, plants that make music grow more than those that do not. To test this hypothesis, we took two cyclamens, grown from the same batch of seeds, and planted them in the same pot and then looked after them in the same way. The only difference was that one of them was connected to a musical device, while the other one was not. After a few weeks, the plant that played music had more leaves that were much bigger than those of her sister.

What stimulated this experiment was the casual observation that an Impatiens Sultanii, which used to accompany me on tour to give presentations and concerts, had grown bigger than another otherwise similar one that we had acquired at the same time, but which was always in our greenhouse. After a year, the plant that played music and travelled with me had grown twice as big as the other one. It was more complex, and had more leaves and buds. Another interesting observation is that the ‘musical’ plants tend to have more flowers, which often open just a few hours after the plant has performed.”

(from “Music of the Plants” book)

We have a wide experience of Music of the Plants played with children. We have noticed that the music is more lively and dynamic in the presence of children. They are excited by exploring this magical world of plants and it seems that they are re-discovering something that they already know.

During a few experiences in schools, sometimes the plants stopped playing when the enthusiasm of the children was too intense or they came towards the plants too fast. Plants like a more gentle and for sure a more safe approach from humans

The device that utilizes the revolutionary technology to convert the energy of plants and translate it into music contains a unique software, microcontroller, synthesizer as well as other electronic hardware. It attaches to the plant via two probes, one of which attaches to a leaf and the other by a small metal rod inserted into the soil close to the roots of the plant.

The device allows a plant to play music based upon its health, environment and general demeanor.  This is achieved by monitoring the Plants instantaneous resistance.  Depending upon the level of resistance, different notes and cadences are played, from the selected music type, allowing the plant to actually play the music.

On certain occasions, the plant’s resistance creates a spike, indicating an excited state.  This can occur due to external influences such as touch, watering, moving, etc.  Sometimes the plant can spike its resistance independently.  Whenever a spike occurs, it causes a change in notes, which may be more to the plants liking.

Because plants themselves are complex entities, their internal electrical pulsations are at the same time strong and subtle.  Our technology is capable of responding to both large and small electrical changes, and translating them into musical sound.

Thus, the device essentially becomes a musical instrument, which is played by the plant, through the plant’s electrical variations.  The natural shifts in the plant’s energy impact the quality and timbre of the music played by the plants.  The device used in translating the plant’s electrical variations into music captures and expands these complex electrical variations and translates them into different musical sounds. For example, the same electrical variation stream can be made to sound like string instruments, an organ, a brass ensemble, or the elements of a rainforest.  Regardless of the channel selected, the underlying musical progression is unique to the plant, and helps create a feeling of well-being.

According to our experience the plant has difficulty following a musician if he plays too fast or with virtuosity. We suggest to start to play with a note at a time and with a slow tempo. After the chemistry with the plant is established you can continue with a faster rhythm of more complex chords. This is something that needs to be built with constant practice and patient. Like a music group needs to play together for a long time to acquire confidence the same applies to plant-human duet

Roberto ‘Cigno’ Secchi, a musician, composer and passionate researcher into musical forms, has been interacting with different types of plants for years, leading him finally to produce an album of this music. He says: “In putting together the Music of the Plants CD, I made a selection from the different recordings with a very wide range of plants: from roses to pines, from rosemary to ficus plants, from walnut trees to simple blades of grass. So often we human beings try to interpret everything in terms of our own logic, but when we relate to the plant world, even more so than the animal world, we need to think according to an utterly different logic, one that is quite unknown to us.

We find that there is a great difference between the sounds produced by plants when they are alone and the sounds they make when human beings approach them with the intention of establishing a relationship, even without necessarily touching them.

Roses, for example, respond very well in terms of harmonic variation, and of emotional contact with people, and will produce more or less repetitive sequences that a human musician can easily join in with. Another fascinating point is that, and it can easily be heard in the Music of the Plants CD, while apparently differing only in colour, red roses play completely different notes from white roses, as if they were from planets light years apart. Chestnut trees, Birch trees and Rose-mary bushes, also, emerge as completely unpredictable.

(from “Music of the Plants” book)

You have different options to record the music  from Bamboos, there is only sound output from Gingko so you can place a phone or other recording device beside your plant music devices.

For Bamboo and Bamboo M:.

    Connect the jack smartphone cable  to record the music in your mobile or computer, using any recording APP or software.

    Use the SDHC card

    Use the MIDI output and connect your computer via USB cable.

We suggest watching the tutorial video “How to use Bamboo M with Zigola Pioppo by clicking here.

For an in-depth explanation of the use of Bamboo please see the Quick Guide Manual inside the Bamboo box or download it in our Resources section (available soon).

We have the following languages available:

• English
• German
• Italian
• Spanish
• French
• Russian
• Chinese
• Japanese

The contact between the leaf and the clip needs to be good enough to establish electrical conductivity between the two elements. Water is a very good conductor and can improve the contact. If “bad contact” appears on the device, make sure that the leaf is sufficiently moistened. You can instead use a smear of pure aloe vera gel.

When you put in contact two different elements a third layer is created in between the two made of dust, dead cells, microbubbles of air, pores. To have an excellent connecting interface you can use water that can adjust the different irregularities and increase conductivity

One sensor needs to be gently clipped on the leaf and one sensor needs to be inserted in the soil.

Remember always to moisten the leaf with some water or our specific gel before clipping the leaf. Water increases the electrical conductivity thus increases the precision of the signal.

If the device stops playing make sure that the contact with the leaf or the soil is moistened enough.

Also we suggest watching the tutorial video  “How to use Bamboo M  with Zigola Pioppo clicking here.

When getting ready to give a concert of live plant music, Secchi explains, “it’s essential to enter into harmony with the plants, but not to expect to always get the same notes.

It’s unusual for our vegetable counterparts to be that predictable. A capacity for technical and emotional empathy on the part of the musician brings quality to the concert performance and makes it something truly unique and virtually unrepeatable. When making music together with a plant using the device that we use today, there are certain factors that, as a musician, I will normally take into consideration to obtain good results. Since it is possible to preselect various musical scales, from the technical point of view I find it useful to choose, or at least know, the scale being set on the device at any given moment. This helps me to understand which tonality the impulses from the plant will be translated into, to be able to prepare myself accordingly, including in terms of the instrument I intend to use, normally a keyboard. If on the other hand I decide to use the thrill of surprise as my only inspiration, I prefer not to have this information.

(from “Music of the Plants” book)

Jean Thoby, our french partner, a nursery gardener that owns the botanic garden Plantarium, made many experiences and he says ”Yes, the sound of plants promotes the growth of other plants. We have been able to highlight not only at the Plantarium, but also at neighboring producers, that the sound of plants via plants regulates the living beings "so that they are not more pathogenic."

Most probably the contact between the clip and the leaf could be poor so you need to moisten it. Water increases the electrical conductivity.

Ensure the probe in the soil is close enough to the roots. For trees this is usually at the dripline or right beside the trunk.

Also you need to check that the device is switched on and the sensor cable is plugged in the correct socket of the device.

Apart from these technical reasons sometimes the plant does not want to play. The plant enters into an in-depth contact with its surroundings and the people inside the room or its vicinity and perceives our emotions. Lack of interest, aggressiveness or sense of distrust unavoidably affect the harmony of the atmosphere and thus the plant’s behaviour

Plants demonstrate that they can learn to interact with humans. At first, the plants ‘simply’ realize that the sounds emitted by the device are a consequence of their electric activity then they learn to modulate it to change the sounds.

More expert plants, eventually, use the sounds they modulate to interact with humans and create a real form of communication. When they interact with musicians for example, they sometimes even repeat the same scales, the same tunes and the same notes.

We have had many extraordinary experiences singing or playing with plants. 

This is an ABC radio presentation.