The inspiration hit me driving on the highway and rolling over different types of pavement. Sometimes it was relatively silent except for the noise of the wind over the car. Other times, there was what seemed to be a soft constant musical note, almost a whistle, which I presumed was some kind of vibration induced by the tires, pavement, and the suspension. If I sped up a bit, the pitch got a little higher, and a little lower if I slowed down. Also, when the pavement changed, the tone would change.
And then I realized I can make music with my car and the right stretch of highway. And I thought about how it might work. Driving over a uniform pavement, I could make my car into a kind of slide whistle, moving up and down the scale by using the gas and brakes. Kind of limiting, in that I wouldn’t be able to play any sharply defined notes in rapid sequence.
That’s when I had my second revelation. I could build a road with “tuned” concrete sections, and as I pass over each section the notes would change much more quickly. One advantage would be that I could make music by simply driving at a constant speed.
And then I thought of the big disadvantage. I would need to build a road, probably miles long, for each song.
Oh yeah, and the other disadvantage in any of these scenarios is that only 4 or 5 people at most could hear the music – only those people who could fit in my car could hear it. And I say ‘at most’ because it’s possible that increasing the load in the vehicle could change the tone of the car and ruin the music. So it’s possible the only audience to a song would be the driver.
But then some other cool ideas popped up. If I make the road with two differing pavements on the driver and passenger sides, I could play two tone “chords”. And then I realized I could make a road with multiple lanes, each tuned to a different note, and I could play anything (theoretically) by rapid lane changes.
Anyway, I’m looking for investors. I’m thinking 4 or 5 billion dollars ought to do it. It would involve buying lots of land to build the roads on, and a lot of experimentation with concrete (and asphalt, and whatever other materials might work). I would expect to have to build and re-build and build again a bunch of test roads before I find the right mixes.
If it works, I will allow my investors two benefits. First, they can vote on the first piece of music to perform; and second, each one can drive the car over the music road so they can hear the music.
Anyone interested?
