Idea: A Community-Powered Musical Water Park

When I was in college, I joined a band.  It was the only band I've ever joined, and it was just for a few minutes one morning.

Every Sunday an ad hoc group would form -- some Rastafarian, some street people, some hippy students, artists, and some yuppy-types would gather and "jam" together on drums and various percussion instruments ranging from sticks to pots & pans to trash can lids to cow bells.  What a thrill for me, a musically-inhibited pip-squeek, to be part of a real live musical event alongside musical geniuses.

Years later, when I was working in downtown L.A., I would walk over to a food park and buy lunch, and sit along with hundreds of strangers and watch the "dancing waters" fountain perform to music.

When I was building a community network and reading about "neighborhood development" and "community-building," the idea popped into my head to combine those two phenomena into a "community-powered" musical water park, where the play equipment - the swings, see-saws, etc. -- all contribute to the water displays, the kinetic sculptures, and the music.

I've heard of found art and kinetic art (kinetic sculpture), but this is a bit of both, with other elements.  The opportunistic, public nature of it makes it almost like "musical graffiti" with elements of water, wind, sun, socializing, civic activity, recreation, collaboration.

The "magic" of the park in my imagination is that the music would be entirely up to the people in the park.  No two days at the park would be alike: every "session" would be unique.

Some of the instruments would be easy to play -- percussion instruments, for example: simple drums or cowbells, a "wind chime" with pipes of various sizes hanging down in a row, and "hammers" operated mechanically by foot-levers or teeter-totters or pedals.  Streams of water shooting from "water cannons" could ring bells or cymbals.

Various human-powered instruments and displays could also be assisted by wind or solar-power (or wave, or small-hydro).

Cooperation and timing would be required to get the fountains working and the pipes "singing."  Some of the instruments would take several people -- a dozen or more -- to get them working, adding a bit of mystery and discovery to each visit.

Rumors would spread of new "levels" of music to be discovered.

It would be a place where all kinds of people, young and old, friends and strangers could get together to play, exercise, listen, watch, rest, perform, explore, jam, get outside, and get away from the TV and the Internet for a while.