Water Sound Images: The Creative Music of the Universe (review)

Water Sound Images: The Creative Music of the Universe is a visually stunning book. The graphic layout and design are superb, with hundreds of full-color illustrations to complement the text.

Lauterwasser has drawn heavily on the work of Ernst Chladni and Hans Jenny, both to produce this body of work and as a basis of his own extensive research. This research involves "projecting audible sound frequencies into small samples of water" so that "delicate patterns emerge, whose structures mirror those found throughout the natural world." Sound may also be used to excite a metal plate; as the frequency increases, so too does the complexity of the sound images. Figure 37 (pp. 44-45) features a series of over 200 small images; their complexity and beauty is quite astonishing.

The book includes an introduction, epilogue, index, bibliography and five chapters as follows. Chapter 1, "Cosmogenesis and Sound," discusses the mythological and philosophical attributes of sound, especially in connection with the creation of the universe. In Chapter 2, "Vibrations and Sound," Lauterwasser looks at the phenomenological and physical nature of sound vibrations. Chapter 3, "Chladni Sound Figures," features the pioneering work of Ernst Chladni and includes numerous quality reproductions of his work. The chapter discusses "Oscillating Plates," "Resonating Bodies" and "Resonating Life." Chapter 4, "Water-Sound-Images," discusses and presents "Resonating Water-Drops," "Standing Waves" and "Self-Organization and Form-Giving." Chapter 5, "Water-Sound-Images (created by music)," as the title suggests, covers images created by music. Mozart, Tibetan monks and many other examples are drawn upon as Lauterwasser weaves his story of the connection that sound vibration has to all life.

This book is difficult to pigeonhole. As a coffee-table production, it is outstanding, but it is far more than just a superficial gloss on the production of sound images; however, it does not quite gel as an in-depth study. I found the excessive use of quotations very irritating, as they are interspersed heavily throughout the text on virtually every page. Given the research Lauterwasser has done, I feel the book could have been improved, or at least become more suitable for a wider audience, if Lauterwasser had used his own words more and simply acknowledged sources rather than quoting in full ad nauseam.

That criticism aside, I think the book will appeal to a wide audience, including artists, cosmologists, philosophers, students and all those with a curiosity as to our connection with the visible and normally invisible world around us. The book is inspiring and an excellent resource for further study and experimentation.

Lauterwasser has been interested in the patterns and shapes found in nature for many years; his encounter with Chladni images was a kind of epiphany. In his own words, "My first encounter with Chladni figures triggered something like an experience of resonance and I felt that the key to a deeper understanding of the process of 'taking shape' lay hidden in these phenomena" (p. 165). This book certainly leaves one with a sense of awe at the hidden processes of nature.