Music of the Spheres sonifies and visualizes the pandemic’s first two years of astrological data. Through sound, the piece reveals potential growth curves that may otherwise not be apparent.

The sounds of the 7 planets known to the ancients are linked to the explorations of Pythagoras’ Brotherhood from between 531 and 500 BCE. Their notes were ascribed to specific keys by Johannes Kepler in 1619.

In this piece, the specific keys for each planet are expressed in synthesizer, piano, accordion and Theremin, with the Max/MSP patch randomly selecting one of these instruments every time a planet is triggered in the dataset.

The dataset for both Max/MSP and p5.js is driven by the moon. In the p5.js sketch, images of the planets spawn every time the planets are triggered in the dataset coinciding with the sounds ascribed to the planets in Max/MSP.

The p5.js sketch speaks to a more materialist view, whereas the Max patch offers sound to affect the way we compose reality in one’s mind.