The Amplified Palette: A History in Pictures

Author: Hal Rammel

Photographs: Tim Ladwig, Debra E. Levie, Gina Litherland, Wilhelm Matthies, and Hal Rammel 

Publisher: Penumbra Music & Books (2016)

The Amplified Palette: A History in Pictures (Penumbra Music, 2016) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the invention and exploration of this unique musical instrument first designed and built by Hal Rammel in 1991. The amplified palette is a thin wooden board fashioned in the shape of an artist’s palette and outfitted with a contact mic and numerous vertically-mounted wood and metal rods and played with a variety of uniquely designed bows and mallets. The amplified palette produces an astonishing array of sounds as noted in Christopher Burns introductory essay: “Onomatopoeia can’t do the palettes justice: grunting, crying, keening, chiming, pealing, clanging, sawing, sizzling, and scraping barely begin to suggest the range of timbres, or to express their depth and intricacy.”