Floral Microtonal (2026–ongoing) – organic interventions for Lavachord
Floral Microtonal is an ongoing video series by Noah Dean Jordan exploring organic materials in direct interaction with the Lavachord, a small portable wooden acoustic keyboard instrument retuned microtonally. The project began in Tecate, Mexico, after a windstorm scattered bugambilia flowers across the residency grounds. While making self-portraits with the fallen flowers, I began to wonder what would happen if the instrument itself were covered with them.
The flowers immediately altered the instrument: they obscured the keys, changed the tactile surface of performance, made delicate dry crunching sounds when touched, and, between the strings, could dampen, trigger harmonics, catch hammers, or create subtle aleatoric prepared-piano effects. That discovery led to a wider search for materials and their different behaviors, becoming the basis of an ongoing project in which the microtonal tuning remains underneath as a supporting field while each material introduces its own instability, texture, and sound world.
Video Studies
1st Bloom: Bugambilia with Lavachord
Tecate, Baja California, Mexico — March 10, 2026
The first bloom establishes the basic discovery of the series. Fallen bugambilia flowers are placed over the keys and inside the Lavachord, where they partly conceal the keyboard, alter the feel of playing, and create a faint dry crunch when touched. Between the strings they can dampen, trigger harmonics, catch the hammers, or produce small shifting prepared-piano effects. The microtonal tuning remains underneath, but the flowers introduce a new layer of fragility, obstruction, and aleatory. Recorded at Lagos Art Residency, Tecate, Baja California, Mexico.
2nd Bloom: Chupamirto y hoja de iris con Lavachord
Tecate, Baja California, Mexico — March 14, 2026
The second bloom shifts from the fragile blanket of bugambilia to a more structural intervention. Two iris leaves are woven through the strings, where they mute certain notes and activate different harmonics, while the chupamirto (red salvia) sits more centrally as a visual and ornamental presence with only a slight sonic contribution. The interaction becomes less about obscuring the keyboard and more about shaping the interior response of the instrument itself. The base tuning is in just intonation.
3rd Bloom: Sábila seca with Lavachord
Tecate, Baja California, Mexico — 2026
With dried sábila (aloe), the project becomes much more kinetic. The material is stiff but fragile: it catches on the strings, slowly slides downward, shifts the harmonic behavior of the instrument, and at times suddenly springs loose. In other moments it falls between the hammers and is struck or crushed, producing another layer of sound. Compared with the earlier blooms, this is one of the most dynamic and interactive materials, bringing motion and instability into the center of the piece. The base tuning remains in just intonation.
4th Bloom: Enredadera con Lavachord
Tecate, Baja California, Mexico — 2026
The fourth bloom introduces fresh enredadera (vine), woven through the strings and laid across the keys. After the brittleness of dried aloe, this fresher material creates a softer and more flexible interaction: leaves catch certain harmonics, lightly damp strings or keys, and slowly shift position over time. The effect is subtler, but more continuously alive. The base tuning is a five-limit just intonation with doubled notes, creating a resonant harmonic field underneath. The enredadera was gathered in Tecate, with Cerro del Cuchumá in the background and the plant itself close to the instrument.
5th Bloom: Cactus Spines with Lavachord
Tecate, Baja California, Mexico — March 17, 2026
The fifth bloom sharpens the project considerably. Cactus spines are placed through the strings, where their stiffness and lightness allow them to catch and activate different harmonics with greater intensity than the softer materials. The interaction becomes more unstable and piercing, while suspended elements add a visual and ornamental layer around the instrument. If the vine introduced flexibility, the spines introduce tension. The base tuning is in just intonation. The materials include cactus spines and hibiscus gathered in Tecate.
6th Bloom: Lirio de la Paz Blanco /w Lavachord
Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico — March 30, 2026
In Coatepec the project shifts again, and the material is no longer simply laid into the instrument but actively played against it. Here the white lirio de la paz (peace lily) becomes a striking instrument: its central cone triggers different harmonics, while the soft petals brush and stroke other strings, creating a contrast between focused resonance and softer contact sounds. The tuning underneath is a just intonation minor structure with many doubled tones, including both 7-limit and 5-limit versions of the 3rd, 6th, and 7th. Over three days, that tuning gradually decayed, allowing another form of aleatory to enter the work and become part of the piece’s unstable sonic background.
This is white lirio de la paz from Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico.
7th Bloom: Achiote with Lavachord
Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico — March 30, 2026
The seventh bloom extends the Coatepec phase into a more textural and environmental direction. Achiote creates a delicate ASMR-like layer that evokes water and crickets through the soft contact of its spines. Those spines are then drawn along the strings, producing scraping and pulling gestures, while the seeds inside the achiote add a subtle rattling quality. Together, these three layers form a small nocturnal symphony in dialogue with the surrounding night insects. The base tuning remains in just intonation as a supporting field underneath the texture and interaction of the material.
This achiote comes from Mahuixtlan, Veracruz, Mexico.
Additional works, future studies, and related documentation will be added here as the project continues to grow across different regions and ecological environments.
Noah Dean Jordan 