The “Thermophones” project was originated by Jacques Rémus eight years ago, who initially organized several concerts and automatic installations using metal pipes that would start chanting due to the “pyrophone” sound phenomena called the Rijke effect.
Several other artists also gave some performances based on this principle using propane or hydrogen burners (Trimpin, Michel Moglia, …)

In connection with Professor Steve Garrett from Penn State University, and several researchers working in French laboratories, Jacques Rémus started developing an instrumentatrium with pipes locally heated by an electric resistance. The production of sound is a thermoacoustic effect which has generally been exploited and studied for industrial applications (far from music!).
Thermoacoustics is a young science at the interface of several disciplines: fluid mechanics, acoustics, heat transfer.

Sounds produced by thermophones are pure, deep, powerful and beautiful, and they can inspire dedicated musical writings. However from a technical point of view, there are many parameters to take into account in order to turn thermophones into musical instruments that can be controlled and used to play music.
Recently Jacques Rémus initiated a collaboration with Diana Baltean-Carlès and other researchers from LIMSI-CNRS. Together they applied and obtained a grant from the 2015 Diagonale Art and Science program.

Thermophones - English version