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Fireworks and Music
Probably one of the neatest things that can be done with fireworks is choreographing them to music. This is done with “e-matches” and a computer controlled electrical firing unit to make sure that the items ignite on time. Unfortunately these systems are expensive and are not available with software for consumer items. Hmm, there’s an idea write a program for electrically igniting consumer fireworks for use with choreographing them to music.
Since computer controlled firing units are not
designed for consumer shows, we are going to explain how you can choreograph
your own consumer firework show to music without the aid of the computer. To
do this you are going to need to have experience with many different items
so that you have a general idea of how long each item lasts and what is the
delay on each items that you want to use in your show after you light it.
You also will have to want to devote a lot of time in planning this show,
there is a lot more involved than just randomly lighting pieces.
How Long Do You Want Your Show?
The first basic step is to decide how long you want your show to be. After
you decide on a length you have to pick out the music that you would like to
have playing in the background, that will last that long. I typical use
classical techno, classical, or patriotic music. You are not limited to this
type of music, it can be any type you want.
Familiarize Yourself With The Music
The second step is to listen to the music over and over so you have an idea
of the overall tone, volume, and intensity of the piece and where these
changes take place. This is good to do because you want to try to visualize
what you want going on during each piece of music. Being familiar with
different firework items that you are buying helps a great deal, so you can
achieve the effect that you had in mind.
Finding The Items That You Need
Once you have an idea of what music you want and what type of effects the
next step is to try to find items that will create the effect that you want.
You best bet for locating what you need is by going to a larger firework
dealer, not one of those road side stands. This is very important because
you want to have a wide selection of items to choose from. The dealer that I
work for has over 800 different items to choose from and I can normally find
an item that has the effect that I want.
It's All about The Timing
The next step in choreographing fireworks to music is working on the timing.
The best way to do this is to “rip” the music onto a computer so that you
can easily watch the timer on the screen. Listen to the music and write down
the start time of where you want your certain effects to happen. Once you
have this down on paper. You have to determine when to light each piece so
you have to subtract the delay of the fuse from the time you want the piece
to start. Knowing a lot about the items that you are purchasing or having a
large budget will help you determine when to light each item by testing
them, or from experience. The other option is that Visco burns at a rate of
an inch every 2.5 seconds.
So you can guess at how much Visco is in a piece before it actually starts, and then multiple it by the 2.5 to give you your lighting delay.
The day of the show you have two options to choose from
so that your fireworks will ignite when you want them to. The first option
is you must familiarize yourself with the music that you so you know when to
light each item. If you are going to manually light each item I recommend
using either it be done with a propane torch, or by using e-matches or
“squibs”. Either way you still need to know when to ignite each piece or
pieces. The best way to do it is by fusing all the items that you want to go
off during that piece of music are all fused together by one fuse. Also
different fuses burn at different rates so if you are unsure about how fast
the fuse you have burns cut a 12 inch piece off and light and time it to get
a time/inch. Not to mention you can use different fuses to speed or slow
down how fast it lights different items.
If you are going to manually light each item during a song you can skip the
following section.
If you are going to fuse everything together you are going to take the time
sheet you wrote up and measure along the fuse where each item is going to be
placed along that central fuse. You want to make sure that the tip of the
items fuse is where the lighting measurement was. For example if you wanted
the piece to go off on the at :10 and it has a 5 second delay after lit you
want to put the fuse of the piece at 2 inches from the beginning of the
central fuse if you are using Visco.
The central fuse will only work well if the items are
spaced within a small area of the field. If you want items be going off from
different areas on the field than you will have to use either Quick Match or
electrically fire multiple central fuses. Using the central fuse technique
will require more time to setup than just listening to the music and
manually lighting them, however you run the risk on running behind. If you
like to use stations for your show it is very similar.
To see an example of how I choreographed fireworks with music for one of the
songs in my 2003 fireworks show “Classical Thunder” The piece I used for my
example is “The Russian Dance” from The Nutcracker Suite Click on
continue. (Still Working On)