'Silent' concert causes mood swings

The concert is on at the metropolitan cathedral

Guests at a piano recital in Liverpool could become nauseous when they "feel" parts of the performance rather than hear them.

A team of musicians, scientists and psychologists, are preparing the show which is taking place on Thursday.

The audience will be blasted with inaudible sound vibrations, which could cause them to feel a range of emotions.

The infrasound vibrations at the "Soundless Music" event in the city's Metropolitan Cathedral will be emitted by an ultra-low loudspeaker in a 12 metre-long drainpipe.

The contraption will send out subtle vibrations at certain moments during a 50-minute recital by Russian pianist Evgenia Chudinovich.

Reactions can range from a feeling of awe to feeling quite ill

Dr Richard Wiseman

Sarah Angliss, engineer and composer, said church organists had long believed in the mood-enhancing effects of infrasound.

"This is not a new phenomenon," she said. "Organists have known about infrasound for 250 years and they throw it in when they play extremely grand, high-octane organ music.

"We have tried to create a purer, electronic version of that. We want to know how it works and why it works.

'No vomiting'

"Anyone is welcome to come along. [However] it may be a damp squib or it may leave people feeling profoundly moved."

Psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman said he expected mainly positive reactions to the experiment that has been funded by The Wellcome Trust-backed Sciart Consortium.

"Reactions can range from a feeling of awe to feeling quite ill," he said.

"This recital is in a cathedral and it is accompanied by some pretty pleasant music so I expect the reactions to be positive. We don't want people vomiting."

The concert is part of a two-day event in the city, which also involves Liverpool John Moores University and the school of Art and Design.