Imagine going to a concert that recreates the soundscape of a prehistoric swamp, where each instrument in the orchestra is modeled after a different dinosaur. That could eventually be possible with an award-winning art project called Dinosaur Choir.
Seeing recreations of what dinosaurs looked like is cool enough, but scientifically plausible sounds are a little harder to figure out. Cinematic roars are probably out.
Instead, the chorus probably included bellows, booms, coos, chirps, and cries that are similar to the various noises we'd hear coming out of today's birds.
Related: Ancient Voice Box Finally Reveals How Dinosaurs May Have Sounded
Dinosaur Choir is designed to recreate these ancient animals as musical instruments. The project was developed by artist and musician Courtney Brown at Southern Methodist University in Texas, and industrial designer Cezary Gajewski at the University of Alberta in Canada.
The first performer is Corythosaurus, a late-Cretaceous herbivore that sported a prominent crest on top of its head. It's thought that the animal could blow air through the crest's passageways to create loud, deep sounds to attract mates or warn others of predators.
The first Dinosaur Choir instrument recreates the complex tubes and chambers in Corythosaurus crests, based on CT scans of fossilized skulls. While it's gone through several iterations, the current version is a 3D-printed replica of the crest, containing a digital voice box and a speaker.
A connected camera and microphone pick up vibrations and mouth shapes from users, changing the sound that resonates through the crest.
Corythosaurus is just the first member of the choir: the next one Brown wants to introduce is an ankylosaur, an armored dinosaur whose surprisingly bird-like voice box was recently described in detail.
"Our vision is an entire Dinosaur Choir, leading to social participatory musical experiences and ensemble musical works, learning and experiencing together music, dinosaurs, technology, and science," Brown explains on the project's webpage.