Ewart Sonic Tops Written Interview
For Chicago Time Out Magazine
By Douglas R. Ewart

Please can you tell me a bit more about the Sonic Tops? I hear you have over 100? How do they work, and what do you do with them? Do you make them yourself, and if so, how long does each one take to make?

Several years ago I made some tops for some of the children that reside on my street. These tops were similar to tops I built as a child growing up in Jamaica. The children became so fascinated and engrossed in playing with the tops that it set me thinking about how could I use tops in my performances as a means of getting substantive exchange between participants/performers and audiences.

I wanted to build about fifty tops but was somewhat daunted by the task of making that  many tops.  I finally said to myself, if you don't get started you will never accomplish the goal.  I began experimenting with tops that could make sounds since my work as a performer is driven my sound/music.  After making about thirty tops from bamboo and wood, I began to experiment with a plethora of  materials, shapes and sizes of tops.  I was/am particularly interested in utilizing items that are recyclable since our society discards so many useful items.
During my contemplation about a piece involving tops as the central item. I came to realize that the tops could be linked with a number of symbiotic practices, namely roller-skating, Double Dutch, dance, Tai Chi, hop scotch, Jacks, marble games, yoyos, poetry, video projection, etc. These other practices amplify, magnify and crystallize the experience of the top’s complex behaviors. I also came to the conclusion that children, adults and seniors were equally taken/fascinated with tops. In addition, I realized that tops were the perfect vehicle/foil to inveigle and instigate substantive engagement with families, diverse people and communities.

When one plays with tops, jacks, marbles, hop scotch, etc., they must get down to eyelevel with each other and the play instigates…necessitates communication, talk, teaching, showing, learning, laughter and having sustained fun. I came to understand that many parents, caregivers and guardians don’t play with their charges or they do so at a distance and with great consternation. The play with tops brakes down myriad barriers.


“Ewart Sonic Tops,” is based on the universality of tops, as nearly all cultures have developed some kind of top. Tops are magical, cosmic, mystical and beautiful. Two crucial aspects of life that tops represents and reflect are movements and vibrations, which are so paramount to our existence and survival. The imaginative conduct/behavior that tops elicit from humans is inestimable and boundless. Tops are complex in terms of the physical and metaphoric aspects that they represent regarding our planet, the solar system and the countless galaxies and universes. The uses of top-like parts in simple and complex machines/tools are numerous and have been crucial to the advancement and comfort of human life.
Yes, I have made over two hundred Ewart Sonic Tops for this work from bamboo, cups, saucers, vases, candle holders, LPs, CDs, DVDs, clarinet barrels, toilet plungers, plastic jars, bowls, globes, etc. They are launched/spun by twirling/twisting them with the thumb and index fingers, by holding the palms of the hands in vertical and parallel manner facing each other, and placing the spindle attached to the top between the palms, them in a rubbing/rolling manner twist and release the top. The tops with the longest spinning durations are spun with a string and launcher.

The tops are utilized as sound and movement generators/systems in my work. They make flute like sounds, rumblings sounds, rubbing sounds, rattling sounds, humming sounds, accelerating and decelerating sounds, Doppler effect and some indescribable sounds. The movements of the tops are diverse engaging dances.