William Close

William Close was an earth harp musician act from Season 7 of America's Got Talent. He finished the competition in 3rd place.

Background
The first Earth Harp was invented in 1999 by artist/musician, William Close. It is the longest stringed instrument in the world, with strings that extend up to 1,000 feet in length. It uses architecture and landscape as part of the instrument. The architecture basically becomes the instrument. The Earth Harp’s first installation featured the resonating chamber mounted on one side of a valley with the strings stretched out nearly 1,000 ft to the other side. It turned the valley into a giant harp!

The Earth Harp is played using violin resin on cotton gloves and musical bows. The performer’s hands are run along the strings to created cello-like tones. The act of rubbing the strings creates a longitudinal compression wave. This vibration is similar to the vibration patterns that produce tones when you run your finger around the edge of a wine glass. It is also similar to the vibration patterns created while playing singing bowls.

As William Close experimented with some of his early design concepts, he created a method of tuning the giant long strings; using a specially designed tuning block that he discovered could tune the strings to any scale. The instrument is typically tuned in an A minor scale. Flats and sharps can also be included for certain installations; this is easily done by shifting the tuning block.

Since that day in 1999, William and MASS Ensemble have created hundreds of Earth Harp installations all over the world. From the Grand Theater of Shanghai to the Space Needle in Seattle, each installation is unique to its own environment. An Earth Harp installation celebrates the architecture and landscape of its surroundings. The environment and architecture are transformed by the strings. 1

Audition
William Close's audition consisted of playing music on an earth harp, an instrument invented by him that features many thirty-foot long strings. Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne, and Howie Mandel all voted "Yes," sending him to the Vegas Round.



Vegas Round
William Close was one of only three acts (the other two being David "The Bullet" Smith and Olate Dogs) to advance straight to the Quarterfinals without auditioning in Las Vegas.



Quarterfinals
William Close's Quarterfinals performance consisted of playing the earth harp to "Love, Reign O'er Me." He received enough votes to be sent to the Semifinals instead of Sebastien "El Charro de Oro" and Unity in Motion.



Semifinals
William Close's Semifinals performance consisted of performing Muse's "Starlight" with the earth harp and a variety of different self-made instruments such as a suit resembling a violin. He received enough votes to be revealed as one of the Top 4 of the first Semifinal round instead of Academy of Villains and Andrew De Leon. William was later revealed to be one of the Top 2 of the first Semifinal round, immediately sending him to the Finals.



Finals
William Close's Finals performance consisted of performing with his earth harp "Pachelbel's Canon in D" and "America the Beautiful" in a symphony of his self-invented instruments. He was revealed to have finished in third place in the competition the following night, over David Garibaldi and His CMYK's, Joe Castillo, and The Untouchables, but under Olate Dogs and Tom Cotter.



Trivia

 * William Close was the first act that Howard Stern voted 'Yes' to.