Lime – First Fully Structured Rhythmic Composition with a Real-Time Plant Co-Performer

Lime is the first known rhythmic and structured musical composition in which a lemon plant performs in real time as a co-author and co-performer of a musical piece. The plant plays a piano through the Bamboo device (by Music of the Plants) with no signal alteration or modulation, keeping a tempo of 176 BPM ±50ms, alongside human performers. The piece is structured in three main sections: Intro: Plant plays piano + classical guitar arpeggio by Mazzarani Development: Addition of drums, bass, electric guitar, organ — the plant keeps steady rhythmic phrasing on piano Solo/Outro: Guitar solo and plant solo intertwine, leading to a fade-out All instruments (guitars, drums, organ) are played or composed by Mazzarani using Fruity Loops 11 and Adobe Audition for multitrack assembly, with no signal alteration applied to the plant’s output.

Title: Lime – A Structured Musical Composition with a Plant as Real-Time Rhythmic Co-Performer

Author: Cesare Mazzarani

Abstract:
This paper presents Lime (2025), the first fully structured musical composition featuring a plant (lemon tree) as a real-time rhythmic co-performer. Using the Bamboo device (by Music of the Plants), the plant's electrical activity is converted into MIDI data that triggers a digital piano in sync with a constant metronome of 176 BPM, with a negligible timing deviation (±50 ms). The composition follows a clear formal structure: introduction, development, and resolution, with human and vegetal performers maintaining rhythmic cohesion.

The work challenges the boundaries between performer and instrument, expanding the concept of authorship to non-human biological entities. No modulation or signal alteration is applied to the plant’s output. All human instrument tracks (classical/electric guitar, bass, drums, organ) were performed or composed by the author.

The piece opens new questions about bio-sonification, rhythmic entrainment between species, and plant-computer-human performance systems.https://music.amazon.it/albums/B0DZPK4WW4