10 Weird Instruments Actually Played – Part II
Contrabass Saxophone
Back in the middle of the ninetieth century, Mr. Adolphe Sax designed and invented the saxophone - not just the instrument, but a whole family of instruments, able to cope with a very wide range of notes. At the highest end was the sopranino. And at the end was the monster truck of all instruments: the contrabass sax. Measuring almost 2 meters and weighting around 25 kilograms, this megalomanous thing is pitched in the key of E♭, one octave below the baritone, and its notes are so low - ranging from A 3 to F#6 and sounding C1 to A3 - that not even all trained ears can tell the tonal difference between them, and usually another instrument lends a hand to help the harmonics come out clean.
As one can imagine, you won't find a contrabass saxophone hanging around at your music school. Very few still exist - an estimated 45. The good news is that there's been some demand, and currently you can order them from at least three places in the world. Obviously enough, you'll be paying a reasonable price for it, but if you can afford to have a two-meter amplified-elephant in your house, you should be fine with it.
Be sure to check this website for more information about this!
Laser Harp
Made popular by Jean Michel Jarre, the laser harp consists of a set of lasers which are triggered to a sound emitter device. Upon interruption of the light beam, a sound is produced, imitating the pluck of a string on a regular harp. Besides its usage in post-modern music, techno and acid fans are also very keen about it, not only because of the sound itself, but also because of the light show created.
Having a laser harp is very cheap - probably the cheapest of all the instruments featured on this list: there are dozens of websites teaching how to build your own with basic mechanics and workarounds, with the community behind http://www.laserharp.org/ being undoubtedly the most active.
Thumb Piano
The thumb piano, most commonly known as Mbira or Kalimba, is one of the many ingenious instruments born in Africa. Simply put, metal stripes with different sizes are attached to a wooden board (most of the times there's some sort of ressonator to allow the sound to expand) and the device is born. Often used in ancient rituals and cerimonies, this tiny instrument was said to reach the skies with its sounds, thus calling people's ancestors.
Quad-Guitar
Designed and used by notable metal man Michael Angelo Batio, this Hydra-inspired guitar features two seven-string guitars on top and two regular six-strings at the bottom. Not really an instrument but more of a tuning experience with one, quad-guitar's are used mainly for showing off speed, and technique. As the human species only has two arms, these guitars are often aided by very powerful and sensitive pickups, easing one-hand tapping techniques.
Recently a new quad-guitar started being sold under Michael Angelo's signature, the 2009 MAB Armorflame Quad.
As hilarious as it may seem, there's no denying the badassness of this.
Orchestrion
The aim of the orchestrion was theoretically simple: to imitate an orchestra - automatically. Nowadays, this may not seem a very difficult task, but bear in mind that the first orchestrions were invented in the middle of the ninetieth century. These first "pocket orchestras", created by F. T. Kaufmann of Dresden in 1851, acted through pure mechanical means, and had carved wooden barrels to act as a music sheet. Later on, perforated paper music rolls replaced the barrels, resembling 1970's card-based computers, as you can see in this video.
Many kinds of orchestrions were developed ever since, combining different techniques, technologies, and instruments. But what brought my attention to this was a recent project by Patt Metheny, where he and his sound engineers devised a mind-blowing way of actually controlling an entire set of instruments with a guitar and a set of pedals and keys.
Zadar Sea Organ
The sea organ is an instrument. Only not played by anyone. This architectural marvel, located in Zadar, Croatia, was opened to public in 2005, and is a very prominent tourist attraction. Below the marble stairs embracing the Zadar sea a system of polyethylene tubes turns the space into a gigant, eerie pipe organ, allowing some really beautiful tunes to be played by the wind and the sea.
10 Weird Instruments Actually Played – Part I
Harpolyre
In the 19th century a lot of experimentation was going on around guitar design: be it the number of strings, the decorations or the shape of the instrument, many different and unique guitar-ish instruments were born. Most of them never left its embrionary stage, but some, as the harpolyre, did, even if just for some time. Invented around 1820, this 21 string beast sounds more like if a harp, a guitar and a bass were merged together, and despite the odd looks, listening to the works of Sor or Carcassi (written specifically to be played with a harpolyre) is really thrilling.
One of the most well-known guitarists currently embracing the harpolyre is John Doan. Check his website: http://www.johndoan.com/ for more information regarding this piece of art.
Theremin
In the beginning of the twentieth century, and with the advent of a civil war, Russian researchers invented some sort of proximity detector. It was basically a device with an antennae surrounded by a magnetic field; whenever the natural electric charge of the human body crossed that field, audible frequencies were produced. And electronic music was born.
Nowadays, this eerie, haunting sound is very appreciated and en vogue among contemporary musicians, in various genres. Besides its regular usage in classical music compositions, more mainstream bands like Portishead, Air, Beach Boys, Radiohead or Rage Against The Machine often used this magical instrument in their songs. Recently, Lera Auerbach's The Little Mermaid put the theremin to a very interesting usage, with its sound being the mermaid's voice all through the piece.
You can find several good videos of Theremin playing, but this cover of Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" is just outstanding and a true example of what can be achieved with it.
Hang Drum
Probably one of the youngest instruments around, the hang drum was invented in the year 2000, and merged concepts from ancient percussion instruments such as the ghatam or the steelpan. The result is a beautiful, glowing sound, something in-between gongs and a metallophone. As the harmonies sound pretty intensely, it became a great instrument both for solo and group playing.
In recent years, the hang drum went through major exposure due to the internet video boom (also known as the youtube years), and its demand increased exponentially, but finding or buying one is quite hard, mostly because the company that manufactures them doesn't even have a website. According to various sources such as this one, if you can't make it to Switzerland with $500+ in your pockets, you won't be able to buy one.
Glass Harmonica
The glass harmonica was invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin (yes, that one). The basic principle of this instrument is pretty much the same as when you run the tip of your (previously wet) finger in a glass or a cup: the friction will make a sound, and the size of the echo chamber (the emptiness within the glass) will determine the pitch of the note. Putting that together with a pedal-driven mechanism similar to old sewing machines, Benjamin was able to devise an instrument with a nice, comforting feel to it, something that produces a fulfilling background to any piece.
Oddly enough, rumors had it that playing glass harmonica was getting yourself a curse, back in the days. Apparently, the glasses' material - lead glass - slowly penetrated the player's skin, which eventually would poison him. Because of these rumors and deaths, the instrument's popularity decreased, and composers stopped writing pieces to be played with it. Only in the middle of the twentieth century the glass harmonica had its revival, being reinvented by Gerhard B. Finkenbeiner. Nowadays, it's usage is relatively common in avant garde contemporary music.
Stay tuned for part two, where more oddities will arise!
The Misa Guitar
For the very beginning of the second rendition of this blog (I wonder how many of you actually have known the first version of this place) I'm bringing a very unique and insightful approach on the core and purpose of a string-based instrument - and very likely the most played instrument of all - the guitar.
A software engineer called Michael decided to reinvent the guitar, with the sole purpose of achieving true note-by-note control. In fact, he is right: there were no practical solutions to allow players to assign specific effects to one, and just one, of the strings on the instrument, and the workarounds were less than good. Quoting the developer of such mythological beast:
If you strum hard on guitar with strings, you play a loud note. If you strum softly, you play a soft note. Whereas on the digital guitar, if you tap on the left side of the screen you play a note with an effect parameter knob turned more to the left and if you tap to the right side of the screen the note is played with the knob turned to the right. Similarly with the top and bottom of the screen. Since there are two axis' (X/Y) you can actually control two parameters at once.
Sure, you have to be a bit open-minded to swallow a concept that deviates so much from the real analog wisdom, but still, the Misa Digital Guitar is very interesting. And did I mention its design is sleek as hell? And also, just for the geek object-savvy people lurking around the web, the controlling software is open source, which means you are free to change it and devise your own wickedness for free.
Retail prices are yet to be known, but I'm not expecting something very cheap: remember we're talking about a futuristic, Gentoo Linux driven digital sound maker with a design that easily pops I, Robot into our heads. Still, it's worth keeping an eye, not just on the Misa itself, but in the overall view through the heart of sounds.