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My interest in musical oddities dates back to high school, when I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to invent an original instrument. The closest I ever came was an alarm clock that could almost play do-re-mi on command. I say almost because it stopped after do, but hey, who’s counting. Here are 5 weird ones that not only work, they’ve also passed the test of time.
1. Didgeridoo
Invented by: Its origins are with the aboriginal people of Northern Australia, though the Didgeridoo, sometimes called a didge, is so old, no one knows exactly who invented it. Many musicologists say it’s the oldest aerophone (or wind instrument) in the world, dating back some 40,000 years.
How you play it: By blowing into the hollowed-out eucalyptus branch with loose lips (like giving someone a raspberry!) the didge player creates a vibration that echoes and produces a drone.
Cool didge factoid: A recent study put out by the British Medical Journal said that playing the didgeridoo helps reduce snoring and sleep apnea, because it helps strengthen muscles in the upper airway.What it sounds like:
2. Glass Armonica
Invented by: In 1761, smack-dab between the lightning rod and bifocals, Benjamin Franklin invented the Glass Armonica (armonia in Italian is harmony). He was once quoted as saying: “Of all my inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction.”
How you play it: Anyone who’s ever rubbed a finger around the mouth of a glass of water knows the wonderful muted sound it produces–the pitch dependant on the amount of water in the glass. Franklin took this idea a step further by inventing a foot-pumped device that puts water-less bottles in motion so all one need do is touch the mouth with a wet finger. Here, the pitch is dependant on the size/shape/amount of glass in the bottle.
Cool Glass Armonica factoid: Mozart loved the instrument so much, he wrote two compositions for it. You can hear an excerpt from one (the Adagio and Rondo for glass armonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello), below.
What it sounds like :
3. Bonang
Invented by: Javanese Gamelan musicians. In Javanese mythology, the gamelan (means “to strike with a hammer”) was created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (ca. 230 AD).
How you play it: Two padded beaters, called tabuh, are used to strike the double-row of horizontally mounted gongs, each tuned to a different pitch.
Cool Bonang factoid: Across the way in Bali, the Bonang has a cousin called the reong, which is almost identical.
What it sounds like:
4. Tsabouna
Invented by: Greek shepherds some 2000 years ago.
How you play it: The Tsabouna is made of goatskin, which is inflated by blowing into the mouthpiece. On the other side of the instrument is a flute-like pipe which is played with the fingers, creating 6 different notes (the amount of wholes in the pipe and notes produced vary from island to island).
Cool Tsabouna factoid: Although it looks similar to bagpipes, the tsabouna lacks that extra pipe that creates the characteristic “Scottish drone.”
What it sounds like:
5. Hang
Invented by: The hang was invented eight years ago in Bern, Switzerland, by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer OF THE PANArt Company.
How you play it: Like a cross between a steel drum and a gamelan instrument, the hang is made from steel but played with the fingertips, thumbs, and the heel of the palm, rather than sticks. Pitches are both fixed and alterable with hand pressure, like a talking drum.
Cool Hang factoid: In Bernese German, Hang refers to the human hand, as in hand-drum, and is pronounced hung or hong.
What it sounds like:
What’s your favorite strange instrument?
Check out all past On Music posts here >>
Comments (59)
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You missed the “blaster beam”! I know it sounds made up, but it’s a “18 feet of machined aluminium with numerous strings”. It was used heavily on the “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” soundtrack.
I didn’t know about it until Jerry Goldsmith was a guest at the Hollywood Bowl and they played the score for Star Trek in honor of him attending.
posted by Erik on 1-16-2008 at 3:09 am
I find the sound of the Ondes Martenot interesting. Star Trek fans will recognize it as the high pitched wail in the theme song of the show, and Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead made extensive use of it on both Kid A and Amnesiac.
posted by Bo on 1-16-2008 at 5:16 am
I’ve always thought the didgeridoo was awesome. A band I used to listen to (from Australia) used it in one of their songs. Funny thing about listening to that song is that when the didge comes on stage (live album), it sounds like a screaming monkey. It took me about 4 listenings to figure out what it really was.
posted by nutmeag on 1-16-2008 at 7:35 am
I’ve made a playlist on my iTunes of songs incorporating the Cuica. It’s a Brazilian friction drum that makes high pitched noises…my favorite use of it is in “Me and Julio Down by the School Yard”.
I love the Theremin and the Musical Saw, although I don’t think they’re necessarily peculiar, they just sound cool.
Also, It’s not really a strange instrument, but I always thought the Tuvan Throat Singers were pretty rad too.
posted by Lauren on 1-16-2008 at 8:05 am
The Glass Armonica sounds pretty nifty! Much better than a blasted crackle box!
posted by gwendy on 1-16-2008 at 9:32 am
Wow, Lauren – I’ve always wondered what that was in ‘Me and Julio.’ I’m totally off to research the Cuica now!
Great idea for a post, David – I was only familiar with the didge and the armonica. There’s something unsettling about tsabouna, though. I suspect it’s probably my warped mind trying to recreate the scene when the shepherds first came up with this idea. “What should we do with this deceased goat?” “I know! Let’s inflate it and stick a flute in there!”
Incidentally, there’s a great urban legend that armonica players suffered lead poisoning due to rubbing the leaded glass of the instrument. Even though it’s not true, I’ve still seen it pop up occasionally in otherwise scholarly works.
posted by Roger on 1-16-2008 at 9:33 am
You totally missed the Theremin. Search youtube for “theremin crazy” and/or “theremin legend”.
posted by Chris on 1-16-2008 at 9:37 am
I got a chance to try playing a didgeridoo at a festival. It was an odd sensation. The woman working the booth told me they are being used as a type a massage therapy, and demonstrated by playing it and directing it at my back. I could really feel the vibrations, and could easily understand it being used for such a purpose.
posted by Jenbe on 1-16-2008 at 11:35 am
I recall that there were health issues related with the Glass Armonica with the glass being made from heavily leaded glass that may have contributed to the belief that the instrument was cursed
posted by Andrew on 1-16-2008 at 11:47 am
I’m a big fan of Iner Souster’s experimental instruments.
posted by Jennifer on 1-16-2008 at 11:55 am
Anyone who’s seen The Blue Man Group knows that plastic plumbing tubes can be quite musical!!
posted by Ed on 1-16-2008 at 12:06 pm
I’m a trombonist, and a few years back I bought a didgeridoo for fun, I used to play it at my High School football games, and now that I’m in college, it has many different uses. Great Article
posted by Will on 1-16-2008 at 12:15 pm
If you like odd instruments, check out Harry Partch.
posted by squid on 1-16-2008 at 12:19 pm
One of my favorite strange instruments is the Stroh Horn. Imagine a violin with a resonator and a large metal horn attached.
They were invented at the turn of the last century by a gentleman named Stroh in order for early recording devices to better pick up the sound of a violin.
posted by Jason! on 1-16-2008 at 1:13 pm
My favorite unusual instrument is the erhu. It’s a stringed instrument from China(Japan? I forget). I heard a little girl playing it at a farmer’s dmarket in Olypmia, Washington a few years ago, and it had a beautiful sound. From what I remember, it had only onse string, and the bow used to play it was wrapped around the string and pulled across. It was really neat.
posted by heather on 1-16-2008 at 2:09 pm
The Erhu usually has two strings, and the bow string passes between the two, effectively securing it to the instrument. They have a very expressive and sad sound…
I love uncommon instruments and play a few myself (Concertina, Hurdy-Gurdy, Mandolin). An excellent site to visit if you’re wanting to possibly pick up an unusual instrument is Lark-in-the-Morning:
http://www.larkinthemorning.com
posted by Jason! on 1-16-2008 at 2:28 pm
Follow up – you can ‘play’ some of Harry Partch’s creations at this site:
musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html#
posted by squid on 1-16-2008 at 3:44 pm
Follow up – one can ‘play’ some of Harry Partch’s creations at this site:
musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html#
posted by squid on 1-16-2008 at 3:44 pm
I’m with others, the Theremin definitely should have been included in this list. Maybe there should be a follow-up, 5 Peculiar Instruments of the Modern Age?
posted by TGecko on 1-17-2008 at 1:19 am
You could do a whole feature on luthier Hans Reichel-in addition to some really unusual guitars he also invented an instrument called the Daxophone which must be heard to be believed!
posted by Matthew Henshaw on 1-17-2008 at 7:03 am
Try playing 1 and 4 at the same time, and then try 5 and 3 at the same time.
Sounds cool. The Didge, adds the missing Drone sound from the Tsabouna so it sounds like a bagpipe, and the hang and bonang played together just sound cool.
posted by Ourcade on 1-17-2008 at 7:45 am
also missed the corrugaphone or corrugahorn. this is simply a corrugated (ridged) tube you blow through, the ridges set up a standing wave that determines the pitch.
a more common form of this is the long flexible ridged plastic tube that a kid waves over his head in a circle, which sucks in the air and creates a sound. wave it faster or slower to produce higher or lower tones
posted by smellygirl on 1-17-2008 at 8:11 am
Concertinas and Accordions are quite unique…
posted by stephen on 1-17-2008 at 8:40 am
One of the strangest instruments that should be on this list is the Waterphone. You might recognize it’s unique sound from the movie The Matrix. Check it out.
posted by Rick on 1-17-2008 at 8:46 am
Also missing…. Musical Tesla Coils (also know as singing tesla coils). Here is a link to some of my footage of them in action.
posted by Rick on 1-17-2008 at 8:47 am
Here are the Musical (Singing) Tesla Coils in HD.
posted by Rick on 1-17-2008 at 8:48 am
Sorry… links didn’t get passed along….
Waterphone
waterphone.com/index.html#
Musical Tesla Coils in HD
vimeo.com/382661#
Musical Tesla Coils – Alternate Videos
youtube.com/watch?v=qQ_1jtpAK5w
posted by Rick on 1-17-2008 at 8:52 am
5 Peculiar Instruments (and what they sound like) | Deliggit.com
mentalfloss.com
Here are 5 weird instruments.
How you play it: Anyone whos ever rubbed a fing
posted by Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls on 1-17-2008 at 9:19 am
thanks, [13]squid for mentioning Partch, who built some fascinating original instruments. To hear what they sound like, check out:
musicmavericks.publicradio dot org/features/feature_partch.html#
The instrumants themselves currently reside for the most part in Montclair, NJ.
posted by Scott on 1-17-2008 at 10:21 am
My favorites not mentioned (love the hangdrum) are probably the djembe or balafon but they’re not necessarily that uncommon or strange. ;)
One instrument that sounds great when played well, in a proper setting, is the Krin.
posted by TN on 1-17-2008 at 10:37 am
Wow..
Fantastic article!
posted by Andrew on 1-17-2008 at 10:51 am
neat post :) I love weird instruments.
Will- I’m quite curious to know what “several uses” you have for the didgeridoo, now that you’re in college. Sounds quite interesting.
Has anyone on this site ever done a post on “found object” music? Using non-musical objects to make music? That would be neat.
posted by Molly W. on 1-17-2008 at 4:44 pm
Absolutely great post! I own 2 of the instruments listed, but I won’t tell which ones!
Cheers.
posted by MrBlue on 1-17-2008 at 10:33 pm
For #4, I think you mean “holes”, not “wholes”…
posted by Andy on 1-17-2008 at 10:57 pm
My favorite wierd instrument is the Cracklebox! It doesn’t get a lot wierder than that !
posted by Blacklight on 1-18-2008 at 12:02 am
I’m particularly fond of the Pyrophone, myself. You don’t hear of “internal combustion instruments” very often.
posted by Alex on 1-18-2008 at 2:45 pm
Here’s a strange one if we’re talking about modern instruments. It’s called the thummer… sort of like a cross between a synthesizer and a concertina. One of the videos at the website makes me think there’s some type of motion sensor in it as well.
http://www.thummer.com
posted by Jason! on 1-18-2008 at 2:50 pm
The Thermin is very weird. it is played by putting your hand at different places in the air which disrupts various static currents in the air which produces different notes and tones. sounds a bit like a whistle.
posted by kurt rohn on 1-18-2008 at 7:53 pm
I have owned two didgeridoos in my life!
When I “play”, it just sounds… like death.
My particular favorite of my instruments happens to be my Calypso Box (not so unknown, perhaps, ahh well.)
Here’s the best image I found: http://www.mentomusic.com/images/calypsoJoeRumbaBox.jpg
posted by Christine on 1-23-2008 at 8:31 am
Don’t forget the theremin.
posted by Linda on 1-23-2008 at 2:03 pm
@ nutmeag
The band is the Paul Coleman trio, right? If I hadn’t read the liner notes as I was listening, I probably woulnd’t have ever figured it out!!! It really does sound like a screaming monkey!
posted by Justin L on 1-23-2008 at 3:53 pm
The theremin was used perhaps most famously as the creepy wooooooooo sound on the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” There’s a Russian experimental surf rock band by the name of Messer Chups that has a lot of cool theremin in their music.
posted by bob the walrus on 1-23-2008 at 6:44 pm
gamelan has a Filipino counterpart called kulintang.
In Guns, Germs and Steel there’s a factoid in there that says that Austronesian bronze-type instrumentation may have influenced African music through seafarers to Madagascar.
posted by Will on 1-29-2008 at 3:01 am
these were really cool! i asked jay whitlow (he’s an anthropologist) about some of the stuff that he’s encountered and his all-time favorite is this digeridoo thing, too. by the way, have you heard sammie play the whoopie-cushion?
eric y
posted by eric y on 1-29-2008 at 8:11 pm
I’ve always enjoyed the serpent horn.
posted by K McGee on 2-3-2008 at 8:24 pm
My favorite unusual instrument is the Renaissance Rackett. This instrument is a bit more obscure than the Crumhorn. It is a reed wind instrument that is made by boring nine parallel tubes in a cylinder of wood, then connecting these tubes at their alternating tops and bottoms, giving the effect of a single, long instrument.
Rather like folding a bassoon until it is about six inches long.
OK. No links allowed. Well, you’ll just have to look it up yourself.
posted by Daniel Kim on 3-2-2008 at 6:39 am
What about the conceptual cat piano? I’m sure I saw an email about that somewhere…
posted by Ben E on 5-20-2008 at 12:45 pm
Surprised that no one mentioned the Tubax or the Soprillo. Invented by an instrument maker in Germany (I think), the contrabass and sub-contrabass tubaxes sound an octave lower than the bartione and bass saxophones respectively. Although they are metal-bodied single-reed winds, they have cylindrical bores, unlike true saxophones. Check ‘em out on Wiki. There are sound clips, too!
The soprillo extends the saxophone family upwards, sounding one octave higher than the soprano. It’s so small that the register key is on the mouthpiece.
posted by Jay N. on 5-28-2008 at 7:37 am
Once, I played a really weird instrument in marching band. I didn’t even know what it was called. It’s this metal stick taller than 5 feet, with a huge triangle on top, and the triangle has little cymbals in it. I hit it against the ground to play it. The band just called it “The Death Stick”. Does anyone know the real name?
posted by OvechkinLover on 6-29-2008 at 12:50 pm
i have a didgeridoo. circular breathing is hard. it’s just decorative now.
posted by ir_kr on 8-1-2008 at 11:01 pm
I used to play the gamelan back in my high schhool for music class. It’s actually quite fun to play. The bonang comes with other instruments such as gongs and drums to form an ensemble.
posted by Lissa on 8-7-2008 at 5:39 am
Circular breathing isn’t hard. It just requires practice. I’ve found it’s only difficult if one thinks about it too much. I made didge’s out of PVC for supplemental income in college. I decorated them to look like wood, and included a beeswax-dipped mouthpiece. I knew a “didge master” who pronounced them all “brilliant!”.
posted by Col on 8-15-2008 at 7:40 am
The Shakuhachi, of course! The amazing vertical bamboo flute from Japan that costs alot more than you would ever believe a bamboo flute could cost! It’s also the great flute ever developed.
http://www.shakuhachiforum.com
posted by Bucky Moran on 10-1-2008 at 3:52 pm
i like the singing bowls they sound very ethereal. also the morinn khurr (horsehead cello) only two strings played with a bow. from mongolia (tuva). the band yat-kha uses one. the sweetest sounds i have ever heard are produced by that instrument. yoyo ma plays it also. treat your ears.
posted by dirkalan on 10-27-2008 at 1:53 pm
My favorite (now disbanded) group were hometown heroes Big Blow and the Bushwackers. They played all sorts of instruments, including the didg, saw, cap guns and a few of their own creation. The Flopophone was different lengths and diameters of pvc pipe smacked on the open top end with a flipflop.
posted by Mary Frances on 11-30-2008 at 11:14 am
The Didgeridoo sounds just like Mongolian throat singing…
posted by Leslie Erentreich on 3-17-2009 at 1:33 am
The strangest instrument I’ve seen is played by an artist called That 1 Guy – its some kind of electronic, stringed, percussion/wind instrument that he built himself. It’s called the Magic Pipe. He also plays the Magic Boot and Magic Saw.
You also have to give props to a guy who has albums named “Songs in the Key of Beotch” and “The Moon is Disgusting, It’s Made of Cheese”.
posted by Bert on 4-3-2009 at 5:01 pm
The Bull Roarer. Supposedly an American Indian instrument, a thin slab of wood whirled on a string (How coincidental–the recaptcha word is “amerinds”)
Cage used one or several sine wave generators in various ways; for example, he’d offset the frequencies slightly and have the audience walk around the performing area and listen to the audio interference patterns.
Then there were the Budwiser frogs…
posted by firstofnormalin on 7-11-2009 at 10:24 pm
i like the glockenspiel myself
posted by shanna green on 9-1-2009 at 11:56 pm