#experimental instruments

[seaofpaint]

credit - pdsoloz29 (IG)

[sandboxworld]

Mattias Krantz Builds a Magnetically Hovering Guitar

Swedish engineering-minded musician Mattias Krantz has once again blurred the line between science experiment and musical instrument. His latest creation is a sleek, transparent electric guitar with strings that do not simply rest on hardware. They hover, held in place by extremely powerful magnets, as if gravity stepped aside and let physics show off. The project is still very much a work in…

Mattias Krantz Builds a Magnetically Hovering Guitar

[julimar-cool]

A little sad that I can't see the fireworks rn, but I do have a lot of free time to finally talk about one of my interests! Experimental musical instruments. I couldn't tell you why, but my fascination revolves pretty exclusively around acoustic instruments making sounds in an interesting way. This extends to more traditional instruments that weren't designed with the intention of pushing any boundaries (I love the dan k'ni so much) but that's a whole different thing. I specifically want to talk about the people who inspire me and what I find interesting, and I'd like to start with Nicolas Bras (you can find him on youtube, tiktok, and wherever else he posts). He was sort of my gateway to getting into experimental instruments, and that definitely makes sense. A lot of what he does is taking an instrument that already exists, and seeing what he can do to innovate on it, and I feel like seeing these things you're familiar with be transformed into something new is a great way to start learning. The way he sees the world definitely opened my eyes a bit too, he's stopped several videos in their tracks because he dropped something on the floor, scraped something, or otherwise accidentally made a sound that he finds interesting, then he takes the time to sample these sounds at various pitches before continuing on his project. He also does collabs with people who are more experienced playing the instrument he's trying to replicate (he had a singer on for his video on the kazoo, that was amazing. Plus it makes sense). After watching his videos for a while I eventually found Bart Hopkin, and his work absolutely rocked my world. You can find him on youtube, but I'd also recommend checking out his website, particularly his "instrumentarium".

The INSTRUMENTARIUM contains images, information and sound clips for a variety of interesting and unusual instruments invented by Bart Hopki

He innovates a lot more with his designs, and seeing this whole new world of sound changed the way I view music (some highlights. Savart's wheel, the "moe" family, and spools and wheels. Don't expect some kind of beautiful harp or flute like sounds, savart's wheel in particular is harsh and unpleasant, and I love it so dearly). I think it's around this point that I had read all of the summaries of his instruments and watched almost every video on his youtube channel, and I just started looking for any unique instrument I could find. From there, I found people like Leonard Solomon ("Bellowphone" on youtube), Andy Thurlow (creator of the Anarchestra. The youtube channel you want to check out is "anarchestra instruments"), and Görkem Şen ("Yaybahar" on youtube). Briefly, Leonard Solomon's work got me more interested in organs and how they work, Andy Thurlow's work is just cool, and Görkem Şen's yaybahar genuinely sent me on a spiral, and that's something I want to touch on more. The natural echo of the yaybahar was so baffling when I was first exposed to it. It was so beautiful and sad, I think I might have cried. It really made me want to make a difference and design something so radical, and so beautiful, and crazy, and monstrous, that it would inspire someone else to get into instruments too. And I guess it really is just instruments now. I've since spent hours upon hours researching instruments from all over the world, and I could probably name any instrument you could show me. Music has been so important to me throughout my entire life, and the idea of making new sounds is just so wonderful, and so promising, and I just love it so much. Very happy to be talking about all of this! I hope I don't come off as pretentious in any way, I'm not some kind of expert or anything, I am nineteen. I haven't even done anything huge yet, just a banjo, a few flutes, and a lap-played banjolele sort of thing. I'm working on a little accordion though! With real reeds! Maybe I'll actually post it someday, this post has really brought back the old feelings of discovering these things for the first time. Indulge your interests! Do what makes you happy! If you can!

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The Experimental Musical Instruments quarterly journal began publication in 1985 and ran through 1999, putting out a total of 70 issues. This package contains...

PDFs of all issues of the publication 1985–1999.

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Le Zagreb - Structure Sonore Baschet de la collection André Gicquel

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HARRY PARTCH - Music Studio (Documentary)

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A New Note in Music: Harry Partch's Kooky 1950s Instruments

[theartistknownaslymond]