Musical instrument with water. What unusual musical instruments are used in the scoring of horror films?
Theremin
Many have heard this musical instrument without knowing it, for example, in old horror films.
The Theremin was invented by Russian scientist Lev Theremin in 1928. It produces a rather unusual, even slightly creepy, vibrating sound that many underground musicians adore. However, it was the sound of the instrument that prevented it from gaining widespread popularity. Playing the theremin involves the musician changing the distance from his hands to the antennas of the instrument, due to which the pitch of the sound changes.
Banjolele
Despite the fact that both the banjo and the ukulele quickly gained an army of numerous fans, the hybrid of these two instruments, the banjolele, never became popular. It's essentially a very small banjo, only with four strings instead of five. The instrument produces a pleasant, soothing sound, but it is quite problematic for people with large hands to play it. Maybe that’s why, or maybe because of the cacophony of its name, the banjolele has remained a niche instrument.
Omnicord
Omnicord is an electronic musical instrument introduced by Suzuki in 1981. Sounds in it are created by pressing the button corresponding to the chord and striking a special metal plate. Being incredibly easy to use, the omnicord had every chance of becoming popular, especially among new musicians. But he never did. The famous melody from the song Clint Eastwood by the British group Gorillaz is perhaps the most famous work played on this musical instrument.
Baritone guitar
Both the bass guitar and the guitar are some of the most popular instruments in the world. However, as in the case of banjolele, their hybrid, despite its deep and rich sound, was not particularly widespread. Due to their design, such guitars sound much lower than ordinary ones. Nowadays they are sometimes used in recording studios to give the main guitar part a richer tone.
Glucophone
Despite the cacophony of its name, this instrument produces very pleasant sounds. Most of all it looks like a metal hand drum. It consists of two bowls, on one of which there are “tongues” of the drum, and on the other there is a resonating hole. Each bowl can be fine-tuned.
The instrument has found some popularity among street musicians, but it still cannot be called mass.
Keytar
In the 80s, on the wave of popularity of pop music, this instrument almost entered the mainstream. Almost…
In essence, this is an ordinary synthesizer enclosed in a plastic guitar case. As with previous hybrids, it is mainly played only as needed. One of its main advantages is its compactness.
Few people know that Matthew Bellamy, leader of the popular British band Muse, regularly uses the keyboard at his performances.
Wind synthesizer "Evi"
"Evi" is the most popular wind synthesizer, but is still unknown to a huge number of music fans. It is a mixture of saxophone and synthesizer. The principle of playing it is almost the same as the saxophone. However, the “synthesizer past” of the instrument makes it possible to connect it to a computer.
Electronium
The most mysterious instrument in our selection. It was invented by inventor Raymond Scott. Little is known about it, other than that it is a huge prototype of a modern synthesizer. The only remaining Electronium belongs to composer Mark Mothersbaugh, and even that doesn't work.
Musical saw
This saw differs from a regular saw only in that it can bend much more strongly. When playing, the musician rests one end of it on his thigh and holds the other end with his hand. The sound is produced with a special bow. It must be said that the unusual sound of the saw can be heard in the compositions of some folk groups. However, it has not become widespread outside the ethnic music genre.
"Waves of Martino"
Perhaps the most unusual instrument in the selection. It was invented by Maurice Martineau in 1928. The sound of the instrument is simultaneously reminiscent of a violin and a theremin. The design of the French invention is quite complex: when playing, the musician needs to simultaneously press the keys and pull a special ring. By the way, Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood used “Waves of Morteno” when recording several songs, giving them a unique sound
Here is a list of some of the most unusual instruments in the world. All of them are still played by musicians, no matter how ancient or strange the instruments may seem.
Theremin
was invented in Russia in the last century. More precisely, in 1919. The instrument received this name from the name of its creator, Lev Sergeevich Termen. This unusual instrument is the first electric musical instrument in history. Sounds are produced by a seemingly simple movement of the hands: just move your hands within the radius of the electromagnetic field next to the metal antenna. Left hand usually controls the volume, and the right one is responsible for the pitch of the sound. But learning to use both hands when playing this instrument is not so easy!
Reactoscope
or in other words – a multimedia media table. The thing is unique and, moreover, beautiful. You touch it and it makes a sound, and what’s more, the instrument can be programmed to suit almost any requirement. With the help of a multimedia table, you can not only surprise clubbers, but also delight colleagues and partners with bright presentations, for example, or notify visitors about the variety of menus in a restaurant.
Bonang
Musical greetings from Indonesia. This instrument consists of a set of small bronze gongs, which are placed on a wooden stand and fastened together with cords. There is a small bulge in the middle of each gong, which, when struck with a special wooden stick, produces a soft sound. The stick is wrapped with either rope or cotton cloth to give greater depth to the sound. There are male bonangs - with higher wooden sides and convex gongs - and female bonangs - with lower sides and flat gongs.
Sub-bass flute
looks like a large curved flute, and makes very strange sounds. Some instruments can be up to 4.5 meters long! It’s not so easy to play on such a colossus, you must admit. The sounds extracted from the subcontrabass flute can confuse many - they are similar to someone simply blowing into a trumpet.
Serpent
also called for it appearance Contrabass-anaconda. However, the instrument sounds far from being as quiet as a snake, but rather like an elephant: loud and rolling. The serpent was invented back in 1590, but by the 19th century it had fallen out of use. Today it is played only by musical maniacs who are mastering more and more old inventions.
Lituus
translated from Latin, first of all, it means a curved augur’s staff or a military pipe, also curved. This instrument was most often used as a warning signal in wartime. But in the Middle Ages, the well-known Johann Sebastian Bach glorified the lituus by writing coins OJesuChrist, meinsLebensLicht under it.
Trembita
We can safely say that it is a Ukrainian relative of Lituus. Trembits, like their ancient counterparts, are primarily used for notifications of various kinds. And since they are mostly popular in the Hutsul region and the eastern Carpathians, they are widely used by shepherds. But this wooden trumpet is also sometimes included in orchestral performances.
Hang
consists of two metal hemispheres connected to each other and vaguely resembles the notorious UFO saucer. This tool is still in childhood, because it was invented only in 2000. As a rule, the hang is placed on the knees or between them, and the sounds are made depending on the imagination of the player: with fingers, hands, palms.
Otamaton
It is quite justifiably called the singing tadpole. This Japanese invention really looks funny: like a note with eyes and a mouth. By pressing the head and manipulating the “tail,” the gadget is activated and makes incredible sounds. What can the Japanese come up with! This toy instrument is only two years old, but it confidently occupies a position in the market, but, by and large, it is an entertainment market, not a musical one.
Glass harmonica
in appearance it slightly resembles a loom and consists of glass hemispheres of various sizes. The spheres are strung on a metal rod, which in turn is fixed into a kind of resonator box with water and vinegar, but so that the spheres are only half immersed in it. By perfecting the simple act of playing wet glasses in the 18th century, an inventive Irishman conquered the world with a new instrument. It was admired by the great composers and writers of that time, but nevertheless, someone started a rumor that the glass harmonica was the work of the devil's henchmen: it causes premature birth in women, has an extremely unsatisfactory effect on the state of mind of people and frightens animals. The instrument was forgotten until our times, until in the 20th century composers decided to return the selected “voice” to the instrument.
Vargan
It looks like a very strange and even incomprehensible instrument. At first glance, not everyone can figure out how and where to apply it to extract sounds. The harp is a reed musical instrument, and sounds are extracted from it in the appropriate way. If you hold it between your lips or teeth, blow or change the position of your lips, sounds will be heard. It is often called a pagan instrument, because history cannot find the origins of its appearance. Recent studies show that the jaw's harp could well have been invented five thousand years ago in South Asia and spread throughout the world due to its compactness, simplicity and undoubted unusualness.
The history of music has deep roots. From primitive rhythms to electronic ones, she expressed people's need for inner fulfillment. Each century created its own instruments. Many of them were lost. Modern creators are gradually returning pieces of the past to the world. As a result, ancient melodies are closely intertwined with new ones, and this mixture of styles opens up more and more new facets.
Learning to play a musical instrument is not easy. It's more like a small feat. But those who have already become good performers do not want to rest on their laurels. Boredom forces musicians to seek new goals. Some collect information about ancient music, and recreate the once lost sounds of history. For some people, the centuries-old experience of their ancestors is not enough. These “creators of their own” invent new, sometimes strange, tools!
Magic trumpet
Mike Silverman was an ordinary double bass player and did not stand out among his colleagues. But one day he decided to create something original. As a result, an interesting instrument was born.
“A pile of scrap metal,” as the musician himself called it, was able to make strange sounds, for which it was nicknamed the “magic pipe.” You can play it with a bow, or by plucking the strings and tapping the roll on them with your fingers. You can even beat the miracle pipe with a stick or hand. The simplest manipulations give rise to bizarre sounds. It's funny to hear a "slap from the future" or an orchestral-like hum. Any DJ will envy performing music with such effects.
Organ organ
The barrel organ was the name given to a street musician's instrument that was popular in the Victorian era. It was very easy to play on it. All you had to do was twist the drum handle well, after which the melody would begin.
Essentially, it was a portable mini-organ with pipes, bellows, bolster, reed and valves. As the drum spun, the complex mechanism alternately closed and opened the voids of the tubes from which sounds flowed. But over time, the rollers and valves wore out. The barrel organs began to sound very out of tune. The melodies became different from the original polkas and waltzes.
Then they tried to replace the valves with sheets of thick paper in which holes were cut. This discovery made it possible to make barrel organs of smaller sizes.
Patrick Mathis, a musical innovator from France, recreated and improved the instrument of his ancestors. With his barrel organ he creates classic and modern works.
Balalaika
Balalaika is a Russian folk instrument. Outwardly, it looks like a triangular lute with three strings. Balalaikas vary in size, small and comically large. Until recently, this plucked instrument was strictly traditional. But modern musicians have learned to do unusual things with it. As, for example, the virtuoso balalaika player Alexei Arkhipovsky does this. Many critics compare his expressive style of performance with the playing of famous guitarists Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix.
Otamaton
Internet users are probably familiar with otamaton. This instrument was created by Japanese musician Novmiti Tosa. Externally, the electronic gadget looks like a music note with a cartoon face, which can and should be crushed, periodically covering its mouth with your palm. It will be very easy to do this, because at the first sounds of the otamatone you will want it to be silent forever. The nasty squeaking or moaning sound that the “note” makes is hard to bear.
It’s strange, but in a general choir of instruments, the otamatone can sound good. The gadget is able to harmoniously blend into the sound forms of modern songs. Therefore, music amateurs have already fallen in love with the invention. On the Internet you can listen to many covers, where otamaton hysterically “sings” about love. Some of the works really deserve to be listened to at least once.
Guitar with one string diddly-bo
The origins of this instrument go back to West Africa. The prototype of diddly-bo was a simple board with a string stretched on two nails. Usually it was played by two people. One hit the string, the second slid along it with a stick.
Then the instrument migrated to America, along with slaves brought from Africa. In our century, it is actively used in blues and rock music.
A prominent advocate of diddle-bo is Stephen Gene Wald. He is better known by his nickname Seasick Steve, which translates to “Seasick Steve.” This bluesman is popular because he uses unusual instruments in his work - guitars with an incomplete set of strings, and box-shaped drums.
The musician modified his diddle-bo. Now it is a single string with a corrugated metal surface taken from a washboard. The beloved audience liked the fresh sound, and Steve continues to delight them with new songs.
Cajon
The Cajon looks like a regular box with a hole. Interestingly, this simple instrument has a deep meaning and reminds us of the cultural repression of the past.
In the 18th century, African slaves in South America were prohibited from owning drums. The slaves did not want to give up their heritage. They used ordinary boxes as drums, and this is how the prototype of the instrument appeared. Now this device is popular again. In modern music studios, it is possible to extract excellent percussion accompaniment from the cajon.
But Martin Krendl was sure that he could make an independent composition only with the help of this box and a couple of rattles. He turned out to be right: the cajon brought the musician world fame.
Kitchenware
It turns out that every housewife can become music star. Kitchen utensils and a little imagination will do for this. Household appliances can be used as drums. Use spoons and forks to beat the rhythm well. Glass, or even better, crystal dishes, tend to break very melodiously.
In 1980, the original group “Hurra Torpedo” from Norway began performing “kitchen” hits. Egil Heberberg played the guitar, Christoph Schau played the freezer, and Aslag Guttormsgaard smashed everything that could be broken. The expressive style of performance and painfully ordinary costumes did their job. The Torpedo project lasted on stage for about twenty years.
Glass harmonica
This musical instrument was created in the middle of the 17th century. It consisted of hemispherical glass cups strung on an iron base. The cups had different thicknesses, which affected the tone of the sound. The melody from the glass harmonica was called heavenly or heavenly. Many composers of that time became interested in “crystal” creativity. But then something went wrong. The harmonica began to be banned. It was believed that it had a bad effect on the behavior of animals and the emotions of people. At the beginning of the 20th century, art was lost. But recently it was revived, and since then has attracted the attention of music lovers. One of the representatives of this type of music was William Zeitler.
Tap dancing doll
A wooden step-man with movable limbs is more of a toy than a tool. In the 18th century, street musicians began to use it. The doll is hung on a stick and held above a board fixed horizontally. Pulling the wooden base, the musician forces the little man to tap dance on the improvised floor.
This folk entertainment art was forgotten. But American folk singer Jeff Warner, a specialist in ancient instruments, brought back the popularity of the tap doll. And if previously the musician was known as a fan of the banjo and harmonica, now he is the owner of a wooden step-man for everyone.
Omnicord
Omnicord was created in the 80s of the last century. With its help, you can compose your own songs for those who do not have musical knowledge. Pressing the buttons creates sounds, and metal plates are needed to distort the overflow. It's a shame, but this instrument has not become widespread and is rarely used by musicians. But after hearing its sound, many experience a feeling of “déjà vu.” They've definitely heard something like this before. The reason is that the omnichord is essentially a modernized mixture of the psaltery and the harp. The magical melodies that he can produce touch the heartstrings.
"Car"
Lynn Faulks is a unique person, one of a kind. He devoted more than 50 years to art in the Art Nouveau style, the motto of which is the saying: “The more unusual, the better.” Lynn created many paintings, sculptures and other creations. But his most beloved creation is the “machine”. This strange, bulky device consists of a drum set equipped with horns, rattles, xylophones and bells. It also has foot-operated electric bass.
Although the set-up is extremely complex, everyone seems to think that Faulks plays with great ease. Don't let appearances fool you. Our genius is the most meticulous perfectionist. This character trait even attracted film directors to him. Over the course of seven years, they filmed a film about how their hero slowly painted two of his paintings.
Video game controls
One day, Robert DeLong came up with an amazing idea: to use game joysticks, manipulators and remote controls to create music. The idea brought success to the former gambling addict. As Robert himself says, it is very difficult to manage such equipment. You need to deftly reproduce sounds from devices not intended for this purpose. The DJ-gamer learned this thanks to many hours of gaming on Dendy and Wii consoles as a child. Innovation made the guy very famous, which means that people need this kind of music.
Such new products make us think: what awaits our music in a hundred years? What tunes and styles will become popular? Good music has the ability to elevate people and break down interpersonal barriers. We hope that it will perform both of these functions better and better.
Picasso Guitar
The Picasso guitar is a strange musical instrument created in 1984 by Canadian string maker Linda Manser for jazz guitarist Patrick Bruce Metheny. It is a harp guitar with four necks, two sound holes and 42 strings. The instrument was named because of its external resemblance to those depicted in the famous paintings (1912–1914), the so-called analytical cubism of Pablo Picasso.
Nikelharpa
The Nyckelharpa is a traditional Swedish stringed musical instrument, first mentioned in around 1350. Typically, a modern nyckelharpa has 16 strings and 37 wooden keys sliding underneath the strings. A short bow is used to play. The sound produced by this instrument is similar to the sound of a violin only with greater resonance.
Glass harmonica
The glass harmonica is a rather unusual musical instrument, consisting of several glass hemispheres of various sizes mounted on a metal axis, which is partially immersed in a resonator box containing diluted vinegar. When touching the edges of the glass hemispheres, rotating by means of a pedal, the performer produces gentle and pleasant sounds. This musical instrument has been known since the middle of the 17th century. Interestingly, in some cities in Germany it was prohibited by law, since in those days it was believed that the sound of the harmonica had too strong an effect on people’s state of mind, frightened animals, caused premature birth and even led to mental disorder.
Erhu
Erhu, also called the "Chinese violin", is an ancient Chinese string instrument created in the seventh century. It is an original two-string violin at the bottom, to which is attached a cylindrical resonator equipped with a membrane made of snake skin. A very versatile instrument, it is often used as a solo instrument, as an accompanying instrument in Chinese opera, and in modern music genres such as pop, rock, jazz, etc.
Zeusaphone
Zeusaphone, or "musical lightning", "singing Tesla coil" is a form of plasma loudspeaker. It is a Tesla coil that has been modified to produce sounds accompanied by the beautiful glow of air ions in a high voltage electric field. The term "Tesla Coil Singing" was coined by David Nunez following a public demonstration of the device on June 9, 2007 in Naperville, Illinois, USA.
Hydraulophone
The hydraulic phone is a strange acoustic musical instrument that operates on the principle of converting vibrations of liquids into sound. It has several holes through which streams of water shoot and when one of the streams is blocked, the instrument produces a sound formed not by air, but by water. It was invented by Canadian scientist and engineer Steve Mann. The world's largest hydraulic phone is located in the Ontario Science Center, Canada.
Singing tree in Barnley
The Singing Tree is a unique musical sculpture located in the Pennines near Burnley in Lancashire, England. The sculpture was built on December 14, 2006 and is a three-meter structure consisting of galvanized steel pipes of different lengths, which, thanks to wind energy, emit a low melodic hum.
Theremin
Theremin is an electromusical instrument created by Russian physicist and inventor Lev Theremin in 1919. The main part of the theremin are two high-frequency oscillatory circuits tuned to a common frequency. Electrical vibrations of sound frequencies are created by a generator using vacuum tubes, the signal is passed through an amplifier and converted into sound by a loudspeaker. Playing the theremin involves the performer controlling its operation by changing the position of the palms near the antennas of the instrument. By moving the hand around the rod, the performer adjusts the pitch of the sound, and gesturing around the arc allows one to influence the volume. By changing the distance of the musician's palms to the instrument's antenna, the inductance of the oscillatory circuit changes, and as a result, the frequency of the sound. One of the first and most prominent performers on this instrument was the American musician Clara Rockmore.
Hang
In second place on the list of the most unusual musical instruments in the world is the Hang, a musical percussion instrument created in 2000 by Felix Rohner and Sabine Scherer from the Swiss city of Bern. It consists of two interconnected metal hemispheres with a resonator hole measuring 8–12 cm.
Stalactite organ
The most unusual musical instrument in the world is the Stalactite organ. This is a unique musical instrument located in Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA. It was created in 1956 by mathematician and scientist Leland Sprinkle, who throughout three years processed stalactites hanging from the ceiling of a cave to obtain the perfect sound. After which he attached a hammer to each of them, controlled by electricity from an organ keyboard. This instrument covers an area of 14 square kilometers and is the largest musical instrument in the world.
