You are hereby invited to post a link to a video demonstrating a performance on an uncommon, but not one-of-a-kind, musical instrument. By “uncommon” I mean an instrument that most folks would not be able to name when looking at it, even if they may have heard music that was made by that instrument before. For bonus points, add a link to the relevant Wikipedia page so we can all learn more.
My favorite, the theremin. Here’s “Over the Rainbow”. You control the pitch and volume based on proximity of your hands to it; you don’t actually touch it.
Kind of the opposite of yours - ie, a very new instrument - we have the Otamatone, a synthesizer that looks like cross between a tadpole and a musical note.
The theorbo was the first instrument that came to my mind. Here’s another performance using it.
I wasn’t aware of that one. I did a Youtube search and scrolled down beyond the videos of the sheng being used to play Nintendo and Super Mario themes, and managed to find a video of it being used to play traditional Chinese music. Cool instrument - looks like something one might see played in a Star Wars cantina band.
I was, in fact, about to add the hurdy-gurdy to the thread – in this case, it might be an instrument that people are likely to have heard of, but not be familiar with what it looks like or how it sounds.
The viola organista. Here it is on Wikipedia. It’s a Leonardo da Vinci invention (though he never built one). It’s a way to use a piano keyboard to play a collection of bowed strings (as opposed to hit strings like on a piano), using a rotating drum that makes contact with the strings.
A more modern idea based on the same concept, the wheelharp. That youtube link is not the greatest quality/example, so here it is on Soundcloud. Just beautiful.
Probably not as obscure to Americans as some of the amazing ones that have already been posted, but here are the Uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes, or “union pipes”). Unlike the more well-known Scottish bagpipes, the Uilleann pipes are inflated by a bellows that the player operates with their elbow.
You may want to checkout Rob Scallon’s Youtube channel. He goes and talks to people about some really obscure instruments, including some that have already been mentioned here.
I really hope that Machine Elf’s next post is going to be, “now that you’ve all named your instrument, we will all be meeting for a concert performance using said instrument. You have two weeks to learn to play it.”
