# Post a video of an arcane musical instrument **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [August 21, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011 "2019-08-21T17:29:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/41 "2019-08-23T17:38:12Z")
What an enjoyable thread. New to me, last year, was the [charango](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charango), which I saw played by Young the Giant [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjw2n8-jpL0). If you hang with early music groups, you’ll get to buzz with [crumhorns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pthv29TgRE)up close. I love them. I’ve tried playing, and the fingering is easy, but the breath pressure is insane. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/42 "2019-08-23T18:01:29Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Nitpick: the mellotron didn’t use tape loops. If you held down the key long enough, it was possible to reach the end of the tape. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Yep. Eight seconds. That wasn’t a nitpick. Thanks for the info. Q: at the NAMM show I once played a mellotron. A four part chorale. No idea what the tape source was, it just sounded like a mellotron to me. Anyway, I didn’t time myself but I’m pretty sure my performance lasted more than eight seconds, more like half a minute. IF my memory is accurate, what was happening with the source tape during that time? (I think I might simply be asking how long it took for the tape to rewind/reset.) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/43 "2019-08-23T18:04:57Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [Harry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrJDdt5OS_Y) [Partch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_instruments_by_Harry_Partch). Harry Partch was a genius. He used to live about a mile from my house (70’s). ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/44 "2019-08-23T18:20:05Z")
A bit more in depth on the [sheng](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkkA5yWrvww) Here’s a great demo of a Casio CZ-101 from way back in 1984: [CASIO CZ-101 PD-Synthesizer (1984) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9iIHNVh36A) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/45 "2019-08-23T21:20:44Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Similar to the Uillean pipes, the [Northumbrian pipes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northumbrian_smallpipes), which have a slightly bizarre [boop-y sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiuMwskhsGk&list=PLEzvAF-KSmrNdNUuIP69aeudVbDTC4tD2&index=14&t=0s). There’s squillions of different bagpipes. My favourites are the [musette](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGYahbxfn94) and [mizwad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIXC0wjPgqQ). The former for its almost gentle tone (for a bagpipe - it even _[plays well with others](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc9wFPbB3-0)_), the latter for its medieval-sounding simplicity. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/46 "2019-08-23T23:30:35Z")
[The klaxophone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSgYTV-Tks0). ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/47 "2019-08-24T01:26:27Z")
If a cartoon character built a player piano, it would probably be the [Photoplayer.](https://youtube.com/watch?v=SF4BWllUEO0) These things were built to perform the score or photo play for silent movies. The piano parts and much of the percussion was controlled by player piano rolls, and the performer still had quite a few buttons to push and “cow tails” to yank for the rest of the sounds. The advent of “talkies” made these beasts disappear almost overnight. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/48 "2019-08-24T01:41:48Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > That wasn’t a nitpick. Thanks for the info. > > Q: at the NAMM show I once played a mellotron. A four part chorale. No idea what the tape source was, it just sounded like a mellotron to me. Anyway, I didn’t time myself but I’m pretty sure my performance lasted more than eight seconds, more like half a minute. IF my memory is accurate, what was happening with the source tape during that time? (I think I might simply be asking how long it took for the tape to rewind/reset.) [Here’s what it looks like when a mellotron plays a note](https://youtu.be/ByD8gH7kYxs?t=280). There is a 5-foot section of tape, it plays until it runs out, and when you release the note, a spring pulls the tape back down to the starting position. She demonstrates here playing a note to the end of the tape and releasing it, so you can see it in action. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/49 "2019-08-24T01:53:55Z")
Huh. Looking up some info on the Mellotron, I found that there was a spin-off called the [Birotron](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URR7l-uI6JA) that did use (8-track) tape loops, and was principally funded by Rick Wakeman of Yes, who was a Mellotron aficionado himself, but got frustrated at the 8-second limitations of the tape sounds. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/50 "2019-08-24T05:15:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [Here’s what it looks like when a mellotron plays a note](https://youtu.be/ByD8gH7kYxs?t=280). There is a 5-foot section of tape, it plays until it runs out, and when you release the note, a spring pulls the tape back down to the starting position. She demonstrates here playing a note to the end of the tape and releasing it, so you can see it in action. Thank you! Very interesting. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. Looking up some info on the Mellotron, I found that there was a spin-off called the [Birotron](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URR7l-uI6JA) that did use (8-track) tape loops, and was principally funded by Rick Wakeman of Yes, who was a Mellotron aficionado himself, but got frustrated at the 8-second limitations of the tape sounds. Okay then. But I was still wrong- I’d always just assumed it was tape loops in the origiinal mellotron. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/51 "2019-08-25T18:30:24Z")
[The tromboon is notoriously difficult to play, hence its obscurity outside of the most hardcore Historically Informed Performance circles.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKVg162kSDM) > [@](#): > > _… “a hybrid – that’s the nicer word – constructed from the parts of a bassoon and a trombone; it has all the disadvantages of both”. This instrument is called for in the scores of P. D. Q. Bach’s oratorio The Seasonings. The sound quality of the instrument is best described as comical and loud._ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.\_D.\_Q.\_Bach#Tromboon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Q._Bach#Tromboon) ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/52 "2019-08-25T19:56:00Z")
[Hang Drums](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1wfha1Iios) Sound nothing like what you would expect looking at them. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/53 "2022-01-04T12:51:37Z")
Just found the **[cornu de Pompeii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornu_(horn))**. Doctor Seuss would have loved this thing: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1IlZgj2FAHA/maxresdefault.jpg "Cornu de Pompeii") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IlZgj2FAHA) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/54 "2022-01-04T15:23:17Z")
The carnyx, a Celtic war trumpet : [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/auR-lJfzTeY/maxresdefault.jpg "Celts: The sound of the carnyx") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auR-lJfzTeY) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/55 "2022-01-07T10:54:41Z")
You see a bit of [didgeridoo](https://www.didgeproject.com/free-didgeridoo-lessons/what-is-a-didgeridoo/) as in [Goanna - Solid Rock (live)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqxX9YDL0tk) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/56 "2022-01-07T12:30:12Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > [The tromboon is notoriously difficult to play, hence its obscurity outside of the most hardcore Historically Informed Performance circles.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKVg162kSDM) > > > [@](#): > > > > _… “a hybrid – that’s the nicer word – constructed from the parts of a bassoon and a trombone; it has all the disadvantages of both”. This instrument is called for in the scores of P. D. Q. Bach’s oratorio The Seasonings. The sound quality of the instrument is best described as comical and loud._ > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.\_D.\_Q.\_Bach#Tromboon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Q._Bach#Tromboon) Back in high school I took the mouthpiece from my baritone sax and put it on a tuba. The resulting sound was surprisingly similar to some of those tromboon sounds, and it made my band director very angry (he somehow thought I would damage either the tuba or my sax mouthpiece). ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/57 "2022-01-07T21:59:18Z")
Another contrabass: [Leo P meets our CONTRABASS SAXOPHONE - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyi4Cqxp-o) ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/58 "2022-01-07T22:28:59Z")
Here’s one of a Vietnamese orchestra that focuses on the bamboo instruments of Vietnam’s hill tribes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dSF7KFrOGec/maxresdefault.jpg "Music from Bamboo, Music of Vietnam | The Bamboo Ensemble Suc Song Moi | TEDxBaDinh") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSF7KFrOGec) The [k’ni](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27ni) is sort of a hybrid between a bowed string instrument and a mouth organ, and the [t’rưng](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%27r%C6%B0ng) is basically a bamboo xylophone. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/59 "2022-12-06T17:59:51Z")
A 60 Minutes piece a month ago featured Sona Jobarteh, the first expert-level female player of a west African stringed instrument called a kora. Here she is in concert with her instrument: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IqVWKpYA3bI/maxresdefault.jpg "Sona Jobarteh - Bannaye") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqVWKpYA3bI) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011/60 "2022-12-07T05:49:17Z")
The venerable sackbut: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/j0DF4xso-Yw/maxresdefault.jpg "O vos omnes - Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0DF4xso-Yw) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-a-video-of-an-arcane-musical-instrument/839011.md?page=4)