# What instrument is cannon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 28, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450 "2004-09-28T07:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/1 "2004-09-28T07:46:18Z")
In the Staff Report [Is there a guy in the orchestra whose only job is playing the triangle, wood block, and wind chimes?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtriangle.html), Ian writes: > [@](#): > > 2-3 designated percussion parts, which will include everything from bass drum to castanets to gong to cannon What instrument is “cannon”? Does it use gunpowder? Are people regularly hurt? Does it bring down the house? ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/2 "2004-09-28T11:16:46Z")
From my experience watching the Atlanta Symphony, the Percusion (SP) guy is behind all the other insturments (from the audience). I would think it would a simple matter of pointing the cannon away (facing the same direction as the audience faces) to avoid damages. Using a Cannon only comes to mind for 1812 overture, and I would assume even then, a choice is made as to using a “real” or modified cannon, or even a recording overall. Since the organ is classified as a pipe/woodwind insturment because of the pipes… I guess the cannon barrel length would change the sound… not to mention if a trumpet mute, or a cannon silencer (if there is one) could be used. I guess we can all assume it isnt a string insturment, and that seems to be the only safe bet. I would have to concede that the Percusion “guy” gets the honors simply because his other insturments dont get that much play. that “places” the cannon in actual location, but not in classification. Yet, I am wrestling with your OP as well. I would place it in the woodwind section, using an Organ and Trumpet/ Slide Trombone as my reference frame. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/3 "2004-09-28T11:32:10Z")
I was joking. It’s an actual cannon? What do you use for ammo? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/4 "2004-09-28T12:30:10Z")
They fired a carronade when I sailed on the _Lady Washington_. They loaded it with a ball of blackpowder wrapped up in aluminum foil. I would assume the orchestral cannon would be similarly loaded. Incidentally, there are a lot of muzzle loading cannons in private hands. Most are used by re-enactors. You can find them at Dixie Gun Works (not a very well designed website, I’m afraid) from full-size field artillery and carronades to ¼-scale and smaller versions. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/5 "2004-09-28T12:33:52Z")
What happens when you fire a ball of blackpowder wrapped up in aluminium foil, apart from the sound and some smoke? Does anything substantial leave the cannon, and if so, where would you have it land during an orchestral performance? ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/6 "2004-09-28T12:47:10Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > I was joking. It’s an actual cannon? What do you use for ammo? Blanks, mostly. Seriously, there are works that call for firearms as musical instruments, the most famous being Tsaikovsky’s _1812 Overture_ and Beethoven’s _Wellington’s Victory_ (which was actually written for Maezel’s Panharmonicon, a monster music box). The usual practice is to make an arrangement with a local military unit. But the orchestra’s percussion section is responsible for “playing” them, though he will normally do it by signaling others to do the actual firing. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/7 "2004-09-28T16:35:48Z")
I saw the NSO do this on The Mall in DC. The cannons were 105mm howitzers “played” by Marines in full-dress uniforms. Very cool, but I don’t know which “section” of the orchestra they belonged to. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/8 "2004-09-28T16:44:17Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > What happens when you fire a ball of blackpowder wrapped up in aluminium foil, apart from the sound and some smoke? You get a lot of hot gas and aluminum foil shreds, along with some small particles of unburned gunpowder grains. And lots of noise. Nothing that’s actually dangerous from more than a dozen or so feet from the muzzle, but you’d be ill-advised to stand directly in front of it, however. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/9 "2004-09-29T01:43:28Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > You get a lot of hot gas … So that would put it in the brasswind section? ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/10 "2004-10-15T16:32:19Z")
I’m pretty much of the mindset that “if it goes boom, it belongs in the percussion section”. And evidently [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=percussion) agrees with me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/11 "2004-10-15T18:44:31Z")
What about harps, pianos, and organs? (They got lumped into the percussion/miscellany section in an old book about an orchestra. What are we teaching our children?) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/12 "2004-10-15T18:58:38Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > What about harps, pianos, and organs? (They got lumped into the percussion/miscellany section in an old book about an orchestra. What are we teaching our children?) That was a bad book. A harp is a string instrument, plain and simple. Pianos and organs are keyboard instruments - although a piano function by a percussive action, and an organ by wind. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/13 "2004-10-15T19:07:18Z")
I thought pianos were considered to be strings since they use strings. After all, playing a violin pizzicato doesn’t make it a percussion instrument. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/14 "2004-10-15T19:24:14Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > I thought pianos were considered to be strings since they use strings. A piano uses strings via a percussive action, but neither of them are as significant as it having a keyboard. (In the same way, the saxophone is woodwind) ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/15 "2004-10-15T20:29:35Z")
Concerning cannons. Back in school, UNM, late 60’s, the University Symphony played the 1812 Overture, indoors, with a couple of guys with shotguns (with blanks) firing into a garbage can. Really! I was ushering the concert hall at that time, and I thought it was a pretty good performance. But as the crowd filtered out, I overheard a little old lady with a deep eastern European accent saying to her companion: This man, Tchaikovsky, he must be rolling over in his grave like this…(appropriate rolling hand motions). What did I know? ---
**Author:** ![Candy\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Candy\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candy_Lover)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/16 "2004-10-16T19:34:02Z")
The ending to Act I of _Tosca_ can also be performed with real cannon, rather than tympani. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/17 "2004-10-16T21:41:19Z")
I wonder though: in the ‘Anvil Chorus’, from _Il Trovature_ by Verdi, do they have topless guys sweating over anvils as they sing the chorus? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/18 "2004-10-16T22:23:46Z")
A real cannon wouldn’t be a percussion instrument, it would be a flintlock instrument… ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/19 "2004-10-16T22:31:11Z")
The modern percussion section can indeed include all sorts of odd instruments; I’ve seen tuned anvils, cake pans, church bells…in fact, pretty much anything you can hit and make a noise with can and probably has been used at some point. I’ve never seen an indoor performance of the _1812 Overture_, but certainly I’ve seen outdoor performances with an assortment of cannons, activated by a push-button system operated by a percussionist. And if you want to get technical, the traditional strings/winds/brass/percussion division of instruments is a convenient system but is less precise than the [Hornbostel-Sachs classification system](http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/h/ho/hornbostel_sachs.html), which is more clear on what goes where. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/20 "2004-10-16T22:54:01Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > I wonder though: in the ‘Anvil Chorus’, from _Il Trovature_ by Verdi, do they have topless guys sweating over anvils as they sing the chorus? Yes, they usually do, unless there’s a union problem; the music is very simple. Same thing for the other “Anvil Chorus” in Strauss’s _Der Zigeunerbaron._ Mime and Siegfried often play their own anvils in _Siegfried_, since even if they didn’t they would have to mime all the strikes anyway, but the anvil music in _Das Reingold_ is normally played by professional percussionists, as the passage is relatively difficult. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450.md?page=2)