# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/21 "2004-10-17T10:49:53Z")
OK, how to classify this, describing part of Hespos’ _Seiltanz_? > [@](#): > > On one side of the room is a huge rectangularly shaped iron tank which could easily hold three or four people. A second person is imprisoned inside, and is trying to free himself - banging, banging, trying to create an escape with a blowtorch. Slowly and methodically he torches a square in the shape of a small door. The actor returns with a giant slab from the side of a tree, dropping it with enormous force onto the floor. Finally, he smashes his tree through the nearly completed door of the man inside the box, who is then freed. The psychotic leaves, never to return, and the saxophonist throws his instrument onto the floor [http://idrs.colorado.edu/Publications/DR/DR9.2/DR9.2.Post.html](http://idrs.colorado.edu/Publications/DR/DR9.2/DR9.2.Post.html) ---
**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 17, 2004, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/22 "2004-10-17T11:38:17Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > OK, how to classify this, describing part of Hespos’ _Seiltanz_? “Theatre” ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/23 "2004-10-17T14:26:01Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > , where would you have it land during an orchestral performance? Aim for the violins. 😃 Ms Boods, Guitarist ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/24 "2004-10-22T17:50:41Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > 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. Competetive black powder shooter here. That should read “…along with particles of still burning gunpowder which can be particularly dangerous.” Even with the small charges I use in revolvers and rifles the muzzle blast can easily set cloth on fire and cause serious injury. Firing a BP cannon indoors requires extreme care if the fire marshall will let you do it at all. FWIW I agree that cannon are percussion instruments but I have never, ever heard of a flintlock cannon. Fused cannon would be considered matchlock but in order to make a kaboom in time with the rest of the orchestra I think a percussion cap fired cannon is in order. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/25 "2004-10-22T20:28:33Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > FWIW I agree that cannon are percussion instruments but I have never, ever heard of a flintlock cannon. Napoleonic period naval cannon (and likely fortress guns as well) used flintlocks, with the linstock and fuse as a backup in case of a misfire. I expect that they weren’t used on field guns because of the greater risk of damage to the mechanism while being hauled around. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/26 "2004-10-22T21:19:50Z")
I wonder how Stokowski did it. He made a recording, apparently with the London Symphony Orchestra; and it ends with a lot of old iron bells clanging. This passage was used in an old Quaker Puffed Wheat commercial; at one point, just as the cannon sounded, the picture cut from someone about to spoon Puffed Wheat into his mouth to a cannon shooting Puffed Wheat (the product’s tag line was “Shot from guns”); suggesting the person didn’t like the taste of ther Puffed Wheat and spat it out. 😃 ---
**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 22, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/27 "2004-10-22T22:55:10Z")
Many cold cereals, both whole-grain and extruded, are made in the same way that popcorn is, except that instead of relying on internal moisture and a hard shell, they’re put into giant pressure cookers and then, when the steam has had a chance to permeate the stuff, the pressure cooker is suddenly opened. The technical term in the industry for these devices is “guns”, for obvious reasons. At the time, Quaker had been using “shot from guns” as their cold-cereal [slogan](http://theimaginaryworld.com/pre573.jpg) for years, and viewers were expected to recognize that. As to bells, I have a record from the mid-50’s (“Christmas in High Fidelity”, by the George Melachrino Orchestra) that simply recorded a carillon offsite and mixed it in. (The main recording was done, by the way, at the Abbey Road Studios.) But orchestras also include [“chimes”](http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/Images/BandOrchestra/Product/Enlarged/DC9160_9190_9150_Enlarged.jpg) that are hollow brass tubes, about an inch in diameter and several feet long, hung from one end, and played with a wooden hammer, which do a pretty good job of imitating church bells. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/28 "2004-10-23T06:01:38Z")
Correct name - Tubular Bells. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/29 "2004-10-23T06:31:33Z")
I was in the orchestra in high school, and we played the 1812 Overture at graduation. Our cannons were put together by the chemistry department and fired by electrical charge. Sounded damn good, though. ---
**Author:** ![Starples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Starples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starples)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/30 "2004-10-23T10:59:00Z")
There’s a famous Telarc recording of 1812 with the Cincinnati Pops (?) that has CAUTION! plastered over the cover. Lots of blown speakers because of the high recording levels of the cannons during the performance. Excellent disc. starples ---
**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 23, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/31 "2004-10-23T15:36:35Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Correct name - Tubular Bells. Actually, they’re usually called “chimes”. Especially since the 70’s record. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/32 "2004-10-23T17:51:46Z")
I’ve never heard them called chimes before. ---
**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 23, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/33 "2004-10-23T19:33:49Z")
They’re called “chimes” on Yamaha’s website and on Ludwig-Musser’s website, and “tubular chimes” on the Percussive Arts Society website. Walter Piston’s _Orchestration_ says “tubular bells or chimes”. For the most part, “Tubular Bells” is the title of a 1973 hit record by Mike Oldfield. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/34 "2004-10-23T19:41:21Z")
OK, fair enough, Yamaha like the term. (Mind you, it’s a principle of mine to ignore anything Piston says…) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/35 "2004-10-23T20:54:07Z")
Eh. I’d never heard anyone but Mike Oldfield call them “tubular bells” until this thread - I thought he was just trying to be pretentious. Nine years of school band and I’d always called them “chimes”. Maybe it’s a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/36 "2004-10-23T21:03:01Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > … The anvil music in _Das Reingold_ is normally played by professional percussionists, as the passage is relatively difficult. We’re currently playing an excerpt from _Das Rheingold_ in my University’s Symphony Orchestra (not a professional organization by any stretch of the imagination.) 🙂 The percussionists are using xylophone mallets to “hammer” on old brake drums. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/37 "2004-10-23T21:22:50Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > Napoleonic period naval cannon (and likely fortress guns as well) used flintlocks, with the linstock and fuse as a backup in case of a misfire. I expect that they weren’t used on field guns because of the greater risk of damage to the mechanism while being hauled around. Whereas they were preferred shipboard (at least by the more forward-thinking captains) because they were quicker and slightly safer - the slowmatches being in a bucket unless needed, instead of being out and handled near the guns and the wooden ship at all times. And I’d never heard of percussion cannon! Probably because my interest in such things stops at 1820. The American Civil War field gunnery must have been percussion, then? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/38 "2004-10-23T22:30:31Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Eh. I’d never heard anyone but Mike Oldfield call them “tubular bells” until this thread - I thought he was just trying to be pretentious. Nine years of school band and I’d always called them “chimes”. Maybe it’s a regional thing. ‘Regional’ is probably the best way to solve this. There’s certainly no way Mike Oldfield influenced the entire British orchestral tradition, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/39 "2004-10-24T07:39:05Z")
I was wrong. Stokowski conducted the New Philharmonia Orchestra, not the London Symphony. Considering the purist he was, however, I doubt he would have settled for chimes substituting for bells. Any Doper more familiar with Stokowski’s psyche is invited to correct me. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/40 "2004-10-24T12:08:55Z")
I’m surprised that this thread has gone on this long and no one has mentioned the relevant old folksong that starts: “In a cannon, in a tavern…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450.md?page=3)