# What is the largest musical instrument ever built? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534 "2012-11-30T02:03:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/1 "2012-11-30T02:03:34Z")
Another of my patented Crazy Thoughts While Waiting for the Bus[sup]TM[/sup]… What is the largest musical instrument ever built? I’m thinking, the pipe organ. I’m not sure whether pipe organs are custom-built for each installation, or whether there is enough demand to create standardized parts… Could a speaker system be included as part of a musical insrument? That might include PA systems at concerts. How about really large choirs? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/2 "2012-11-30T02:12:19Z")
[Earth Harp](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJUZGy26_Uk)is probably going to win for stringed instruments. Some cultures have a tradition of [water drumming](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEgJhfWKq4A) - wading into hip deep water and slapping, splashing and otherwise moving the water to make rhythmic music. Hard to imagine a bigger instrument than an ocean! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/3 "2012-11-30T02:12:26Z")
[According to this it’s a pipe organ in Atlantic City.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossmcneillie/sets/72157602455998626/) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/4 "2012-11-30T02:13:54Z")
I can’t define a speaker system or a choir as a “musical instrument,” so I guess it would be a pipe organ. P.D.Q. Bach had an instrument called the [Pandemonium,](http://www.schickele.com/pdqbio.htm) but I believe it was famous as being the loudest instrument, not the largest. Of course, this was before heavy metal rock bands. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/5 "2012-11-30T02:16:11Z")
How about the [Great Stalacpipe Organ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Stalacpipe_Organ) in Luray Caverns (Virginia, USA)? > [@](#): > > The stalactites [used to produce musical notes] are distributed through approximately 3.5 acres (14,000 m2) of the caverns ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/6 "2012-11-30T02:36:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I can’t define a speaker system or a choir as a “musical instrument,” so I guess it would be a pipe organ. > > P.D.Q. Bach had an instrument called the [Pandemonium,](http://www.schickele.com/pdqbio.htm) but I believe it was famous as being the loudest instrument, not the largest. Of course, this was before heavy metal rock bands. I’ve often wished that some clever programmer could come up with a virtual Pandemonium. The trickiest part are the cannonballs, which clang and clatter through the instrument the _first_ time any given key is pressed on the keyboard, but not subsequently. This really wakes the audience up when a composition suddenly changes keys… (I love watching audiences jump at performances of Saint Saens’ Third Symphony, where things get really gentle and soft and sleepy…and the **ORGAN COMES IN FULL BLAST!** And, yeah, it makes _me_ jump two times out of three, and I know it’s coming!) ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/7 "2012-11-30T02:59:59Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I > P.D.Q. Bach … Of course, this was before heavy metal rock bands. Or maybe not … 😃 ---
**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:** [November 30, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/8 "2012-11-30T03:21:09Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [According to this it’s a pipe organ in Atlantic City.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossmcneillie/sets/72157602455998626/) Hmmm…I was expecting a carillon or something similar as being “largest.” I guess it depends on how you define “large.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/9 "2012-11-30T03:25:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Hmmm…I was expecting a carillon or something similar as being “largest.” I guess it depends on how you define “large.” Googling ‘largest musical instrument’ I expected something bigger and more exotic than that. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/10 "2012-11-30T03:34:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Googling ‘largest musical instrument’ I expected something bigger and more exotic than that. I know. I mean, according to Wikipedia, the bourdon (low bell) at the carrilon at Riverside Church weighs 41,000 pounds (!) and is over 10 feet across. You can see footage of it being raised [here](http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675044383_20-ton-bell_Rockefeller-Church-tower_400-feet-high_artisans-raise-bell). And that’s just one of 74 bells. Total weight of all the bells is over [100 tons](http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/events/?carillon). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/11 "2012-11-30T03:52:45Z")
Bells should easily be the heaviest instruments. Earth Harp was mentioned before. You’d have to categorize area, volume, and weight to work this out. You could probably set a new record by something across the net, connecting machines around the world to a single keyboard or other input device to play music. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/12 "2012-11-30T04:29:32Z")
It wasn’t built as a musical instrument, but [the Golden Gate Bridge](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Golden-Gate-Bridge-sounds-inspire-musical-works-3572846.php) has been used as one. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/13 "2012-11-30T07:28:32Z")
San Francisco’s [Wave Organ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_Organ), though I don’t know its exact size. And similar ones in [Croatia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_organ) and [Blackpool, U.K.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_High_Tide_Organ) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/14 "2012-11-30T08:27:08Z")
Not to be too flippant, but the Universe itself was really, truly, considered and deeply studied as a musical instrument, for a far longer time than any other concept of physical reality in the West: the music of the spheres. Kepler himself was grounded in the thought. A quickie page [here](http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/kepler.htm) has some juicy quotes, and for good measure has a sound file of his mathematics, which is kind of wrong-headed, I must say. The music of the spheres is quite a rich area of investigation, and the validity of sounding music is by no means trivial for those who were into it. There are any number of compositions that use plotted star locations, background radiation, etc., as generating devices, so by that token those are quite large instruments. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/15 "2012-11-30T09:07:40Z")
Aren’t there some whistling caverns somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/16 "2012-11-30T13:02:03Z")
I’d always heard that the Wanamaker organ at the eponymous (always wanted an excuse to use that word) dept. store in Philadelphia was the world’s largest. Since the store has changed from a high prestige dept. store to a schlock joint, could the organ have been moved to Atlantic City? It would have been a massive moving job. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/17 "2012-11-30T13:59:37Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > It would have been a massive moving job. Not really. I helped with one, once, where closed church A sold the organ to church B. We disassembled it (slowly, carefully labelling and diagramming parts the whole way), and they loaded the parts in their cars and vans, and drove it away. Reassembly on the other end was presumably just the reverse process. I was only on the sending end. They would do the same for any pipe organ, although they might need a semi truck to haul all the parts of a very large one. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/18 "2012-11-30T15:09:34Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I’d always heard that the Wanamaker organ at the eponymous (always wanted an excuse to use that word) dept. store in Philadelphia was the world’s largest… There are many YouTube videos of the Wanamaker organ in concert, as well as interviews with organists on playing it. One is a broadcast performance with the organ and its city’s eponymous symphony orchestra. Your turn. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/19 "2012-11-30T17:09:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I know. I mean, according to Wikipedia, the bourdon (low bell) at the carrilon at Riverside Church weighs 41,000 pounds (!) and is over 10 feet across. You can see footage of it being raised [here](http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675044383_20-ton-bell_Rockefeller-Church-tower_400-feet-high_artisans-raise-bell). And that’s just one of 74 bells. Total weight of all the bells is over [100 tons](http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/events/?carillon). Possibly the heaviest musical instruments of all time were the Mark II and III [Telharmoniums](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telharmonium), electronic instruments built around 1900, each weighing nearly 200 tons. The tones were produced by a set of dynamos that basically filled a warehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534/20 "2012-11-30T19:58:24Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I can’t define a speaker system or a choir as a “musical instrument,” so I guess it would be a pipe organ. > > P.D.Q. Bach had an instrument called the [Pandemonium,](http://www.schickele.com/pdqbio.htm) but I believe it was famous as being the loudest instrument, not the largest. Of course, this was before heavy metal rock bands. _THANKS_ **Musicat!** I’d totally forgotten P.D.Q. Bach. I laughed for over five minutes straight reading about him. ::Snip:: “Although P.D.Q. Bach was born on April 1, 1742 and died on May 5, 1807, the dates on his first tombstone (before he was moved to an unmarked pauper’s grave) were inscribed “1807-1742” in a transparent attempt to make it appear that he could not have been the son of J.S., who died in 1750. Nice try, Bach family—close, but no cigar: some of us, or at least one of us, are not fooled, or at least, is not fooled.” 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-musical-instrument-ever-built/642534.md?page=2)