# What musical instruments would be difficult/impossible to play in a weightless environment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582 "2014-03-13T01:27:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/41 "2014-03-14T20:32:38Z")
Not sure what it is called but it has chimes that dangle from a chord, or string. Like maybe a couple dozen chimes. There is no way that instrument could be played in weightlessness… the chimes would be dangling all over and banging into themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/42 "2014-03-14T21:11:07Z")
Is there any other instrument that so sharply evokes an earworm as Tubular Bells? I also keep hearing Vivian Stanshall announcing it (plus … _tubular BELLS!_)? I’d also be interested in what would happen if you had a large space and a musician-instrument harness mechanism. How would individual musician’s orientation/spin change with playing? Would a trumpeter start revolving around their centre of mass as the trumpet’s bell acted as an engine of sorts? As a djembe player, I frequently have to hold the bottom steady between my calves if I’m standing—how would I start moving? Would a bagpiper go jetting across the room? Which musician would move the most–and which the least? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/43 "2014-03-14T21:19:26Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Well, electronic metronomes and such would work, but I don’t think the classic mechanical one would. I’m not a musician so someone can correct me if I’m wrong but my understanding is that the classic mechanical metronome is basically a double-weighted pendulum, where the upper weight adjusts the center of gravity and thus the effective pendulum length and period of oscillation. The only thing the spring does is provide the energy to keep it oscillating. In fact if one considers the metronome a “musical instrument”, the mechanical style would be the classic example of something that would _not_ work in zero gravity. I think it would work - it’s an escapement mechanism with a sprung pendulum - I believe it’s more reliant on mass, motive force and the moment arm - An oscillator on a spring should work regardless of gravity (although it might calibrate differently) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/44 "2014-03-14T21:26:16Z")
Too late for edit - it took me a while to find a picture of the internals of a metronome, and it looks like they are not sprung, but weighted - in which case, yes - it won’t work. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/45 "2014-03-14T22:02:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Too late for edit - it took me a while to find a picture of the internals of a metronome, and it looks like they are not sprung, but weighted - in which case, yes - it won’t work. Right – it won’t work. A classical (not electronic) metronome is a pendulum in exactly the same way as a grandfather clock is; the escapement just keeps it going, but gravity is the main factor. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/46 "2014-03-14T22:04:07Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Is there any other instrument that so sharply evokes an earworm as Tubular Bells? I also keep hearing Vivian Stanshall announcing it (plus … _tubular BELLS!_)? The accordion and “Lady of Spain.” ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/47 "2014-03-15T03:38:34Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > Youtube Clip of [wringing out a towel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFPvdNbftOY). Hadn’t seen it before. It’s pretty cool. I love how he just casually lets go of the microphone and lets it hang there so he can use two hands. > I think an interesting companion thread could be…what instruments could we make to work in space, that wouldn’t work in the gravity of earth? And hell, here’s the same astronaut playing the [acoustic guitar](http://youtu.be/1xfF7NeYrpA) in microgravity (at the end of the short video). ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/48 "2014-03-15T06:08:34Z")
Here’s the important question. You’ve got a guitar on the ISS. A crewmember picks it up, tunes it, and starts playing “Stairway to Heaven” or “Sweet Home Alabama”. I think there’s 3 possibilities. 1. The other crewmen toss the guitar player out of the airlock. B. The other crewmen toss the guitar out of the airlock. iii. The other crewmen toss both the guitar and player out of the airlock. Oh, and for 1 and iii, should the guitar player be wearing a space suit? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/49 "2014-03-15T06:17:29Z")
Darned edit window! I’m leaning toward 1 with the sans spacesuit option. And while I’m at it, here’s another question: Pete Townsend is in a space station in orbit. He’s got a guitar with a belt around his waist and right thigh to hold it in his preferred playing position (he likes the body low). He and the guitar are floating. The space is large enough that he’s not going to make contact with anything; he’s not strapped down. He starts playing and doing his windmilling of his right arm. Will counter-torque forces make his body rotate anti his windmilling? If he stops windmilling his arm, would any induced motion stop or continue? Cause, dammit, there are just some things we NEED TO KNOW! ---
**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:** [March 15, 2014, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/50 "2014-03-15T11:03:22Z")
The traditional Hurdy Gurdy or \*vielle à roue \* won’t work properly - it uses gravity to return the keys. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582/51 "2014-03-15T12:46:12Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Handheld percussion stuff such as the triangle (it could be played, but would need more attention) I imagine the triangle could be played by batting it back and forth with a rod. > [@jtur88](#): > > Is there a name for the makeshift “instrument” consisting if partially filled glasses of water, tapped on like a xylophone? That’s known as a [glass harp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_harp). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-instruments-would-be-difficult-impossible-to-play-in-a-weightless-environment/683582.md?page=2)