![]() ![]() Shredding on an imaginary guitar is something we’re all guilty of, so now is the time to let you in on something you may have been happier not knowing competitive and organised air-guitar events exist and draw in air guitarists and fans from all over the world.īrought mainstream attention through the cult-hit documentary ‘Air Guitar Nation’, the competitive Air Guitar scene has thrilled and/or totally perplexed its audience. the air guitar is played by strumming rabidly and wildly at thin-air whilst fantasising about rocking a sellout crowd. Technically a dance, or performance, or, whatever. However, this is as good an opportunity as any to sneak in the divisive and puzzling world of competitive air-guitar. Okay, we’re cheating here and we can already hear the displeasure from those of you reading this. The lowest note on the Octobass clocks in at such a low frequency (16 hertz), it’s unable to be heard by most humans. The model on display at the Museum of Music in Paris measures in at over 3 meters in length and would require two or more musicians to play it. Vuillaume’s octobass consists of three strings, and is in both design and function a larger version of the double-bass. The monstrous octobass has enjoyed its reputation as being one of the largest traditionally-based instruments since its revelation in 1850 by Frenchman, Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, who was by trade a renowned luthier (a craftsman responsible for constructing and repairing common stringed-instruments). ![]() Here’s a clip of the inventor himself demonstrating what the theremin can do: We know it as the Theremin, and is a favourite of stand-up comedian, Bill Bailey who often uses the instrument in his routines. After much experimentation, Theremin was able to develop an understanding of how to play notes and from there, went on to perform entire concerts with what was known in his homeland as an etherphone. ![]() Whilst working on radio-engineering at a prominent research institute in the Soviet Russian city of Petrograd (Now Saint Petersburg), prodigious physicist, Léon Theremin stumbled on to the notion of changing the pitch of an audio tone produced via a dielectric device, by moving his hands in different places along the path where the signal was being emitted. You might think that this is where the instrument’s name came from but the name actually comes from the waterphone’s creator, the fittingly named, Richard Waters.Īnother eerie sounding instrument next, and one which owes its existence to a brilliant Russian scientist doing his part to bolster the Russian military effort during World War I. The ‘pan’ can be filled with water and it’s this characteristic which helps conjure the bone-chilling tonal outputs which can be achieved with the waterphone. These rods can be struck or bowed with mallets and resonate with the contents of the pan. The waterphone is a percussion instrument which is comprised of a cylindrical ‘pan’ or ‘bowl’, with bronze ‘rods’ of varying sizes placed uniformly around the pan’s edge. It’s fair to say that most horror films, old and new, owe much of their effectiveness to this odd-looking instrument. With that out of the way and without any further ado, allow us to introduce you to our picks. The first example of a ‘true’ musical instrument is often said to be a primitive version of a flute which dates back approximately 40, 000 years although some archaeologists and historians argue that artefacts dating back further still do exist. Simply put, to qualify as a musical instrument, an object must have been adapted with the clear purpose of creating music from sounds. First though, it’s important to define and understand the term ‘musical instrument’. From instruments invented in the science lab to figments of our imagination, here at Rimmers Music, we’re going to look at some of the more unusual musical instruments to have caught our eye over the years. ![]()
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