With a little practice, this could almost be an acceptable sound. I didn’t practice.
Category Archives: instruments
instrument-a-day 3: playdocarina
The secret to getting a loud clear note out of the soft squishy ocarina was making a sharp-edged lip around the blowhole. As soon as I poked a hole in it, it started to fall apart.
instrument-a-day 2: heatsink
A big heat sink on a cardboard box resonator has a surprisingly nice chime to it.
instrument-a-day 1: paper speakers
It’s February, and that means it’s Instrument-a-Day time again! Day 1: paper speakers – experimenting with simple handmade speakers.
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short ride in a fast chihuahua
Here’s a nice recording of Short Ride in a Fast Chihuhua, performed live (by a toy chihuahua) at the Qubit Machine Music festival in February.
And here’s a video of another performance (also recorded at Qubit).
Short Ride in a Fast Chihuahua from ranjit on Vimeo.
About Short Ride in a Fast Chihuahua:
My toy dog always barks 26 times in a row. I asked composers to contribute microscores for piano, each 26 beats long, to be synchronized to the chihuahua’s voice. Fifteen composers wrote about sixty scores, which were performed by the mechanical dog at the Qubit Machine Music festival at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center in New York in February 2014.
Composers: Ranjit Bhatnagar, Jason Charney, RP Collier, Langdon Crawford, Christi Denton, Rachael Forsyth, Ben Houge, Lem Jay Ignacio, Bryan Jacobs, James Joslin, Ari Lacenski, Tony Marasco, Kala Pierson, Erik Satie (adapted by Ranjit Bhatnagar), Isaac Schankler, and Schuyler Thum.
support wfmu free-form radio!
8-bit violin, special WFMU Marathon edition! from ranjit on Vimeo.
I made this custom 8-bit violin for WFMU’s fundraising marathon. Pledge to support WFMU before 9pm tonight for a chance to win it! $15/month or more gets you in the drawing.
instrument-a-day 27: ladybug
A light sensor plugged into a guitar amp turns a blinky toy into an optical drone.
instrument-a-day 26: jar binks
Just binking on some jars.
instrument-a-day 24: reed/whistle
I stuck a clarinet-style reed mouthpiece onto a whistle (day 1). It’s possible to get both the whistle and reed to sound at the same time, resulting in … funny noises. Having the reed on there also seems to make it easier to play the whistle’s overtones, maybe by restricting airflow.
instrument-a-day 23: metrogrand midi controller
A 7-note USB MIDI controller made from one of Margaret Leng Tan’s Metro Grand Piano sculptures.
Come see the MetroGrands and much more this Thursday evening at Barbés in Brooklyn! Details: facebook.com/events/476812812423002/