A teeny tiny thumb piano made from guitar wire clippings and a little tube clamp, on top of a contact microphone.
instrument-a-day 22: tiny kalimba
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Category Archives: sound sculpture
instrument-a-day 21: blinky
One of my earliest memories is of lying on the carpet under the christmas tree watching the colored shadows change as the bulbs blinked on and off, and listening to the small tinkling sounds of the tiny metal thermostat timers inside each bulb. For this instrument, I stuck contact microphones onto a bunch of blinky bulbs to magnify those sounds.
The sound in this video is in stereo.
instrument-a-day 20: paulownia rattle
The paulownia tree, also known as empress tree or princess tree, makes little seed pods that are natural rattles. I picked this one up in Prospect Park.
instrument-a-day 19: bang on a can ensemble
This actually sounds surprisingly good, considering my lack of rhythm! In case you were wondering, the ensemble members are (clockwise from top left) black beans, chickarina, tuna, italian beans in tomato sauce, and more tuna.
instrument-a-day 18: paper clips
It's a bunch of paper clips screwed to a chunk of wood with a piezo contact mic. It sounds kinda like 1960s electronic music. Kinda.
instrument-a-day 17: pickup glove
I took some scrap wire and wound it into coils, which I sewed to the fingertips of a knit glove. I tossed some extra magnets under the guitar strings, and then waggled my fingers over the strings while tapping the strings (still tuned to Open D) with a drumstick. It works ok, not great. The next version will use much finer, more sensitive coils, and probably only on the thumb and two fingers. It's hard to use all five!
instrument-a-day 16: guitar marxophone (marxotar)
As I said before, I love the sound of the obsolete Marxophone, but they're expensive on ebay. I made this guitar-marxophone with hex nuts glued to street-sweeper bristles stapled to a chunk of wood. The marxotar straps to the guitar's tailpiece and strap button with zipties, and can be attached and removed without any damage to the guitar.
Despite my unpracticed fumbling with the guitar marxophone and Open D tuning, I think this thing has a lot of promise. Hey manufacturers! You can have the idea, but I want credit and some free product! (Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else has already had the same idea.)
instrument-a-day 15: mute accordion
I stuck a microphone inside the bass end of my accordion, where the vent is, so I could amplify its breathing and creaking.
I first played mute accordion with the glass bees. Speaking of whom, I'll be playing with them on March 3rd at Barbes!
instrument-a-day 14: musical saws
What could be more beautiful than the sweet, pure tone of a musical saw? How about FOUR saws? Being bashed with drumsticks?
instrument-a-day 13: EGurdy
Who needs an EBow when you can have an EGurdy? The spinning disc is coated with rosin to bow the guitar strings, kinda like the wheel inside a hurdy gurdy.