Category: Percussion Instruments

Bill G. Loyd’s giant wind bells »

Browsing through Madrid, New Mexico today, I stumbled across some wonderful wind bells/gongs on display at the Range West gallery. These bells, made by the Truchas, NM artist Bill G. Loyd, are cut from recycled gas tanks (e.g. scuba tanks, CO2 canisters, O2 firefighter tanks, etc.). From Loyd’s bio, “the qualities of each [...]

An arsenal of odd instruments »

Ken Butler’s “hybrid instruments” - Axe, crossbow, and assault rifle violins? Shovel tablas, easel guitars, umbrella igils, and toothbrush violas? Oh my! Watch Ken put a mic in his mouth and play his entire face!

Instrument ridiculousness!

The Anta Project: Playing the US/Mexico border with instruments of mass percussion »

An interesting sound project by Glenn Weyant:

“The Anta Project is a series of recordings blended in a multi-track laptop environment to create a single sonic collage of the U.S./Mexico border near Nogales, Arizona.”
Watch a video here: King David’s Wall

Frame drum from space? »

From Ganesh and Fingerworks.

How to play a building »

If you haven’t heard about this already, it’s a pretty cool idea. Basically, David Byrne attached a bunch of lopsided motors and solenoids to the structural steel in an old ferry station/slaughter house in New York City. The motors/solenoids, controlled by a recycled organ, vibrate/strike different elements of the building such as pipes, [...]

Handmade dual-chamber bamboo flute from Avi »

Check out this spectacular dual-chamber flute made by Avi:

This flute, handmade from Chinese yellow bamboo, is based on traditional Native American style flutes but with an upwards pointing resonating chamber extension. This flute has two blow holes, five finger holes, two sound chambers, and two birds. This flute’s voice is paralyzing to say [...]