On 2007-05-14 18:47:33 -0700, Lora Crighton <lcrighton@gmail.com>
said:
> Unconventional instruments is a pretty broad category - it's
> hard to know where to start [...]
Precisely. Anything can be unconventional -- it depends on the
convention. The saxophone was unconventional for a long time, although
it was used already in l'Arlesienne. The tarogato, invented at about
the same time, is still unconventional as far as Western classical
music goes, although it's common enough in folk music in Hungary and
parts of Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia. And what about the theremin,
or just magnetic tape -- there are quite a few compositions for the
latter from the '60s and '70s.
Or, to strike a more bellicose air, how about the canon and, of
course, the 1812 Overture? Antal Dorati recorded it for Mercury, with
the contribution of the 2nd New Jersey Light Artillery, and the
recording notes make an interesting read. For his 3rd symphony,
Shostakovich required originally 4 machine guns -- but it's one
version I've never heard.
Straying from classical music, there is Steve Mann's hydraulophone
(which, even if not quite a match for a Silbermann organ, is great fun
on a summer day):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgU0OZkGhGI&NR=1>
or Nikola Basic's morske orgulje in Zadar (Zara), Croatia:
<http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om24550.html>
or Sverre Larssen's windharp (which can be heard on Jan Garbarek's
"Dis").
Basically, anything can be used to make music, from linden leaves and
fish scales (featured on several recordings of Ion Laceanu, the Rroma
musician from Romania) to tin trays and jerrycans (used by Yemeni
Jews, who were banned by local Muslim law from using musical
instruments; featured on Israeli pop diva Ofra Haza's "Shiri Timon").
--Alex (the ethnic philistine)
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