How music is made: Amazing facts about the making of musical instruments.
![How music is made: Amazing facts about the making of musical instrumentsYahoo[[MORE]]Ordinary (and bizarre) looking instruments hold some interesting facts. Listed below are just some of our favourites:Pikasso GuitarIn 1984 jazz musician Pat Metheny wanted a guitar with “as many strings as possible.” The result was the Pikasso guitar: Its name was derived from its likeness to the appearance of the cubist works of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. This instrument has four necks, two sound holes and 42 strings. You need some skills to operate this one, in other words.ThereminThe theremin is a unique instrument and one of the world’s first electronic instruments (its eerie sounds making it a staple in early sci-fi movies). Invented in 1921 by Russian inventor Leon Theremin, it looks like a podium with two protruding antennae and it works without the slightest touch. Apparently, Leon Theremin first came up with the idea for the instrument while still in school. During one science lesson, Theremin noticed that depending on how close a person stands to a Tesla coil, it hums in different pitches. PianoDid you know that the piano is known as “The King of Instruments” because of the tonal range (the piano covers the full spectrum of any instrument in the orchestra from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo), its ability to produce melody as well as its broad dynamic range. What’s more, the average medium size piano has about 230 strings, with each string having about 165 pounds of tension, WheelharpImage source: PinterestThe Wheelharp is a keyboard musical instrument that can orchestrate a full chromatic scale of 61 actual bowed strings at one’s own fingertips. According to the Wall Street Journal it “looks and works like a cross between a harpsichord and a hurdy-gurdy: a motor driven wheel spins, rubbing against strings when the player depresses a key.” Despite looking like it came from the middle ages, the wheelharp actually made its debut at the NAMM Show – an annual US music trade event – in 2013.HydraulophoneThe hydraulophone is the world’s first musical instrument that makes sound from water. Played like a keyboard instrument, it starts producing sound when the musician covers one or more of the water jets, forcing the water through a calibrated pipe. It was invented by American researcher and inventor Steve Mann, and has been used as a sensory exploration device for low vision individuals.](http://40.media.tumblr.com/763542f11ca2102c84133fc032fa04c5/tumblr_nwwtfmO3OS1uiqas8o1_500.jpg)
Yahoo
Ordinary (and bizarre) looking instruments hold some interesting facts. Listed below are just some of our favourites:
Pikasso Guitar
In 1984 jazz musician Pat Metheny wanted a guitar with “as many strings as possible.” The result was the Pikasso guitar: Its name was derived from its likeness to the appearance of the cubist works of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. This instrument has four necks, two sound holes and 42 strings. You need some skills to operate this one, in other words.
Theremin
The theremin is a unique instrument and one of the world’s first electronic instruments (its eerie sounds making it a staple in early sci-fi movies). Invented in 1921 by Russian inventor Leon Theremin, it looks like a podium with two protruding antennae and it works without the slightest touch. Apparently, Leon Theremin first came up with the idea for the instrument while still in school. During one science lesson, Theremin noticed that depending on how close a person stands to a Tesla coil, it hums in different pitches.
Piano
Did you know that the piano is known as “The King of Instruments” because of the tonal range (the piano covers the full spectrum of any instrument in the orchestra from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo), its ability to produce melody as well as its broad dynamic range. What’s more, the average medium size piano has about 230 strings, with
each string having about 165 pounds of tension,
each string having about 165 pounds of tension,
Wheelharp
Image source: Pinterest
The Wheelharp is a keyboard musical instrument that can orchestrate a full chromatic scale of 61 actual bowed strings at one’s own fingertips. According to the Wall Street Journal it “looks and works like a cross between a harpsichord and a hurdy-gurdy: a motor driven wheel spins, rubbing against strings when the player depresses a key.” Despite looking like it came from the middle ages, the wheelharp actually made its debut at the NAMM Show – an annual US music trade event – in 2013.
Hydraulophone
The hydraulophone is the world’s first musical instrument that makes sound from water. Played like a keyboard instrument, it starts producing sound when the musician covers one or more of the water jets, forcing the water through a calibrated pipe. It was invented by American researcher and inventor Steve Mann, and has been used as a sensory exploration device for low vision individuals.
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