Thumb piano!

In Zimbabwean music, the mbira is a musical instrument consisting of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. It is often fitted into a deze that functions as a resonator. Mbira performances are usually accompanied by hosho. The Mbira is usually classified as part of the lamellophone family of musical instruments.


Robert Patterson Collier Flickr set shows a great deal of Thumb Pianos, or Kalimbas, or Mbiras.

Carol of the Bells (array mbira)

African Harp and Thumb Piano Ensemble

Paco Sere plays mbira

Visual Accoustic - java music machine.

VisualAccoustic - a wonderful Java Applet, which allows you to play several instruments including Piano, Strings, Flute, Bass, Harp, etc. by moving your mouse on the canvas. You control delay, volume and pitch, and the program does the harmony ;) Combinations of low volume bass and flute or sax sound pretty nice.

Laser Harp

A laser harp is an electronic musical instrument consisting of several laser beams to be blocked, in analogy with the plucking of the strings of a harp, in order to produce sounds. It is famously used by Jean Michel Jarre in his concerts.

The term "laser harp" and the first working laser harp were invented and made by Geoffrey Rose in 1976.The first model was constructed with a matrix of 5 X 5 laser beams in an octagonal frame. It has subsequently been used in a number of different designs, including a MIDI version invented by Philippe Guerre, and a recent one created by Yan Terrien. They have also been used in public art installations such as those created by Jen Lewin on display at Lincoln Center in 2000 and Burning Man 2005.

A laser harp is generally built using a single laser, splitting its beam into an array of beams in parallel or fan arrangement. When a beam is blocked, this is detected by a photodiode or photoresistor, which is connected to electronics activating the relevant note. Playing the actual sound is usually handled by connecting the laser harp to a synthesizer, sampler or computer.

Here is a video of Jean Michel Jarre performing his Rendez Vous 2 on a laser harp. And if you want to build one yourself - here is a guide. And watch your eyes ;)

Balalaika!

The balalaika is a stringed instrument of Russian origin, with a characteristic triangular body and 3 strings (or sometimes 6, in pairs).

Here is a video of a russian folk song played on two balalaikas - a bass and a prima.



And here you can see, that balalikas are not only about folk songs.

Resonant Chamber

This is just an amasing video by Animusic project. "Resonant Chamber" features a ton of steampunk strings combined in an amazing music machine.

Contrabass saxophone

The contrabass saxophone is one of the lowest-pitched members of the saxophone family. It is extremely large (twice the length of tubing of the baritone saxophone, with a bore twice as wide, standing 6 feet four inches tall, or 1.9 meters) and heavy (approximately 45 pounds, or 20.4 kilograms), and is pitched in the key of EE♭, one octave below the baritone.

Especially in its lowest register, the instrument produces a massive and somewhat harsh, foghorn-like tone. Because of its extremely low register (like the contrabassoon), it can be difficult for listeners to perceive individual pitches; instead of hearing a clearly defined melody, listeners may instead hear a series of "buzzy" tones with little pitch definition.

Here is a page with some mp3's of the thing.

Tubax contrabass saxophone

Bazantar - Five String Double Bass

The bazantar is a custom made string instrument invented by musician Mark Deutsch, who worked on the design between 1993 and 1997 (US patent 5883318 issued March 16, 1999).

The bazantar is a five string double bass with 29 sympathetic and 4 drone strings and has a melodic range of five octaves. It is designed as a separate housing for sympathetic strings (to deal with the increased string tension) mountable on a double bass or cello, modified to hold drone strings.

Here is a 10 min video by Mark Deutsch himself.