Category Archives: Instruments
The Hindenburg piano
The first piano ever to be carried on a passenger aircraft was created by the Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik for the ill-fated Hindenburg airship. The lightweight aluminum alloy grand piano weighed only 162 kg (356 lbs). The frame, rim, fallboard, and … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Instruments
The Sultan’s pipe organ
In 1599 the English organ builder Thomas Dallam personally accompanied to Istanbul an instrument he had built for the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III at the behest of Queen Elizabeth. The gift was intended to smooth relations in the hope of … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Instruments, Renaissance
Circuit bending
Until now, the assumed hurdles of electronic design have kept laypersons at bay. Circuit bending—the chance-directed rewiring of preexisting electronic devices—transforms the circuit into a friendly and immediate canvas, like that of a painter: Just walk up and paint. Indeed, … Continue reading
Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Curiosities, Instruments, Science
Sherlock Holmes, violist
A close reading of the canonical texts yields conclusive evidence that the celebrated sleuth was not a superb violinist—he was a superb violist. The mistake was likely perpetuated by an early printer’s error. After all, Watson was a doctor, which … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Humor, Instruments, Literature
John Philip Sousa, violinist
While the composer of iconic marches is famous for directing the U.S. Marine Band and his own world-famous ensembles, John Philip Sousa’s early life as a violin prodigy is relatively unknown. A sickly child, Sousa was home-schooled, and from the … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Instruments, Popular music, Romantic era
A guqin resource
The open-access online resource John Thompson on the guqin silk string zither presents extensive materials on the guqin (古琴, “goo-chin”) including classic handbooks and commentaries; organological details; depictions of the guqin in art, poetry, and song; notation and sound files; playing instructions; … Continue reading
Filed under Asia, Instruments, Resources, World music
Air guitar and gender
Like real rock guitar playing, air guitar—miming electric guitar playing without an instrument—is heavily informed by gendered practices in rock, where the electric guitar functions as a signifier of masculine power and implied sexual prowess, and performing on it involves … Continue reading
Filed under Instruments, Popular music, Women's studies
George Breed’s electrified guitar
On 2 September 1890, U.S. Navy officer George Breed (1864–1939) was granted a patent for a design for an electrified guitar (Method of and apparatus for producing musical sounds by electricity, patent no. 435,679); it appears to be the first … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Instruments, Science
