Unusual musical instruments

Everyone knows about pianos, trumpets, violins, etc. But in this thread, we will talk about some more obscure, unique instruments!

I'd like to start with the calliope. I bet that most people have heard it - either at a circus, carousel, etc. or in the media - but few know what it's called, or even what it looks like. It's actually a tiny, steam-powered pipe organ, and it makes a very delightful flute-like sound!

That's a cool instrument, I think!

I'm actually self-taught at the marimba. I believe it's an African instrument...? But it's a gigantic, wooden xylophone, basically. And you use those cotton percussion sticks to beat on them.

I love to play the tablah, or goblet drum as it's more commonly called. However, that's a pretty common instrument these days, so how about the Zanzithophone, an instrument that is popular among the Elephant Six?

It's famously what the brass section in "King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1" by Neutral Milk Hotel is made up of.

I've been trying to find one myself, but those things are super rare last time I checked.

edited 17th Jul '16 11:28:57 PM by golgothasArisen

I play the Bassoon, but that instrument is probably common knowledge to everyone on this thread. What is not is the contrabass flute, which is absolutely massive and sounds just plain wrong.

Update, I also play the ocarina now.

I play a lot of instruments (well, counting the fact that I have piano training that lets me play keyboard percussion instruments like orchestra bells and xylophone), but I think the most obscure one is mandolin. I don't know it as well as I'd like, but I can pluck out notes and melodies because it's the same tuning as a violin (which is my "main" instrument). I don't play any other really weird ones though, except maybe ukulele.

What about a Photoplayer? During the 1910s and 20s, they were used to accompany Silent Films, especially in smaller Movie Houses, that may not have been large enough for a Theatre Organ. This particular brand is the "American Fotoplayer" and there are only about 13 or so functioning instruments left.

oh, so we aren't talking about the badgermin? http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/04/05/charlie-draper-plays-the-badgermin/

Hurdygurdyes are like violins with hand cranks. They make very interesting music. On a more personal note, I play the melodica. It’s like a piano, except you produce sound by blowing into it.

I've seen videos of people playing all-stars on a watermelon, no joke, also you can turn a gourd into an instrument

There are scads of instruments currently considered obsolete that one will nowadays only encounter in early music performances. They’re plenty unusual in that regard:

-Sackbut: essentially an early version of the trombone. The bells look a little different, but otherwise it’s very similar to that instrument.

-Cornetto: a trumpet forerunner, and sounded a lot like it. Uses a similar metal cup mouthpiece, but the instrument is made of leather-encased wood (some versions look like a clarinet with holes drilled into it).

-Ophicleide: came in several sizes, with the bass ophicleide being an immediate precursor of the tuba. It looks like a big metal bassoon. The smallest one is usually called a keyed bugle. The Russian bassoon and English bass horn are similar to the bass ophicleide and were sometimes substituted.

-Serpent: a precursor of the bass ophicleide, though it’s essentially a bass cornetto. Cecil Forsythe in his orchestration book memorably described it looking like a drain pipe that is suffering internally.

-Crumhorn: an ancient woodwind instrument that is sort of an ancestor to the oboe, having a similar buzzing sound, It’s blown into like a recorder, but the double reed is located inside the instrument. Came in several sizes.

-Shawm: another ancient woodwind that is a more direct ancestor to the oboe. Like that instrument, the player blows into a double reed and the sound is very nasal.

-Rackett: an obsolete woodwind instrument with a double reed that came in many sizes, the bass version of which is a forerunner of the bassoon.

-Viol: the ancestor of modern orchestral string instruments, which again came in many sizes. These had frets, had anywhere from four to six strings, and were played with a bow held like a soup spoon. Smaller ones were called viola da braccio while the bigger ones were called viola da gamba.

-Viola d’amore: a somewhat later instrument modeled after the older viol but lasting a bit longer than these. It added in a set of sympathetically vibrating strings to help amplify sound.

-Arpeggione: an early Romantic period instrument that was in vogue for only about ten years before disappearing. Until the 21st century, the only work written for it was Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, which has subsequently been transcribed for several modern instruments. It was similar to a viol in having frets and being played with a bow, but its six strings were tuned like a guitar.

Saxophones are not unusual instruments (though the sopranino and bass versions aren’t seen very often) — but Adolphe Sax, the person who invented them, also came up with another family of instruments. Called saxhorns, these come in many sizes like saxophones do.

They’re a family of piston-valved brass instruments that look superficially like modern trumpets and tubas, but have a mellower sound. The flugelhorn is a lot like the soprano saxhorn and probably the most often seen counterpart to these. True saxhorns are apparently still sometimes encountered in European wind ensembles and bands.

There are some auxiliary woodwind and brass instruments still called for in standard repertoire orchestral and band works that aren’t encountered that often anymore. Examples:

-Piccolo trumpet. Essentially a tiny version of the standard trumpet. One often sees it used in early music, playing the high screech trumpet parts written by Bach and other Baroque-era composers.

-Bass trumpet. A large version of the trumpet, for all practical purposes the same as a valve trombone.

-Alto trombone. A small slide trombone often called for explicitly in music from the Baroque to Early Romantic periods. Nowadays, tenor trombone players can easily reach these higher range notes, making the alto trombone obsolete.

-Contrabass trombone. The largest member of the trombone family, occasionally seen in Wagner operas and a few other late Romantic works. It has the same range as the tuba and is hard to play because it requires a player with huge lung capacity.

-Lower pitched flutes than the standard one exist and are encountered occasionally, including the alto, bass, contrabass, double contrabass, and hyperbass versions. The larger they are, the less often they are found.

-Other types of oboes exist besides the standard version and the English horn. The heckelphone (essentially a bass oboe) and oboe d’amore (an alto oboe) are occasionally called for in late Romantic and early 20th century scores.

-There’s a whole family of clarinets in existence. These include the sopranino (usually in E-flat or D), the alto clarinet and its close relative the Basset horn, the commonly encountered bass clarinet, and two sizes of contrabass clarinet. They all appear in wind ensembles and occasionally in orchestral music.

I don't play any instruments anymore, but I haven't seen the Theremin instrument mentioned on this thread, so I'll name-drop it and post a video featuring it.

Heard of corkscrew didgeridoos? I would really like a song made with it.