Music can touch anyone’s soul. What you make your own brand of music from is all up to you. Whether you can just appreciate an instrument for what is produces or you play an instrument, everything has its place. But, there are some strange musical instruments out there in the world.
1. Kalimbas
Kalimbas, also known as thumb pianos, are a part of the percussion family of instruments. This instrument is made of reeds or tines, which are then plucked by the thumbs or fingers of the person playing it and the vibrations of the reeds are then amplified through a hollow box resonator or a sound board to create the music heard
2. Glass Armonica
The glass armonica is a set of glass bowls or goblets, varying in size, which will produce musical tones using friction.
3. Cucumber Phone
This is a part of the vegetable orchestra from Vienna. It has a carrot mouth piece, cucumber body and a red bell pepper at the base to help project the sound. The orchestra does not waste the food. At the end of every performance, they offer the crowd homemade vegetable soup made from the instruments.
4. Travel Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is known as a wind instrument. It measures anywhere from one to four feet in length. The longer the instrument is the lower the pitch will be. They now have them so that you can travel with them. The travel ones can be disassembled and placed in a back pack.
5. Balloon Music
Balloon music is created with a blown up balloon that gets rubbed, popped or the air is squeezed out through the opening.
6. Anarchestra
These are instruments made of steel with very few other parts like mouth pieces and tuning machines. You can create an entire ensemble with these instruments and be able to entertain a crowd whether you know how to play or not.
7. Fence Music
You can achieve music by playing a metal or wire fence using a bow from a violin. Using the wires like they are strings on a violin, you can hear resonating sounds come from them while moving the bow back and forth.
8. Musical Saw
This is achieved by using a hand saw. When you put one handle between your knees, you have to use one hand to hold onto the other handle, while the teeth are facing inward and curve the blade into an “S” shape. You can use a violin bow to strum it or a mallet to hit it in what is called the “sweet spot,” which is the flat part of the blade. The person controls the pitch by moving the blade.
9. Cheese Drum Set
Each wheel of cheese is set up like a drum set. They vary in size, like drums and regular drumsticks are used to play. Depending on how you hit them and where will determine the sound that is produced. Each type of cheese will produce a different type sound, due to the density of that type of cheese.
10. Aeolian Wind Harp
This instrument is a wooden box with strings stretched across two planks. If you want to hear the sounds that can be made by this instrument, then it has to be placed near an open window, so the breeze can play it. The strings may be made of different materials or thicknesses of the same material and will be tuned to the same pitch or at different pitch levels. The strength of the wind will determine what type of sound you are able to hear.
11. Pegasus Piano
There are only fourteen of these pianos in existence. It is a curved keyboard that is supposed to be ergonomically correct. It has the typical 88 keys, which can create 7 ¼ octaves of sound. The lid is set on a hydraulic system that allows the operator to control just how much sound is projected from it.
12. Kazoo Instruments
kazoo is known as a wind instrument. There is a vibrating mechanism in it that changes the voice of the player when it is vocalized into it. You have to talk or sing into it in order for the instrument to work. They come in either steel or plastic.
13. Riday T-91 Midi Controller
You can play this instrument like you would a keyboard. Using a finger pattern for all 12 scales, such as the 12 major scales, the 12 minor scales, the 12 blues scales and so on. Moving your hands left to right or back and forth position on the instrument will help you to play every scale and produce the sound you want.
14. Jaw Harp
This is known as the world’s oldest instrument. It is constructed from flexible metal or bamboo. The tongue of the instrument is attached to a frame and is placed into the mouth of the player. The frame must be held firmly against the parted teeth of the person, which, in turn, will make the mouth the resonator of the sound. There must be enough room for the reed to vibrate freely. The cheeks or lips cannot come into contact with it. Changing the shape of the mouth will change the pitch and the volume can be changed by breathing in and out.
15. Weather Harp
This instrument is made from marine ply, goat skin, epoxy and mixed media. It is operated by the wind. It has 21 strings that come from the center of the piece. Those strings will play 42 notes. There are two wind activated devices that produce sounds. The metal cups will pluck the strings to play the treble chords, whereas the balance arm will pluck the strings to produce the bass notes.
