Tin Can Orchestra Makes Money
THE tin can orchestra shown in photo on left was the invention of three New York boys who determined to beat the depression. Sixteen cans make up the orchestration. All are grouped according to the sound they emit. It is hardly exact to say they built a perfect chromatic scale but they have gone as far as possible with the materials at hand. One of the three boys plays the band while the others sing.
He Finds Music in Plumbing Tools
THOSE tools that plumbers once left behind have been given new uses by “Red” Smith of Los Angeles. He has turned them into musical instruments.
Red was a professional crooner and saxaphone player. When work became slack in the movie studios and theaters he took up the creation and playing of unique musical instruments. And get work he did—as the musical plumber.
RADIO SINGER IN CELLOPHANE BELL
To put the voice of a coloratura soprano on the air with fidelity, broadcasting engineers have devised a cellophane “bell” within which the singer stands. Covering her down to the waistline, the transparent envelop is said to do for the human voice what a mute does for a cornet or violin, and the singer can render her highest notes without fear of causing unpleasant vibrations in the microphone.
Isn’t this a theremin?
Recordings Made of Electric Music
AN ELECTRONIC device which uses oscillating radio tubes and transforms the resultant howls into music, has created a great deal of interest in London, where the first phonographic recording of such music was recently made.
A steel rod, about one and one half feet high, is connected to a special electronic device. The operator stands before this rod and by waving his hand at different distances varies the electrical capacity between his body and the radio tube grids.
The resultant music is something like that produced on a musical saw. It is attracting considerable attention abroad.
Electric Piano Is a One-Man Orchestra
Musical tones almost identical with those produced by a piano, harpsicord, oboe, violin, trumpet, French horn, and other instruments are created by an amazing electric piano recently invented by Laurens Hammond, of New York City. Fitted with a single keyboard of seventy-two-keys, which are operated exactly like those of a piano, the electric orchestra contains no pipes, reeds, strings, hammers, or other vibrating parts, but produces its tones solely through a circuit of tuned vacuum tubes. These tones are varied over a wide range by means of simple controls mounted on a panel above the keyboard. Volume of sound is controlled accurately by a foot pedal.
Russian Invents Double Recording Discs
A VIOLINIST playing his own piano accompaniment or a vocalist harmonizing as a trio may sound incredible, but it is quite possible according to Professor Vladimir Karapetoff of Cornell University. The eminent Russian scientist has perfected a device which makes it possible to record as many as three different instruments or voices on a single phonograph disc.
Provided with earphones, a violinist can accompany a piano rendition previously played by himself. When the recording is played back both violin and piano will harmonize. It is possible for the musician to add a third instrument to the recording, producing a stringed trio rendition. A singer who can sing alto, mezzo soprano and soprano can blend her voice into a trio when recorded on the unusual apparatus. Prof. Karapetoff’s instrument uses regular home recording blank discs which are cut with a special electric pick-up. Records are played through an amplifier.
ELECTRICITY MAKES MUSIC
Three new musical instruments, a guitar, a violin and a clavier, recently invented by Lloyd Lear, lecturer on the physics of music at Northwestern University, Illinois, produce their music electrically. The unusual instruments have no sounding boards and the strings when struck vibrate with little sound. The vibrations are caught by electric pick-ups and converted into current. Then the impulses are converted into music.
How to Build an Electric Organ FOR ABOUT FIVE DOLLARS
WITH its deep, mellow notes, the electric organ is fast gaining the musical limelight. As a rule, these instruments are large and costly. Yet, for the price of a new hat, you can build a duplicate of a small organ that was featured in a recent coast-to-coast radio broadcast.
BIGGEST GUITAR IS PLAYED LIKE A BASS FIDDLE
Believed to be the world’s biggest guitar, this six-foot instrument, recently demonstrated in Chicago, combines the resonance of the bass fiddle and the tones of the guitar. The “Bassoguitar,” as the new instrument has been named, is played by slapping and plucking the strings like a bass fiddle.
Midget Organ Has Full Range
Weighing only 125 pounds, a diminutive electric organ has recently been completed by Louis Weir, of Boston, Mass. Tiny whirling wheels generate the fundamental notes, while the variations and harmonics of a full-size organ are produced by an intricate combination of switches and stops. An amplifier swells the volume of the instrument from a faint whisper to a resounding crescendo.
Violin with Horn for Sounding Box Directs Tone toward Audience
Built on the same principle as a violin and played in the same manner, a musical instrument with a metal horn instead of the usual sounding-box has been patented. Each string is provided with a separate bridge and metal diaphragms to amplify the tone. The sound can be focused directly upon those wishing to hear by pointing the mouth of the horn toward them; greater volume is secured, and the tone, while essentially that of a violin, has something of the quality of a cornet’s.
‘Two-Passenger’ Harmonica Has Room for Duets
That old favorite song about the “bicycle built for two” can now be played appropriately on a harmonica built for two. There is plenty of room for a duet, and you could have a trio without crowding too much. The 320-note mouth organ was introduced at a recent trade show of the music industries.
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