Interesting instrument hybrids?

Question

So today I ran across this CD with Peter Schickele, and in the pullout there were photos of him playing some very interesting instruments, including the tromboon. It has the mouthpiece of a bassoon but the body of a trombone. Apparently it was invented for some of P.D.Q. Bach's works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tromboon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4x7xZO4YUE&feature=related

So I was wondering, does anyone know of any other interesting hybrid instruments like this?

Answer 1

Check-out the Stroh Violin - a weird mixture of violin and trumpet used to amplify the sound of string instruments in the very earliest days of sound recording. I have placed a couple of links below.



The composer Mauricio Kagel wrote a piece called '1898' (he wrote it in 1973 for the 75th Anniversary of the German Deutsche Grammophon label) which used these instruments in a modern context.

Answer 2

Those instruments of course are jokes



Some more serious hybrid and new instruments look into Harry Partch. He made a sub-contra bass marimba with four notes, the lowest has a frequency of 16Hz, at the bottom edge of human hearing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzfzT2NnmZs&feature=related



I've also seen what another composer called the "demi-clarinet" in which the middle section of the clarinet was omitted, the mouthpiece was connected to the bell.



my favorite that I've never actually seen or heard is the pagophone: like a xylophone except it's made of ice.

Answer 3

Hmm... While we wait for our conductor,my friends and I often switch mouth pieces. A clarinet mouthpiece on a trumpet is pretty awesome. (It sounded more like a sax, than either of those instruments.) The trumpet mouthpiece on the clarinet didnt work, but a trombone mouthpiece did.



I once got a shawm reed and stuck it into my trumpet mouthpiece, because the reed sits sort of inside the mouth this actually worked... again it sounded like a sax, but VERY nasal!



I swapped mouthpieces with a friend who plays trombone... Ah the joy to be able to play high without having to try. But of course there was sooo much pressure, because of the trumpets size.



The most awesome actual hybrid is the lute-harpsichord. It is a lute crossed with a harpsichord, so it has a keyboard, is about the size of a harpsichord, but has gut strings and is bowl shaped. Apparently it is more mellow sounding, but I cant find a recording of one anywhere.

http://www.baroquemusic.org/barluthp.html

Answer 4

Hi Papagena,



One of the most interesting "hybrid" instruments is the cornetto - an early woodwind instrument, not to be confused with the later brass cornet. The cornetto was very popular during the Renaissance and early Baroque, and Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Castello and their contemporaries composed extensively for this intriguing instrument.



The cornetto is a weird beastie - the body is made of wood or ivory, and covered with leather or parchment. It has fingerholes similar to those of a recorder, and a cup-shaped mouthpiece, rather like a trumpet. The cornetto is renowned for being devilishly difficult to play, but its distinctive trumpet-like tome is an irreplaceable component of the instrumental musical texture of this period.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornett





Hafwen x

Answer 5

These are jokes, as you clearly know. Their limited number of notes, dynamics, etc. allows then only to be played in these PDQ Bach compositions. However, if you want to see something odd - find a photo of Robert Dick playing the bass flute with a glissando headjoint. I have seen him do this live at flutists' conventions - too cool.

Answer 6

Hybrid debt capital instruments gained enormously in popularity over the past several years due to being a combination of a company's issued stock and bonds.

Answer 7

Peterson's Beer Bottle Organ

http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=124

http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om06300.html

Answer 8

So this isn't *quite* a hybrid, but it's close :) Some people have taken pianos and attached thumbtacks to the hammers. My parents would kill me if I did this! (My piano would kill me if I did this...)



The result is a sort of hybrid between a clavichord and a piano. (Or so I've heard- I've never listened to it myself!) The tone is a little like a clavichord but much more delicate, and it rings/sustains like a piano. The only video I can find also has the strings being plucked, so it still doesn't quite tell you how it would sound!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=905jne8nEXI



It's kind of neat though. My choir director did this thumbtack trick for a Halloween concert once...

Answer 9

My favorite hybrid - because I own one and play it myself - is the sarrusophone, which is (as I describe it) a cross between a bassoon, a saxophone, and a paper clip. Here are a few websites about it:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarrusophone

http://www.contrabass.com/pages/sarrus.html (has some sound clips of the contrabass sarrusophone)

http://www.idrs.org/Publications/Journal/JNL17/JNL17.Joppig.Sarrus.html (a very detailed article on the history of the instrument)

Answer 10

I know of no "hybrids", but an instance of a standard instrument being played in a most unusual way(the only one, that I know of relating to this particular type of instrument). And of a machine that was specially constructed for just one recording, and an associated instance where a loan from a bank was utilized.



In the first, during the scene in R. Strauss's opera "Salome" where she is waiting at the cistern for John the Baptist's head to be handed up to her, the strings(violins only?)are "pinched", not plucked or bowed. Begin listening very closely around 2:25 and you should be able to hear them:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI02Rj5xhFM



The machine I referred to was a "thunder" machine especially designed and constructed for employment in Solti's(with the VPO)famous recording of the Ring, dubbed the "Golden Ring". It's heard here in this video at 1:57: the one and only time a recording of it has ever been released to my knowledge, and has got to be either one of if not the loudest sound heard in any "musical" production:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcVjGBNrlCs&feature=related



The loan from a bank was that of I don't know how many silver bars from one in Vienna, for use in the same recording, that of "Das Rheingold". Its utilization was for the Nibelung dwarfs to pound away on. They can be heard here, beginning at 3:00:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-9Oml5IPT8&feature=related



Alberich

Answer 11

Are you serious! I was just thinking about this today...



I was thinking of a way to put my oboe reed on my saxophone... Didn't quite work... (ended up breaking the reed... argh!)



Seriously, I'd love to hear what all of the combo's of instruments and mouthpieces would sound like!



--Schumiszt

Answer 12

Donald Martino wrote a Triple Concerto for Clarinet, Bass Clarinet and ContraBass clarinet, to simulate an extended-range instrument. Gee, I can't imagine why it's not on You Tube. :)



Then there's the Carrot Clarinet....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWbj7FYEi3M.



So much more, but so little time. Can't wait to see the other posts!

Answer 13

That's really interesting! The closest thing I can come up with like it is this: I know a guy who can play the spoons with his hands while playing the trombone with his feet.



Interesting, but not really what you were talking about...sorry, I'm half asleep right now :P



I'll be interested to see all the answers!

Answer 14

very good question