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?
2009-04-27T16:23:15Z
I found a video of Robert Dick playing with the glissando headjoint, if anyone wants to take a look. http://www.artistshousemusic.org/videos/flutist+robert+dick+demonstrates+the+glissando+headjoint
Mamianka, you've reminded me of the flute made out of a PVC pipe. There are even directions for it, it's pretty insane. http://www.markshep.com/flute/Pipe.html
2009-04-27T18:15:41Z
Oboe reed on a saxophone? Can't imagine how that would sound! Last year my friends put their flute and mellophone together to make the "melloflute". They put the mellophone mouthpiece on the flute. They tried the flute mouthpiece on the mellphone, but that didn't work out too well.
del_icious_manager2009-04-28T00:57:51Z
Favorite Answer
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.
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.
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
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.
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.