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Now consider some of the instrumental developments in the 36 years prior: the solid-body electric guitar, the pedal-steel guitar, the steel drum, the electric bass, the synthesizer, and the drum machine. And like the guitar, it turned into a focal point in live performances.
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Suddenly, the turntable became a device used not just for listening to music, but performing it. According to hip-hop lore, Grand Wizzard Theodore invented scratching 36 years ago. The turntable might be the last new implement to break into pop music there’s even debate over whether that qualifies as an instrument, despite having its own form of notation and a course at Berklee College of Music. In other words, established pop and rock musicians seem more inclined to try just about any instrument other than a new one. You’re more likely to come across Tibetan singing bowls (Fleet Foxes), 17th-century Indonesian angklung (Okkervil River), or the zither (P.J. Good luck hearing any of these contraptions on the recordings of prominent modern artists. Maybe you’ve heard of the the Eigenharp, the Tenori-on, or the Harpejji? New instruments have come to market at a steady clip in recent years, offering novel and occasionally fanciful ways to perform music. Another, the Double Slide Controller, borrowed the trombone’s slide mechanism-a 15th-century innovation-to shape digitally produced tones into an otherworldly drone.Įvents like these would seem to signal a golden age for the adventurous musician.
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One previous winning entry turned whisks and garlic presses into music makers. Have computers replaced the need for the next guitar?įor the musically daring, it’s hard to beat the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, which takes place later this month at Georgia Institute of Technology.
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The turntable, invented 36 years ago, ranks as the most recently created music-making device with staying power. There are four kinds of blobs that go on your opera, each with its own role:Īs is the case with blobs, you can click and drag them up and down to make them extend or get smaller, and this malleability is what helps you create sounds at different pitches, depending on how high or low you go.ĭrag the blobs to make sounds, and when you think you've got some kind of song, you can use the record button on the bottom left corner to save it.Composer and inventor Tod Machover poses with a Beatbug, a percussive instrument, Blob Opera is going to be one of the most interesting and funniest music games online you've ever played on our website, as we know very well that blobs are cute and funny, and if you can manipulate them to make interesting sounds, songs, and music, you will be having tons of fun from start to finish! Let's go on a World Tour with the Blob Opera online!
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