Tech | November 14, 2009 | 16 comments

Terrafon plays the earth as an instrument

source: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/11/14/terrafon-plays-the-earth-as-an-instrument/

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Tyrannous
If the earth could make music, what kind of songs would it sing? This crazy contraption, called the Terrafon, actually lets us find out the answer to that question! Designed as a huge turntable tone arm and transducer, this musical instrument plays the earth like a big gravelly vinyl record. Artists Olle Cornéer and Martin Lübcke premiered it as part of a performance entitled “Harvest” at the Volt Music Festival in Sweden. Read on to check out the video of these determined choir musicians as they drag the big wooden tool-of-music through the Swedish countryside.

Source: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/11/14/terrafon-plays-the-earth-as-an-instrument/
  1. groups:
    Entertainment,   Tech,   Current Tonight,   Earth and Science,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Music,  WTF,  Earth and Science,  Innovation,  3 more
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16 comments // Terrafon plays the earth as an instrument

  • sallymae_hogsby
  • aj727b
    • 0
      aj727b  

    • It's the "fingernails-on-a-chalkboard-a-fone" brought to you by the Jubilant Reform-Mennonite Church Choir.
      ...Don't call us, we'll call you if we decide to use you...

    • 2 years ago
  • JosephJinx
    • 0
      JosephJinx  

    • It almost seems like, from the video, that it's meant to be taken as a performance piece as a whole, rather than the crumbly noise being taken as music. With the title and everything.... I dunno. It seems like it could be taken as the futility of humans to continue on; the way the camera does close-ups of the people's faces, shows their struggling, and then what they're helping pull is this big, ratchety, clunky, screeching thing with some conductor overseeing the plow.

      But yeah, I was disappointed by the quality of the noise. I expected it to be ambient and weird, but... yeah. Eh.

    • 2 years ago
  • becktionary83
  • hack26
    • 0
      hack26  

    • Than video is waaaayyy too long. The first 45 seconds are exactly the same as the next 11 minutes.

      BTW is it just me or those "musicians" seem like miserable slaves?

    • 2 years ago
  • chinese_democracy
    • 0
      chinese_democracy  

    • Calling this music is just laughable. I'm sure someone out there can find beauty and appreciation for this, just as there is also probably a person who enjoys the shriek of a cat being kicked in the head. We have standards people...even if they aren't easily defined.

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
    • 0
      02  

    • You could run all the seismic readings up to sound-frequency range; - maybe play around with the output in a computer.

      Run it through a dot matrix for visual pattern effects.

      Might make a good display at an art festival.

    • 2 years ago
  • crispyfritters
  • rlong3
  • Daimyo
    • 0
      Daimyo  

    • I can make something that projects dragging noises too!! I was expecting something that was deep in the ground that would project sound overtime.

    • 2 years ago
  • kyackr
  • crispyfritters
  • alman365
  • rlong3
  • Tyrannous
  • Progresshiv
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