Thanks SeekAndFind.
- Viola organista made by Slawomir Zubrzycki [a la Leonardo da Vinci]
- Listen To A Crazy Piano Invented By Leonardo Da Vinci
Very cool!
It would make great Background music for a Vincent price movie.
Other than that I can’t see much use for it.
*Classical music ping*
ping for later
Listening to it makes me think he’s playing a cello, a harpsichord, and a violin all at the same time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_organista
Akio Obuchi built several instruments as early as 1993.[1] In 2004, a modern reconstruction of the viola organista by Akio Obuchi was used in a concert in Genoa, Italy .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOrn_z9m9lU&list=RDsv3py3Ap8_Y
Turn on the captions for this video.
The article cites DaVinci’s “wacky piano”.
Methinks the “urinal-ist” is a mite jealous of Leo’s creativity as well as musical prowess.
Most people don’t know that when Leonardo got his first gig working for his patron, Ludovico Sforza, he went as a musician and slowly worked himself up as an architect and war machine designer.
Each is connected to the keyboard, complete with smaller black keys for sharp and flat notes. But unlike a piano, it has no hammered dulcimers. Instead, there are four spinning wheels wrapped in horse-tail hair, like violin bows.
To turn them, Zubrzycki pumps a pedal below the keyboard connected to a crankshaft. As he tinkles the keys, they press the strings down onto the wheels, emitting rich, sonorous tones reminiscent of a cello, an organ and even an accordion.
In operating principle, this instrument is nothing more than an oversized medieval Hurdy Gurdy coupled to a piano keyboard. However, design of the sound board determines the volume and tonality -- here it is much more refined and cello-like than the typical Hurdy Gurdy.
Don’t particularly like it. Sounds like a lot of muffled bass notes. Maybe music has to be composed specifically for it.
