Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones

Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones:
Experimental Musical Instruments

by Bart Hopkin - Foreword by Tom Waits

See below to purchase this book and CD or its companion volume
Orbitones, Spoonharps and Bellowphones

Click on the picture of the book's cover to see an enlargement

Bart Hopkin unveils the pioneering work of musical innovators like Harry Partch, Luigi Russolo and Leon Theremin. Wendy Chambers' Car Horn Organ reveals its charms on a rousing version of "New York, New York." A complex ensemble of glass instruments from Jean Claude Chapuis takes up where Ben Franklin left off on his Glass Harmonica. Engaging photographs and text display for readers the lengths to which these 37 eccentric and brilliant inventors have gone in their quests for innovation and beauty. The accompanying full-length CD features 18 of the most interesting musical examples of the instruments featured in this book. Introduction by Tom Waits!

Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones is a CD and book celebrating 37 outrageously inventive designers and builders of new and unusual musical instruments. The package includes a 96-page book with over 90 photographs and a foreword by Tom Waits, and a 73-minute CD of entirely original performances by 18 of the artists featured in the book.

The designers and builders featured in the book include:

Michel Moglia - Fire Organ / Hans Reichel - Daxophone and Pick-Behind-the-Bridge Guitar / Arthur Ferris - Angel Violin and Whispering Harp / Phil Dadson - Instruments of the Percussion Stations / William Eaton - Harp-Guitars and Lyres / Richard Waters - The Waterphone / Godfried-Willem Raes - Pneumaphones / Qubais Reed Ghazala - Circuit-Bent Instruments / Nahum Ozel - The Semi-Civilized Tree / Bob Bates - The Converter / Luigi Russolo - Intonarumori / Jean-Claude Chapuis - Glass Musical Instruments / Ben Hume - Original and Traditional Instruments / Don Buchla - Thunder and Lightning / Ferdinand Forsch - Sound Sculptures and Sound Images / Ward Hartenstein - Ceramic Percussion / Arthur Frick - Musical Sculptures / Harry Partch - Instruments of the Hary Partch Ensemble / Carleen Hutchins - The Violin Octet / Sugar Belly - Bamboo Saxophone / Darrell DeVore - Bamboo Sound Magic / Reinhod Marxhausen - Stardust / Leon Theremin - The Theremin / Barry Hall - Flowerpotophone and Handmade Ceramics / Richard Cooke - Free Notes / Jacques Dudon - Instruments of Water and Light / Ken Butler - The Voices of Anxious Objects / Oliver DiCicco - Mobius Instruments / Thomas Nunn - Electroacoustic Percussion Boards and Space Plates / Sarah Hopkins - Whirly Instruments / Fred "Spaceman" Long - Jokers / Robert Grawi - The Gravikord / Susan Rawcliffe - Flutes, Whistles and Ocarinas / Trimpin - Computer-Controlled, Electro-Mechanical Acoustic Sound Devices / Scott Hackleman - The Hackleman-Wilson Clavichord / Wendy Mae Chambers - The Car Horn Organ / Brian Ransom - Ceramic Instruments

About the Author: Bart Hopkin is a designer, builder and longtime student of acoustic musical instruments. He has published and edited the journal Experimental Musical Instruments since 1985, and written several books on musical instruments and their construction.

Sound files (available in both au and wav formats):

Hear an excerpt of "Terra Zona" performed by Burnt Earth on the Ellipsis Arts CD

Hear another excerpt of "Terra Zona" performed by Burnt Earth on the Ellipsis Arts CD

Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones is out of print, but I have a few remaining copies of the second edition (hardcover) available for sale, brand new, factory sealed. The hardcover book that accompanies the second edition features the 18 artists that are included on the CD.

Price: $39.98 with FREE SHIPPING in the USA.
(For shipping to destinations outside the USA please click here.)

Orbitones, Spoonharps and Bellowphones is out of print and currently unavailable.