Invention of the hydraulophone, a water-based musical instrument

Hydraulophones are musical instruments that use water to produce acoustic sound, in which the fingers of the musician are in physical contact with the water.

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Music

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• hydraulophone
• fountain
• funtain
• art
• landscape
• architecture

[987wolf987]

i would love to play one in the winter at minus 5 Degres Celcius

[hydraulist]

If the water's not heated, it's a little cold to play in winter: see Ls1eu7Ry8sE

We also sometimes heat the water, e.g. we played in minus 20 degres C weather in February 2007, and the mayor was there and also played: see wearcam

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[sue119]

wow!! haven't even heard of this sort of instrument before, cool! didn';t know water can produce sound like that, how does it work?

[hydraulist]

From a player's perspective, how it works is very simple: you just put your fingers into the mouths of the instrument. The water comes out the mouths easier than going to the sounder. Blocking the jet in the middle produces the clearest brightest sound, and blocking the hole on the edge makes a more dull sound.

As for hydraulophone sound-production mechanisms, there's lots of articles; maybe start with Wikipedia and then branch out into some of the more detailed peer-reviewed publications.

[TuMira85]

any in northern cali? this is pretty cool. how many octaves can you get with this? how many keys?

[hydraulist]

The hydraulophone shown here has a slightly more than 3+1/2 octave range easily accessed by any player. It has 45 finger holes. A skilled hydraulist can sometimes extend out to a 4+1/2 or 5+1/2 octave range.

[vidaro]

This is perfect for people who can't be bothered to clean their instruments. :-)

[kboy20]

Bravo! Sure would love one here in New York.

[Ratboy8888]

I believe I met the inventor of this in Canada at the Toy Fair a few years ago and he was a physics professor...?

[izcuje]

1:54 is just beautiful.

[MegaSailorDude]

coors1971 - my guess is the cost of a piece of metal shaped as a horn (in order to produce the changing pitch with length) and a hose pipe!! say £250 at a guess. Would need someone to know the dimensions of the horn tube and locations of the holes to ensure the correct frequency corresponding with the pitches of the musical scale. A local musical college would love to help out i'm sure!!!!

[MegaSailorDude]

I think this is great as an outdoor attraction for people to 'have a go'! As a musician would love to spend 20 mins mucking around with stuff that I know. Not to be recommended for indoor use!! :-)

[LIGHTRONIX]

thats dumb, it's just MIDI and plays the cheesiest sound possible.

[laughingcrows]

Great, just what we need, more ways to waste water.

Apart from that, it's very clever.

[vitas1teamo]

wow

[coors1971]

that would be cool to have in our little town but im sure its too expensive! also serves at a foot warsher as the one guy demonstrated!

[andriusvirbickas]

does anyone know how much would cost to build such public one? would be great to have in my town