instruments

Showing 58 posts tagged instruments

Watch these Lego Bionicle toy robots make music with drum machines, xylophones, synthesizers and other makeshift instruments. This is the Toa Mata Band, a project by sound designer Giuseppe Acito.

Each member is controlled by an Arduino Uno which is hooked up to an iPad running the MIDI sequencer app Nord Beat. Acito either gets them to play a pre-programmed song or they can do a live show with Acito controlling the MIDI sequencer in real-time.

Toa Mata Band

Photo by Giuseppe Acito.

via The Creators Project. 

Top Secret Drum Corps is a precision drum corps based in Basel, Switzerland. With 25 drummers and colorguard members, the corps became famous for its demanding six-minute routine performed at the Edinburgh Tattoo in 2003. With its invitation to Edinburgh, Top Secret became one of the first non-military, non-British Commonwealth acts to perform on the Esplanade at Edinburgh Castle.

via Daily Picks and Flicks.

Cateura, Paraguay’s residents live on top of a landfill that gets 1,500 tons of solid waste each day, exposing the impoverished communities to unhealthy conditions. Most of the town works in the dump as recyclers, including many of the young people. 

When local teacher Favio Chavez decided to teach the town’s children to play music using his own instruments, he soon had more students than instruments. The solution? He started teaching the students on instruments upcycled from trash and the Recycled Orchestra was born.

This trailer for the 2014 documentary, Landfill Harmonic, introduces the story of this youth orchestra and their community’s inspiring resourcefulness. The filmmakers also hope to bring attention to Cateura’s need for improved living conditions. You can follow them here: @landfillharmoni and facebook.com/landfillharmonicmovie

via Shareable.