Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers (2001)

Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers (2001) is a short film by and about Six Drummers on a surreptitious mission: Sneaking into an elderly couple’s apartment to perform music on their traditionally non-musical objects.

Will the Six Drummers finish their percussive concert before the couple returns from walking their dog?

The music is performed in four movements—The Kitchen, The Bedroom, The Bathroom, and The Living Room—with mixers, glasses, cupboard doors, perfume bottles, light switches, toothbrushes (no!), shaving cream, a hairdryer, a vacuum, thrown books (don’t throw your books), and more.

The six drummers are Magnus Börjeson, Johannes Björk, Marcus Haraldson, Sanna Persson, Anders Vestergård, and Fredrik Myhr. Directed by Johannes Stjärne Nilsson and Ola Simonsson. From their site:

Six Drummers is a group of artists that make music, film, and live performances.

We want to challenge the preconceptions of music and explore the boundaries between sound, music, and image.

Known from the films ”Music for one apartment and six drummers” and ”Sound of Noise”, the drummers break all thinkable rules to make music from everyday objects rather than regular instruments.

Watch these surprising percussion-driven videos next:
• Music From a Dry Cleaner by sound designer Diego Stocco
• Basketball music with STOMP and the Harlem Globetrotters
• Playing Against Type: The Typewriter Orchestra
• A giant forest xylophone plays Bach in this Japanese commercial

Thanks, Rebekka Helford.