The Biggest Musical Instruments in the World
When someone says “a big instrument”, you’ll usually think of a tuba, a contrabass, a grand piano, or maybe a church organ, but the ones we’re about to list here are the exceptions. Here are the 8 largest instruments known to man!
8. Big Carl – A Huge Tube
In a music store in New York, lies a gigantic tuba that attracts a lot of passersby. The instrument is at least 120 years and requires two people to play it properly. While the average tuba is around 18-19 inches tall and weighs between 30 to 35 pounds, this one is about 41 inches tall and weighs more than a hundred pounds.
7. The Biggest Violin
A normal violin is between 14 inches long (for children) and 23 inches (for adults). This violin is 14 feet tall. It’s bow is even longer (more than 17 feet), and takes three people to operate it. In case you were wondering, it weights more than 290 pounds (and the bow alone is about 110). Its’ pitch is three octaves lower than the regular violin and each of the players have their own sheet music. It won the Guinness Book of Records in 2012 and there was even a piece composed specifically for it – “a rhapsody for giant violin and orchestra” by Stephan Konig.
6. The Korean Five Meters-wide Drum
This Guinness Book of World Records winning instrument is the largest drum in the world, with a length of almost 18 feet. Its building was completed in 2011 at a traditional music centre in South Korea.
5. Sea Organ
This architectural object is located in Zadar, Croatia and is more of an experimental instrument. The player is not a person, but the waves of the sea, that play the instrument with tubes, located underneath a set of large marble steps. The notes are played randomly (according to the waves), but has a harmonic sounds. Have a listen:
4. The Symphonic House
Another architectural instrument is the Symphonic House. The two architects who created this amazing instrument use the structure of the house to turn it into a musical instrument. There are of two giant harps, while tubes in the house transfer the vibrations of the harp into the living room, the acoustic chamber of the instrument.
3. Largest Gospel Choir
The Members Church of God International, in the Philippines, arranged a gospel choir performance last year in 2015 at the Arenata Coliseum, Manile, Philippines. The choir won the Guinness Book of World Records Award for the largest choir consisting 8,688 participants.
2. The Great Stalacpipe Organ
Since the Luray Caverns were discovered in 1878, people were banging on the formations to produce musical sounds. However, it was only in 1954 that a visitor named Leland Sprinkle, came up with the idea to build an organ that instead of tubes, will use the formations. He tested more than 2,500 stalactites and found 37 he could use. Today the organ is powered automatically.
Listen to the goosebumping sounds of the Moonlight Sonata performance:
1. Earth Harp
The longest harp in the world got a bit of popularity in the the TV show “America’s Got Talent” in 2012. In the show, the instrument was shown in its minimalistic and small version, but the big version of that instrument extends up to 1,000 feet length!
Stay tuned for the next post about the tiniest instruments in the world.Yes, the smallest violin will be there too. But it won’t be sad.
So, which of these big instruments would you want to learn to play? Tell us in the comments below!
