| visit the myspace site and make friends if you like. Date: July 25, 2009 02:05PM I think that the musical instrument is as much the star in song as the performers and the producers. Let's pay an homage to the music instrument especially because some of them are stunning. Any period, any style, acoustic or electronic. Music instrument site in English in French : in German music instruments in German Glass is a remarkable sound source. The sound of these glass musical instruments is incredibly soft, clear, and resonant. There is an unusual water-like quality to the tone which is very relaxing and meditative, a wonderful stress melter. These glass mallet instruments are used for performance, meditation, relaxation, and simple pleasure. It may seem out of place to be striking glass with a mallet, but these are sturdy musical instruments. I use 1/4 plate glass which is pegged with rubber coated nails. One would have a difficult time breaking a key with the included mallets. written by Jim Doble, Owner Elemental Design, Union, Maine 04862 USA website  3 Octave Chromatic Aquarion (C3-C6 , pegged keys) Glass moon. composed by João felipe de Paula in 2005,  A classic Marimba in some parts of Africa, the term "marimba" refers to the kalimba. Opening from Glassworks by Philip Glass The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. Keys or bars (usually made of wood) are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the performer both visually and physically. The modern marimba was developed by Japanese and American builders based on the Hispanic-American traditional marimba. 
Marimba players from Guatemala |
A MiniMoog is an analogue monophonic synthesizer. (1970) un MiniMoog est un synthétiseur analogue monophone (1970) Der Minimoog ist ein analoger monophoner Synthesizer. (1970) Herbie Hancock: Chameleon (incl. Minimoog) - Date: July 26, 2009 07:08PM clavinova CLP - electric piano by Yahama like a synthesizer, it can play different voices but I'm reading here that people mostly use the clavinova instead of a classic piano.  how it sounds: JS Bach Piano Invention N. 4 performed by Ray Cruz on his clavinova electric piano Electro-acoustic guitar The electro acoustic guitar combines aspects of both acoustic and electric guitars into one versatile package. This guitar may look like a traditional acoustic, but it also has a pick-up which allows the guitar to be plugged into an amplifier. An electro acoustic guitar offers the different effects and volume options of an electric guitar, while retaining the more mellow tone of an acoustic. This type of guitar is a particularly good option for a guitarist who is looking to bridge genres.  Gibson Sunburst Electro-acoustic guitar  amplifier How it sounds: Passion: I'll be here (by: Steven Curtis Chapman) (with a sunburst Gibson) The Lute, Oud and Pipa 
renaissance lute The Lute instrument is so old-fashioned but evokes to me the soundtrack of the Renaissance, especially in this song composed in 1581 in Dorian mode (a English tudor solfege based on Italian motives) (if I remember well what Howard Goodall said in that programme) Francis Cutting plays Greensleeves on the lute Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes. The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud both descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the early renaissance to the late baroque eras. It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works, often realizing a basso continuo or playing a written-out accompaniment. 
An oud from Egypt. Afif Taian plays the traditional oud Electric oud solo by Dani Babil (on the left bellow) : an electric oud 
 (one the right) this is a relative of the oud and the lute: The Chinese Pipa as played by Liu Fang |