Unpopular Instruments in Popular Music: 9 Sonic Oddities

September 18th, 2014 by Trenton

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Tired of the traditional dominance of guitar, bass, and drums in pop music? Here are 9 instruments that have made it into popular music that you either didn’t know about, can’t pronounce, or wouldn’t be able to play without removing from a living creature first.

The Glass Harmonica

The Glass Harmonica was invented in 1761 by none other than Ben Franklin. When Franklin saw his friend Edmund Delaval perform music by rubbing his fingers around the rims of glasses containing different water levels, he was enamored with the sound, but also determined to help streamline the process.

Franklin’s invention, which he called an “armonica” after the Italian word for harmony, threaded 37 wine glasses of varying sizes around a horizontal iron spool, which could be operated by foot control. This eliminated the need for individually measured water levels, and produced tones by rotating the glasses themselves, rather than the fingers above them. It also allowed the performer to play the glasses like a piano, with up to ten fingers producing multiple notes at once.

Where You’ve Heard It: Mozart, Beethoven, and Strauss all wrote music for the glass harmonica, but the instrument faded from public performance when it became harder to hear in bigger concert halls with bigger audiences. (There was also that whole rumor that its sound drove people insane. German musicologist Friedrich Rochlitz wrote in 1798: “There may be various reasons for the scarcity of armonica players, principally the almost universally shared opinion that playing it is damaging to the health, that it excessively stimulates the nerves, plunges the player into a nagging depression and hence into a dark and melancholy mood, that it is an apt method for slow self-annihilation…” Ouch.)

In the last half-century, the glass harmonica has been featured in recordings by Linda Ronstadt, Tom Waits, and even in a live “Unplugged” cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” by the band Korn. It can be heard early and prominently in the 1997 Bjork song “All Neon Like”.

The Chapman Stick

“Stick Man”: Chapman Stick legend Tony Levin (Image via flickr user Steven Rieder)

In 1974, Emmett Chapman appeared on the nationally-televised game show “What’s My Line?” to showcase a guitar/bass hybrid he invented in 1969, called The Chapman Stick.

Chapman’s original Stick consisted of 10 strings—5 bass and 5 guitar—with the bass strings tuned in upward 5ths, and the guitar strings tuned in upward 4ths. Unlike normal guitars and basses, The Chapman Stick is played mostly via percussive two-handed tapping, and is worn almost parallel to the torso.

Where You’ve Heard It: The Chapman Stick has long been a favorite instrument in prog rock, with Tony Levin setting the gold standard in the outfit King Crimson. However, Levin’s playing might be better known–if lesser recognized–by his decades-long performing relationship with Peter Gabriel. In this 1987 concert video of “Shock the Monkey”, Levin can be seen starting the song on keyboard and switching to his Chapman Stick midway through the song.

(Bonus: Check out this fan’s YouTube video of a Peter Gabriel medley featuring Levin Chapman Stick lines up close.)

The Theremin

Whatever Léon Theremin was hoping to find in his experiments as a young engineer for The Soviet Union’s Red Army, it wasn’t one of the world’s first electronic instruments.

When Theremin invented the instrument that became his namesake, he was actually trying to build a machine that measured the density of gases. He noticed that the sound emitted by the machine varied depending on the proximity of his hands to it. Calling on his childhood cello lessons, Theremin was able to find notes and familiar melodies by moving his hands just so through the machine’s electromagnetic fields.

The Theremin may be the only musical instrument in the world one plays without ever touching it. The performer’s hands manipulate the instrument’s tone by moving along one vertical antenna (to control pitch) and a second horizontal antenna (to control volume). After a hands-on (or “off” rather) demonstration for Lenin, Theremin and his machine were sent on a national tour of Russia as a symbol of the country’s electrical engineering might.

Where You’ve Heard It: Everybody knows the most famous Theremin part in pop music history belongs to The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”, right? Not quite.“Good Vibrations” actually made use of the Tannerin, an instrument developed by trombonist Paul Tanner specifically to sound like a theremin without being as difficult to play.

True theremin sounds can be heard most often in film soundtracks from the 40s. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound”, Billy Wilder’s “The Lost Weekend” and a host of sci-fi films featured the eerie instrument in their scores. “Doctor” Samuel Hoffman eventually played theremin on over 20 Hollywood film scores, getting his first gig simply because he was the theremin player in Los Angeles’ musician’s union.

You’re probably more familiar with Jimmy Page’s theremin-powered noise-gasm breakdown in Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

In recent years, recordings of theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore have resurfaced, showing the full depth and beauty of the instrument when played properly. Rockmore was originally a violin virtuoso, but an arthritic problem in her bow arm ended that career prematurely. Thanks to the theremin (and modifications made to it by Theremin himself based on Rockmore’s suggestions) Rockmore gained a second chance at a performance career.

The Omnichord

Introduced by the Suzuki company in 1981, the Omnichord was marketed as a sort of electronic version of an autoharp. It was also marketed as an instrument for people who couldn’t play instruments.

Instead of using fingers to form chord shapes, Omnichord performers just press buttons for major, minor, or 7^th chords, and use their other hand to swipe or “strum” a touchplate, thus playing the chord. A newer version of the Omnichord—called a Q Chord—includes additional effects, voices, and MIDI capabilities.

Where You’ve Heard It: David Bowie opened 2001’s “Concert for New York City” with an Omnichord, and Brian Eno has used it in his “Passengers” collaboration with U2. In the last five years, bands Grizzly Bear and My Morning Jacket have both appeared on David Letterman supporting new highly-touted albums with Omnichords in tow. Watch the video for My Morning Jacket’s “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Part 2” and note how the Omnichord’s built-in rhythm track provides the basis for the entire song’s rhythm.

The Ondes Martenot

Apparently, it was very trendy for World War I-era European radio operator/cellists to invent weird instruments. Like Leon Theremin, Maurice Martenot aimed to translate the wildly unpredictable radio oscillations he heard into something musical. He came up with the Ondes Martenot, something like a cross between an organ and a theremin, patenting his instrument in the same year as Theremin, 1928.

A performer can play the ondes martenot either by sliding a metal ring worn on his or her right index finger along a wire (producing an unbroken glissando effect), or by playing the keyboard directly behind the wire. Each key is slightly moveable and will produce vibrato when wiggled. The wire runs along the bottom of the keys, perpendicular to them; each section corresponds in note to the key directly above it. The performer’s left hand operates a series of volume and timbral controls.

But wait, there’s more (weirdness)! The ondes martenot’s sound can also be augmented by switching its speaker output to one of three different speakers. The Résonance speaker makes use of a spring reverb. The Métallique speaker uses a small gong as a diaphragm to produce a more ethereal sound. And the Palme speaker is actually laced with 12 tuned strings to produce sympathetic resonance.

Where You’ve Heard It: The ondes martenot was a favorite of 20th century classical musicians, most notably Olivier Messiaen. Jann Tiersen (composer of the score for Amelie) also makes regular use of the instrument. If you’ve listened to a Radiohead album in the last decade, though, you’re probably more familiar with it than you thought.

Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood—a fan of Messiaen since his teen years—began using the instrument in 1999. His passion for the instrument, along with his fear of it getting damaged while on tour, led him to ask Analogue Systems to create a more portable version, called The French Connection, for live use. In 2011, Greenwood received the first new and official version of the ondes created since 1988–the Ondes Musicales–from maker Jean-Loup Dierstein.

Check out this acoustic version of Radiohead’s “How To Disappear Completely”, featuring not one but six (!) ondes martenots.

The Harpejji

Unlike most instruments on this list, the harpejji didn’t even exist ten years ago. Developed in 2007 by Marcodi Musical Products founder Tim Meeks, the harpejji shares a common concept with the Chapman stick: a guitar-like sound produced by tapping a large fretboard.

The current k24 model of the harpejji features 24 strings (16 treble, 8 bass) spread over 15 frets, comprising five full octaves. Made of bamboo, the harpejji sits in front of the performer like a long thin piano. Notes are marked in black and white like on a piano, but unlike a piano, a single hand on the harpejji can cover a two-octave range. Marcodi also promotes the harpejji as being an “isomorphic” instrument, meaning the same simple geometric patterns can be used to make different chords all over the fretboard.

Where You’ve Heard It: A.R. Rahman’s 2010 Oscar-nominated song “If I Rise” (from the film 127 Hours) makes use of the harpejji. More recently, Stevie Wonder has toured and performed extensively with his ‘new favorite instrument’, as seen in this 2014 Grammys collaboration with Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams.

The Drumitar

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones may or may not be your idea of “popular” music, but they have won a few Grammys, and at their peak played over 200 shows a year. Their mention in this list is due solely to the one-of-a-kind invention of Roy “Futureman” Wooten, The Drumitar.

In 1985, Wooten wanted to adapt a more hand-based drumming style, which he felt was more akin to the way percussion is played in the rest of the world. However, Wooten also wanted to give that hand percussion a modern twist—using it to trigger sampled drums and electronic hits. Wooten gutted a Synthaxe, replacing much of its electronics with MIDI drum triggers that were routed to a rack of sampled drum sounds.

Where You’ve Heard It: Really only on Bela Fleck and the Flecktones records. But a man who plays drums on a synth guitar while wearing a pirate hat should really be seen and heard more often.

The Saw

The saw isn’t really a musical instrument, but it plays one on record. Although the first enterprising individual to apply a fiddle bow to a regular old wood-cutting saw remains unknown, the phenomenon is thought to have begun in the Appalachian mountains sometime in the early 19^th century.

Saw players bend their saws into an “S” shape, holding one end in one hand, bracing the other end against the opposite leg, and bowing the “sweet spot” of the S for a high-pitched “singing” sound. An average saw can cover a range of up to two octaves. Vibrato can also be produced by lightly shaking the bracing leg.

Where You’ve Heard It: You probably weren’t alive (or a soldier in World War II) to hear Marlene Dietrich play the saw for you, but you can hear the saw in music by Tom Waits, Black Heart Procession, Neil Young, and Neutral Milk Hotel.

The Bones

Human bones. Animal bones. If you haven’t turned the bones of something dead into a musical instrument, you’re just not trying hard enough.

Bones—particularly rib bones—have been a fixture in bluegrass, zydeco, and traditional Irish music since the 1800s, although these days “the bones” are more likely to be pieces of wood or other materials. (The bones can be seen as a precursor to the spoons, another unpopular instrument that has had it’s four and a half minutes of fame).

Latin percussionists also make use of an instrument called the quijada, which is Spanish for “Let’s take the jawbone of a donkey, clean the flesh off, and dry it so that the teeth rattle and we can use it as an instrument.”

Where You’ve Heard It (Them): Television composer Daniel Licht used bones as percussive instruments in his music for the show Dexter. Pick up The Black Lips album Arabia Mountain and you’ll hear a human skull used as a reverb chamber, as frontman Ian St. Pe explains: “Cole found a human skull at this oddities shop in New York City. So Cole thought we could put a microphone in the cranium, where we could take sounds out from it and back on to the tape. We figured the reverb that we would get out of that would be like what would be happening in your own head.”

The quijada is a common instrument in music from Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Cuba. See it in action in this KEXP live performance by David Wax Museum.

Blake Madden is a musician and author who lives in Seattle.