Wind Machines

Believe it or not, for years — decades even — I have been fascinated by the use in music of the wind machine. Honestly. You may not be aware that the device even exists, but it does and it is used occasionally in orchestral music (romantic era and later) to create the very realistic sound of wind. It also finds a spot in the live sound-effects arsenal of the foley artist.

So far as I can tell, Richard Strauss was the first to specify a wind machine, for use in his fantasy variations Don Quixote. In fact, Strauss used the wind machine again in his "Alpine Symphony" to help create a storm. Someday I'll get around to writing about storms in music history….

Anyway, instead of writing here I've been writing another Squidoo lens called "Musical" Wind Machines, which lists all the musical works I've been able to locate that call for wind machine, and has some fun pictures and videos to go along with it.

Please stop by if you need to waste a few minutes.

Posted on October 31, 2007 at 16.19 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Curious Stuff, Music & Art

One Response

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  1. Written by Bill Morrison
    on Wednesday, 31 October 2007 at 17.33
    Permalink

    In the 1970s, when I was living in Toronto, I went to a Toronto Symphony Orchestra concert at Massey Hall, sitting WAY up in the gods. The music must have been Bruckner or someone similar, a vast orchestra, with about a dozen people in the percussion section, one of whom played a very odd looking instrument, wooden, long handle, forked end. On the way out after the concert, I heard a couple of other students discussing it. "I play in the symphony orchestra," one began an imaginary conversation. "Oh cool," said the other, "what do you play?" "I play [with great pride and vigor] the branch!"

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