PZ Myers' Friday Cephalopods

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Ok, being trained as a French Horn player I can give a little insight about the often maligned plastic "instrument". There are three major factors in the sound of it, namely:

1. Length of the instrument
2. Quality of the instrument
3. Ability of the player

If the instrument is short (as in the majority of cases) the fundamental harmonic will be relatively high, as a result making more notes on it will be harder given that the contiguous harmonics are on the 4th octave above the fundamental, to make it harder the "horn" is straight therefore there is no easy way to manipulate the sound with the hand to change pitch (as you would with a natural French Horn, pistons to change notes are a relatively modern invention). Add the fact of shoddy plastic manufacturing (with internal edges) and you not only the sound suffers but tuning  becomes harder. To finish, the individuals normally playing it have zero training in brass (the German guys playing -or trying- being the exception). As a result the regular vuvuzela sound is something that goes around it's fundamental with a buzz.

Make it longer, make a coil with it (like a hunting horn) and make sure there are not that many imperfections with it, and something musical can come out of it.

[Sibling DavidH]

the regular vuvuzela sound is something that goes around it's fundamental with a buzz.

That's a very generous way of putting it!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Apparently they use it in S. Africa to generate drone chords (using different length instruments for each chord) in some popular music.

Anywho, I found the German version in youtube:
[youtube=600,350]tkhJKAkau2A[/youtube]

[Opsa]

Those guys are absolutely adorable and even though the vuvuzela is an obnoxious beast, they did rather well with it, all things considered.

Th'Opsalette thought that their version of "Bolero" sounded like it might work for belly dancing.

[Swatopluk]

I have the suspicion that they deliberately did not use their full potential. At least in the Bolero it sounded to me as if it was 'orientalized' on purpose. Please note that the 'beat voice' is more or less flawless.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Not so much o purpose but dependent on the harmonics available in the tube, you can't do a full chromatic scale in an open tube until the 5th/6th octave above the fundamental and it will not be in tune.

[Swatopluk]

I still think it was done more imperfectly than strictly necessary - for the comic effect.
Btw, for those that do not understand German, the speaker claims that they are the official vuvuzela section of the symphony orchestra and that they are playing the pieces the way the composers intended (both Brahms and Ravel being fascinated by the versatility of the vuvuzela).

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I'm not saying it's impossible but I can assure you that playing those high harmonics is particularly hard, current instruments manage the length of the tube with valves/pistons and are manufactured with practically micrometric precision. Besides, while I can't blame tuning, the occasional missed notes don't seem intentional at all, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they did a number of tries and the current one was the best run.

I guess what I'm saying is that those guys are playing beyond the capabilities of the instrument (as opposed to playing badly) for comedic effect .

[Opsa]

Yes, they certainly seemed like semi-professional musicians, at least. My German is a little rusty, but I figured they were saying something along those lines, very tongue-in-cheek.

I saw Paul the octopus on the news last night. Apparently he has been predicting world cup winners by choosing one flagged aquarium-with-a-mussel-in-it over another one. What struck my funnybone most was that anyone would name an octopus "Paul".

[Swatopluk]

With whom is he palling around?

If I got it right the guys usually play in the brass section of one of the highly professional Berlin symphony orchestras (we have more than one), i.e. they are full pros.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

To play those high harmonics you have to be a very good trumpet player so I don't doubt they are pros, likely exceptional pros.

[Pachyderm]

They are better on the ol' vuvu than I'll ever be.

But I will diligently practice (if only in the office....)

[Darlica]

I bet the badgers love those practice sessions.

[ivor]

Damn y'all are so smart!

[Opsa]

Hey- where's our Cephalopod?