Brian Eno on bizarre instruments

From the telegraph

Brian Eno talks about technology and music.

Hypothesis. Advances in technology allows new kinds of instruments, which bring about new kinds of music.

example- iron casting allowed stronger piano frames, and thus the creation of the piano forte, or condert grand, in the mid 1800s. The piano forte could hold its own against a full orchestra, and music was changed.

Best cool instrument: Thaddeus Cahill's Telharmonium (1906). The first truely portable electronic instrument. It weighed 200 tons, and was transported by rail. The only amplifier which had been invented was the telephone receiver.

Thaddeus would pull into town, announce his concert, and plug his instrument into the town's central telephone exchange. To listen, you took your phone off the hook.


And a bit from Brian's bio: He made his great breakthroughs by playing the VCS3, an early synth. Since no-one knew how to play it, no-one could tell him he had bad technique.

And a wonky comment from the forum:

Eno as the first person to create an electronic instrument out of a group of human beings - U2.

-- from the person who claims to have been the one who demo'd the VCS3 to Brian.