A Man and His Udderbot
July 15th, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in rural life
Music from Salem performed its second concert of the season at Hubbard Hall in Cambridge, NY, yesterday and the final piece featured an instrument you’ve probably never heard of before. Called an “udderbot” by the inventor–the man playing it in this video of the performance–it consists of a wine bottle with the bottom sawed off, a rubber kitchen glove, some duct tape and a bit of water. Just squeeze the glove and blow.
Squeezing the glove controls the level of water in the bottle, which alters the pitch. The piece being played in this video–Fantasy for Piano, String Quartet, Oboe and Theremin–originally called for an electronic instrument–the Theremin–that emits sounds when the player waves his hand between two antennae. The effect is distinctly science fiction, and has been used in some well-known science fiction films. I think you’ll agree that the “udderbot” is a worthy rival.
Musician and inventor Jacob Barton, playing his udderbot, is also a composer whose work focuses on “accoustic microtonal practice and theory.” He co-founded Oddmusic-UC, a “microtonal teaching space and musical instrument library” in Urbana Illinois. He performed one of his compositions–Hot Rock–at the Music from Salem gala last Friday. You can watch that here. The other musicians–performing on more traditional instruments–were particularly taken with Barton’s skill in manipulating his udderbot.
This Fantasy was written by 20th Century composer Bohuslav Martinu, who grew up in a bell tower in a small town in Bohemia. See if you don’t hear bells ringing in this piece.
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