Awesome Flutes

Musician and maker Nicolas Bras makes all sorts of wild and inventive musical instruments. In this video, he shows how he used a bunch of PVC pipes to make the most complicated wind instrument ever. The 2-octave chromatic bass pan flute has 30 pipes and is held together with plastic zip ties.

The theme music from The Lord of the Rings is permanently ingrained in the minds of many a fantasy fan. Now hear it like it was meant to be played, thanks to flutist Paul Harvey, who performed the tune inside of a mile-long tunnel along a trail in Wisconsin. The acoustics add the perfect air of mystery.

Musician and inventor Nicolas Bras shows off another one of his unusual musical instruments. By grafting together multiple pieces of PVC pipe, he created a wind instrument unlike any we’ve heard before. The addition of a loop pedal turned his improv performance into an EDM track.

When is a flute not a flute? When it’s a street barricade, of course. Musician Xavier Lozano demonstrates as he performs a brief piece of music on a metal barrier he drilled out to work as a wind instrument. Lozano is known for his ability to transform unusual objects into musical instruments.

Most wind instruments are made from wood or brass. But it turns out that a plastic straw can be modified to make music too. This video shows how late Danish musician Peter Bastian was adept at performing on a drinking straw with holes cut in it. Flutist Naveen Kumar shows how you can make your own here.