Email Vesta
Blog Home Page

Welcome to the Sonoma County Gazette ARCHIVE of PAST EDITIONS. Our NEW WEBSITE is up and running, so GazExtra is serving as your path to archived articles. Thanks for being part of our Sonoma County community...stay in touch...e-mail me - VESTA


Monday, November 2, 2009

Amazing Musical Instrument - NOT!


This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa .. Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft , Iowa ....Yes, farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it was WELL worth the effort.

It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

And now for the REST of the story:
Dear Vesta:

It is a great video, but the story is a hoax: http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/musicmachine.asp. Google turns up lots of similar reports by various hoax-tracking sites.

On the other hand, it is an amazingly good video animation. I enjoyed it.

Sincerely, Steve

Well darn!!! What a disappointment - but yes - incredible none-the less - thanks for pointing this out!!!! Now I know but I still think it's so cool! I guess the genius is in the animation category rather than the invention category! I had a good time visiting the web site - below - and checking out the clips! What fun - OK - I'm gullible - but I had a good time! Thanks for the straight scoop! - V




http://www.animusic.com/previews/animusic1.php

Labels: