12 Instruments That Fell Out of Favor for Obvious Reasons
Some instruments have stood the test of time, or have survived centuries with small evolutions. Though their origins might be ancient, the sweet sounds they produce soothe the ears of any human age. Other instruments, well, they were just okay. As time and engineering progressed, we figured out there were much better ways to make those sort of noises, or that there were just better noises out there, period.
Here are 12 instruments nobody's surprised are hard to find today…
Hurdy-Gurdy
Do you want a noise that sounds like a string section, but contained in an absolute nightmare of a mechanical machine? The hurdy-gurdy is played by a crank and a keyboard, and given the amount of moving parts, I have to imagine a particle accelerator is easier to maintain.
Bagpipes
Is the global hate for the sound of bagpipes overblown for comedic effect? Yes. Am I ever going to voluntarily choose to listen to a bagpiper? No.
Glass Armonica
The glass armonica, an instrument where rotating glass pieces are played by applying wet fingers, is pretty involved. Massive, unwieldy and fragile aren’t an ideal trifecta of attributes. If you’re willing to undertake all that, though, the somewhat grating sound of the glass armonica is yours to produce.
Pan Flute
Look, pan flutes sound cool. I’ll be the first to admit that. Still, even for this guy, who’s apparently the “King of the Pan Flute,” you’d have to think there’s a better way. We don’t need to honk on a bunch of taped-together tubes anymore, man.
Sheng
The sheng looks like a cross between a tobacco pipe and Dracula's castle. It sounds sort of like a broken horn. Not to mention, just watching this guy play it is making my hand cramp up.
Jew’s Harp
First of all, there’s the name, which, come on. Second of all, when an instrument makes a kazoo seem versatile, that’s not a great sign.
Lithophone
This is some Flintstones shit, dude. It’s something that would be in a band accompanied by someone bonking a bird on the head with a hammer.
Auloi
It takes some real stubbornness to insist that this instrument, which is essentially a double flute, sounds better than just one flute. The same kind of stubbornness that enables that hairstyle.
Water Organ
The water organ, or hydraulis, requires a second person pumping water to make sound, and I think it’s morally abhorrent to use clean water to make this sound while there are thirsty people in the world.
Portative Organ
A very loosely “handheld” instrument that’s a small pipe organ with a bellows attached that you pump to make sound. Reading about it, I expected it to look more complicated than just an organ from some sort of diorama of a church with a pump on the back, but here we are. It’s demanding to play, I’m sure, but it’s all worth it for that constant wheezing sound!
Bone Flute
This sounds about 400 percent better than I expected. We just try not to play bits of animal corpses as much anymore.
Theremin
Hasn’t been around that long, but has been annoying the whole time. Oh, it’s really hard to play? Sounds like a good use of everybody’s time.
